brandonsears

So, I'm 5 books into the Charlie Parker saga and so far, so good.

With this book, Connolly seems to have completely abandoned the realistic approach taken with the earlier books and gone full force into supernatural mode. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I mean, if it's done right anyway and Connolly seems to know just what he's doing.

When I read the initial plot and some spoiler free reviews, I was a little worried that Connolly was going to take Parker somewhere that I wasn't interested in reading. I mean, I have enough supernatural in my reading life with Stephen King and I really enjoyed the Parker series having its distinct feel - the career of a witty and sarcastic P.I. with his two buddies, a hit-man and a retired career criminal specializing in B&E. However, Connolly does not go over board. Yes, this novel is supported on the readers ability to grasp the existence of Angels and seemingly immortal individuals but Connolly's back story supports it so well that it honestly does not seem like that much of a stretch.

While he spends a good portion of the book developing his characters (old and new) and their reasons for the acquisition of The Black Angel itself; he spends very little time on action. So little that I think that Connolly is not aware of just how well he writes action. The scenes involving intense shoot outs are far and few between - that being said, I can do without Connolly throwing in that stuff for the sake of it - I'm just craving more of it.

I'm a big fan of where this book went when the initial plot seemed to be taken care of. Connolly never abandons old plots and important events from previous novels - he blends everything in so very well. It's clear that he's not doing it to only seem consistent; he appears to have a long and drawn out vision of where this character is going. Which is reassuring considering I have the next 3 sitting on my bookshelf.

While the ending of this book isn't exactly the most thrilling of his work to date, the events that unfold could not be better for the longevity of the Charlie Parker character. I'm still just as interested to read the 6th book as I was to pick up the 2nd.