‘The Killing Kind’ is the 3rd novel in John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series and is even better than the previous 2.
After the events in ‘Dark Hollow‘ and with the urging of his psychologist girlfriend Rachel, Parker has decided to live a safer (but no less distasteful) life investigating white collar crime and marital transgressions. But then he is asked to investigate the death of Grace Peltier, which was originally dismissed as suicide. Parker knew Grace many years ago and feels that he owes her something.
Grace was writing her theses on the Aroostook Baptists, a small fundamentalist group who disappeared from their land in 1963. Now a mass grave has been discovered close to where they lived. Shortly before her death, Grace interviewed the leader of another church called the fellowship.
Parker is denied access to the fellowship and warned off the investigation by an extremely creepy man named Elias Pudd who likes to use spiders as one of his weapons. The fellowship also seems to have a number of police on their side.
But Parker can’t let the investigation go. The ghosts of the murdered Aroostook Baptists have come to visit him and search for justice.
Parker is joined by his trusted friends Angel (a housebreaker), Louis (a hired killer) and his girlfriend Rachel.
Everyone who provides Parker with information seems to end up killed by Pudd. Parker manages to stay one step ahead to eventually uncover the kink between the Fellowship and the Aroostook Baptists.
This was an incredibly dark and terrifying story and most of the time Charlie Parker was in a very dark place. But we can always trust him to win in the end and only lose a small part of himself along the way.
The supernatural element adds to the horror of the story but is subtle enough not to turn this into a ghost story.
I’m enjoying the series. I think it is better to read the books in order for the character development. The end of this novel has the potential to totally change Parker’s future. I look forward to finding out in the next novel – ‘The White Road’.
Book Published 2002
Pingback: The White Road by John Connolly | Written Gems
Pingback: John Connolly Profile and Books | Written Gems