Bad Men

January 19, 2004
The long-dead, gray-skinned wraiths Connolly conjures up in this thriller with a supernatural twist are lighthearted sprites compared to the grotesque humans who maim, rape and kill their way through the gore-clotted story of horror and revenge. Connolly's usual protagonist, Charlie "Bird" Parker (The White Road
; Dark Hollow
; Every Dead Thing
), makes only a brief appearance here, for which he should give heartfelt thanks. Off the coast of Maine, Dutch Island, known to the old-timers as Sanctuary, is cursed by the spirits of those who died in a savage slaughter there in the year 1693. In the present day, imprisoned murderer Edward Moloch dreams of an ancient land where he is a hunter bent on the massacre of his wife and the inhabitants of a small village. Moloch, the worst of the bad men of the title, escapes from prison and leaves a trail of mutilated victims behind as he searches for the wife who several years earlier betrayed him to police to escape his brutality. On Dutch Island, longtime native Joe Dupree, known as Melancholy Joe, is the oversize (7' 2" and 360 pounds) but gentle chief of police. He's developed a fondness for beautiful newcomer Marianne Elliott, and the feeling is mutual. Unfortunately, Marianne is Moloch's ex-wife and Moloch's on his way, leading a small gang of other very bad men. It's a terrifying story, the action brutal, grotesque and unrelentingly violent. Horrified readers will turn the last blood-soaked page wondering if they would have begun the first had they known what was coming. Think Thomas Harris by way of Stephen King: haunting, compelling, but not for the faint of heart. Agent, Darley Anderson.
(Mar.)

Forecast
: Connolly lives in Ireland, but travels frequently in America to research his locations. His earlier novels have done well and built a nice base of fans with strong stomachs who like their thrillers as cold and dark as the grave.

April 15, 2004
In his latest thriller, Connolly is again in Maine but without his usual protagonist, P.I. Charlie Parker (last seen in The White Road). Instead, we meet Joe Dupree, the only resident policeman on Sanctuary, a remote island off the Maine coast with a strange and violent history. We also get acquainted with a large cast of ruthless killers, all accompanying the evil Edward Moloch in his quest to find his wife, Marianne, and the $800,000 she took upon escaping his ruthless abuse. Fittingly, she comes to Sanctuary, and Dupree is attracted to her. While Moloch and his bad men track down Marianne, leaving a trail of violent killings in their wake, some equally deadly forces awaken on the island, coming into full power just as Moloch and company arrive during a blizzard-wracked night. Which evil will prevail-real or paranormal? Connolly has again provided a malevolent, soulless vision of humankind, but the characters seem to be there solely to perpetrate or suffer violence. Purchase for demand.-Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2004
The author of the Charlie Parker mysteries heads off in a different direction in his new novel. The small island of Sanctuary, off the coast of Maine, was once the scene of a bloody massacre. Now, three centuries later, evil has again come to the island, a modern-day evil with strange, eerie connections to the events of the late 1600s. Do two police officers have even a remote chance of stopping the carnage? This is one of those novels that refuses to be pigeonholed. It's a thriller; it's a mystery; it's a tale of the supernatural (sort of). At its center is Joe Dupree, the (literal) gentle giant of a cop, a man whose kindness and compassion would appear to make him a bad choice to defend the citizens of Sanctuary from the marauding evil that approaches. This elegantly written good-versus-evil story will appeal not only to crime-fiction readers but also to fans of such high-profile horror authors as King and Koontz.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)