John Connolly - The White Road (2003)
John Connolly is quite simply the best thing to have happened to the American thriller genre for years. He has more than proved that with his first books, as each one has gotten better and better. The trend is evident once more in The White Road, his fourth Charlie Parker novel, and his best so far.
This time, Parker travels to South Carolina to investigate the rape of the daughter of wealthy Earl Larousse. Accused is her black boyfriend, Atys Jones, which of course does not go down well in a community that still feel the scars of slavery and segregation.
Unbeknownst to Charlie, the fanatical preacher Faulkner, in his prison cell far away in the north, is planning his horrible revenge on "Bird." It's a revenge to be wrought by strange killer Cyrus Nairn, and a revenge that will bring the lives of those he holds dear close to the abyss. That is not all either. Something horrific resides deep in the swamps, an old evil, and it, too, wants vengeance.
This novel seeps excellence from every pore. The prose is exceptional, wonderfully lyrical, almost like poetry. The book itself is dark and haunting, made even more so by the wonderful way that Connolly blends subtle elements of horror into the story. The characters are an intriguing bunch, disparate players all connected to the flawed Parker. Angel and Louis return once again, providing a much-needed outlet for tension. This time we even get to learn a little more about them and their past. Faulkner remains terrifying, even while behind bars, and Cyrus Nairn, the released killer that he employs to do his dirty work, is deliciously creepy.
Connolly's books are essentially battles between immensely potent evil and flawed good, and they show us that even in these situations it is possible for good to achieve victory -- but not without a price.
A story of incredible darkness and how we can never truly be free of it, The White Road is a masterpiece of fiction.
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