Review: The Woman in the Woods

The Woman in the Woods by John Connolly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review: THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS by John Connolly (Charlie Parker #16)

The inimitable private detective Charlie Parker never disappoints, nor does his creator, John Connolly. Every adventure of Parker's is riveting, raising further the veil hiding the Other Side. In this novel, Charlie Parker becomes if possible more philosophical, more metaphysical, even more attuned to the supernatural, preternatural, the otherworldly. His deep and abiding capacity for self-analysis put me in mind of St. Teresa of Avila' s "The Interior Castle" (1588), an apt comparison given that the major villain here believes he has been alive since the Reformation.

As Parker faced down a continuing Nazi presence in
A SONG OF SHADOWS, here the political/cultural bogey is the rise of bigotry in the form of white supremacism, and Parker becomes my hero for life at the conclusion. Of course, racism is not the only villain here; even more terrifying is the threat of the literal End of All from the Not-Gods (yes, you read that correctly), and if that isn't sufficient, there are humans whose hatred is so all-encompassing as to render the End of All the preferred option.

This isn't my favorite Charlie Parker novel (not enough for me of my favorite series character); those remain A GAME OF GHOSTS; THE WOLF IN WINTER; and of course, THE REAPERS. But THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS is important, in the character evolution of Parker and Louis and lawyer Moxie Castin; more on the Backers, and the villains Quayle and Pallida Mors. It's also holds a very significant position in the supernatural milieu of this series.

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