How's it going readers? I just had a birthday. And yet another reminder that my memory is kind of shot lately! How? I read the same book twice in a row. Why? Well it all started with the Talking Scared podcast (a personal favorite that you should definitely check out) and Angela Slatter. See Neil (Talking Scared) and Angela love John Connolly. I mean LOVE! Neil did an ep recently with John and has talked frequently about his fondness for the series. He's currently doing a retrospective/full read through of the Dark Tower series with authors Nat Cassidy and Chris Panatier BUT apparently had planned to do the same with the Charlie Parker series—with Angela!
Now the podcast ep with Connolly promised to be as spoiler free as possible given there are something like 20 books in the series so far. And since I listed on a weekend and had already read the first in the series, Every Dead Thing (in 2009), I thought I'd just check it out on audio. Lo and behold there was a version narrated by Titus Welliver. So I dove in. Without first realizing it was an abridged version.
A highly abridged version. We're talking 5 hours when the fully unabridged is like 15! But I thought, no big deal. It's a reread!
Wrong! I remembered absolutely nothing about the book. So what I thought would be a nice refresher was simply a reminder that my brain is apparently at full capacity with 80's and 90's song lyrics and quickly going out of date pop culture references.
So I undertook reading/listening to the whole thing again.
Y'all I want to reiterate HOW BAD my memory is. I posted about Every Dead Thing back in 2009 when I originally read it! From that original post:
In the first of the series, Every Dead Thing, Charlie has been out of commission for a while thanks to the murder of his wife and daughter. At the time, he was a police officer with a heavy drinking problem. Now, he's retired and working the private sector. In the first half of the book, Parker has been hired to track down a missing woman. He traces her to a small town in Virginia where she grew up. It just so happens, that when the woman was much younger, her own sister was abducted and killed, along with several other children. Parker's nosing about in the long ago crime has riled up quite a few townsfolk who would like nothing more than for him to leave, by force if necessary. Parker solves his case and returns to NYC where he is contacted by someone claiming to be behind the murder of his family. This leads Parker to New Orleans where, with the help of an odd pairing of pals, he attempts to finally track down the man responsible for taking away everything he ever loved.
Every Dead Thing reads, in some ways, like two novellas brought together to form the beginnings of a series. Not at all a bad thing, and definitely something that makes this book stand out. It's not many authors who start fresh with a new story in the middle of a book. Although, in many other ways, it's not at all a new story. Parker is plagued by the murder of his wife and daughter throughout the entire first half of the novel. Connolly's brutal tale is not for the faint-hearted; it's truly a shocking and suspenseful thriller. Every Dead Thing was a Shamus winner in 2000 for Best First PI Novel.
Y'all! Over half of this book takes place in Louisiana. Where I am from! And I didn't even remember that!
Props to Connolly for doing his research, though. The Louisiana stuff is good. He definitely put a lot of care into researching that considering he's Irish writing a series based in the US. And Charlie even has gumbo twice in one day! (My one note is that the character using chorizo should have been using andouille but that likely could have been an editorial mistake as much as anything. The pronunciations in the audio were amusing to say the least.)
Now I would rag on Neil and Angela except it's not their fault I have no self control. I will stress, though, that I am hugely grateful that the audio books are available on Hoopla as I try to stick to client projects during the week. Audiobooks are my gardening, driving, getting outside, and general break taking treat.
And since I'm 15% into book 3 I guess I'm making this my summer of Connolly (I think I mentioned online I always thought I'd binge Michael Connelly's early books first since I've read roughly from the halfway point forward—and today is the launch of the Ballard show!) but Connolly seems to be the one this summer!
Every Dead Thing is readily available in print and audio (abridged and unabridged in the case of the latter). Order a copy today from your favorite bookstore via Bookshop.org! (And if you order this week you get free shipping for anti-prime!)