Nocturnes

By: John Connolly

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

In his first collection of short fiction, New York Times best-selling author John Connolly offers a selection of dark, daring, and utterly haunting tales. Here are lost lovers and missing children, predatory demons, and vengeful ghosts. In "The New Daughter", a father comes to suspect that a burial mound on his land hides something very ancient and very much alive; in "The Underbury Witches", a pair of London detectives find themselves battling a particularly female evil in a town culled of its menfolk. And finally, private detective Charlie Parker returns in the long novella The Reflecting Eye, in which the photograph of an unknown girl turns up in the mailbox of an abandoned house once occupied by an infamous killer. This discovery forces Parker to confront the possibility that the house is not as empty as it appears and that something has been waiting in the darkness for its chance to kill again.

In these stories, Connolly ratchets up the tension to almost unbearable - and irresistible - levels. Nocturnes is a deliciously chilling collection from "one of the best thriller writers we have" (Harlan Coben).

©2005 John Connolly. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster

3.5 stars

3.5 some stories were really excellent other stories were ok. A fun read though. creepy.

very interesting I really enjoyed it.

really enjoyed it will Def buy more.. it held my attention . very happy I bought it

Great story- but some suggestions

Loved this collection. As with other audible collected works though, it would be nice if the chapters often book indicated what story they are related to. If you only listen once, great, you'll never notice. But why then would you buy the book?

This version is also missing the last four stories found in the print volume.

Bland

Each story is almost formulaic--a woman dies and the man is left to live his life. The deaths are really only fodder for the remaining protagonists' motivations. The first story is perhaps the most compelling, but otherwise the tales do not bring much to the genre of "horror" or neo-gothic, as it were.

short scary stories

I've always loved scary stories told around a campfire, this is a collection of a bunch of crappy scary stores that will give you some nightmares. Jeff Harding does a fantastic job.

The narrator is really upstanding

John Harding is a superb narrator. One of the few who can transition between a British type accent and American type accent seamlessly. The stories are well above average quality of current supernatural fiction.

Scary stories! Nice work Mr. Connolly!

unexpected classic horror with a Charlie parker novella transitioning between novels 4 and 5. Will read again.

Cringey accents

Can someone please tell the voice actor that not every brown person has a Mexican accent? 😕

Suitable for pubescent girl slumber party (almost)

Is there anything you would change about this book?

First, there are no box rooms in America. I don't know what you're talking about.

If you’ve listened to books by John Connolly before, how does this one compare?

Poorly.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator's American accents are horrible in the first story. The Puerto Rican maid sounds Mexican. (For reference of authentic Puerto Rican accents, watch West Side Story. Rita Moreno really is Puerto Rican.) There are two characters with the same hick accent. That's confusing. There's a man who is 1/16 Mexican whose accent floats between Mexican and Brooklynese without an explanation. I'd defer the authenticity of the Yankee accent but I suspect it isn't much better.

Do you think Nocturnes needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. With all the hype for Nocturnes 2, I was thinking Nocturnes must be exceptional.

Any additional comments?

It's almost as scary as Harry Potter. Barring the adult themes in the first story, it would be suitable to play for a slumber party of 10 year old girls. To be honest, I only got half-way through the 4th story and quit.

Narration ruined it

This is a collection of short stories, plus a novella called "The Reflecting Eye", featuring Charlie Parker, the antihero from a number of Connolly's novels. Being a fan of the Charlie Parker series, got this book specifically for "The Reflecting Eye." It was a struggle to finish it.

One criticism I have is based purely on my taste. Several of the short stories were set in the 19th or early 20th century, and Connolly tried to mimic the writing style of that time. I'm not a big fan. I find it overly verbose and dry.

That aside, the narration was awful. Through a few of the stories, Jeff Harding had this cadence that made him sound like a higher pitched Tom Bodell. I kept expecting him to tell me that they'd leave a light on for me. Also, while reading "The Reflecting Eye," he … let's just say he there were a few words he pronounced in a way I've never heard before. The worst was when he said the name of the Japanese car brand as "nis-sahn" rather than "NEE-sahn," which is how everyone else in the entire world pronounces it, including commercials for Nissan. He also pronounced Louis's (whom your familiar with if you've read any of the Parker books) name as "Lou-ee" rather than "Louis." I never envisioned him as a "Louie", nor has anyone else I know of.

Also, the voices in "The Reflecting Eye" were bad. He has one voice for people from Maine, apparently. A couple times, I almost lost track of who was speaking during a conversation. Angel sounded like a stand-up comedian's imitation of a Brooklyn cab driver, and Louis sounded like a white guy doing an angry black guy.