The Unquiet" Are Nicely Unsettling (The Unquiet - John Connolly)

Member Name: DiamondCat

Product:	The Unquiet - John Connolly
Date:	06/05/08 (3 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great suspense/ horror, enough unexplained elements

Disadvantages: unnecessary and detailed violence

This was my first book by John Connolly. I'm half way through another now, and his style is consistent. He seems to be one of the few authors that still know how to create a really unsettling atmosphere.

The lead character in most of his books, Charlie Parker, is flawed as well as haunted by his own issues. He was a police man once, but has switched to being a private investigator. There is also his second wife and their daughter. Two other recurring characters are Charlie's back up team Angel and Louis.This book is one of the later ones of a whole series, but it is easy to understand on its own.
In this story Parker is hired by a woman to find her father who disappeared years ago. Though he has officially been declared dead, there is a lot of doubt about what really happened to him. He was a psychologist and shortly before his disappearance, there had been mounting allegations of child abuse. Nothing was ever proved, but neither was he mourned by anyone. It is clear to Parker that the woman hasn't put him fully in the picture.
Another man is looking for the missing psychologist and his own missing daughter.

Most of the story is set in Maine, where Parker now lives. The action of the mentioned characters and many others are all ultimately interconnected. And as more people die, the line between villains and victims becomes blurred.
As usual with Connolly, present day events are closely linked with past ones.
Despite the its size (around 500 pages), the book isn't overly detailed or lengthy. One may occasionally be on the verge of getting impatient and this is exactly when you feel a chill at the back of your neck because of the spooky elements in Connolly's writing. He ventures into gothic/ horror territory in the parts narrated by Parker. And I at least haven't figured out if Parker just imagines these things, believes them or if they're actually happening in the story. Probably it's this lack of certainty that makes his style irresistible.

In view of the atmosphere, it would seem unnecessary to include graphic violence too. I firmly believe that atmosphere and suspense are superior and don't need violence for its own sake. But the bottom line is that Connolly is a disturbingly skillful author.
One detail that irritates me about him is something he said in an interview, and it doesn't relate to this book. He states that modern authors shouldn't be compared to such ones as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and that these classical authors shouldn't be considered superior. But such authors were at the very least landmarks. Not to mention that a century ago, books weren't a mass product like today. Quality may well have been far more important than now. After all there was only one Einstein, there's only one Stephen Hawking. And Sir Arthur deserves recognition for being one of the first to create a superb fictional detective.
(Sorry , but I had to rant!)

The listing for this title seems to refer to both the hard back and the audio book. I can only comment on the paper back. Also the summary above seems to refer to another author's work entirely.
Connolly's paper backs are generally £7, at their full price. But supermarkets and Amazon offer better deals. And if you don't mind reading a used book, ebay is a handy way to save money too.

Summary: an author that know how to creep you out