Starred review from August 26, 2019
Connolly’s complex, pulse-pounding 17th supernatural thriller featuring Maine-based investigator Charlie Parker (after 2018’s The Woman in the Woods) finds Parker still on the trail of Quayle, a possibly immortal English lawyer, and Pallida Mors, Quayle’s appropriately named killing machine. In the previous volume, their first round ended in a draw: Quayle was successful in retrieving some missing pages from a book called “the Fractured Atlas,” but Parker managed to retain one page, preventing Quayle from using the volume to end the world. Their duel now continues, as clues about the two villains, who rival Hannibal Lecter in their creepiness, send Parker and his allies to Amsterdam in search of them, even as police in the U.K. probe a series of murders connected with a bizarre religion, the Congregation of Adam Before Eve & Eve Before Adam, whose god demands the spilling of blood. Connolly’s nuanced characterizations and facility at creating spooky atmospherics make it easy to suspend disbelief about the threat of cosmic horror from other dimensions. This underrated author deserves a wider audience. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary (U.K.).