THE REAPERS
John Connolly
Atria Books
Thriller
ISBN: 9781416569527

Those who follow John Connolly’s mythos of bedeviled detective Charlie Parker have been wondering since the conclusion of 2007’s THE UNQUIET precisely what Parker would do next. His license pulled and his family gone, Parker would seem to be on the verge of…something. But it appears that whatever it is will have to wait a bit, as THE REAPERS goes in another direction from Parker, though not entirely off his map. It is a trip that fans of Connolly will savor from beginning to end.

THE REAPERS is principally the story of Louis, the enigmatic killer who Parker occasionally calls upon for backup. The narrative cuts back and forth in time, from Louis’s early life in a small southern town, where, barely into adolescence, he committed his first murder, to the present, where an action in his past --- a contract killing, carried out without rancor or personal malice --- is coming back to pursue him with a dire and unstoppable messenger. Along the way we meet Gabriel, Louis’s mentor and truly the closest thing he has ever had to a father, a man who introduced Louis to the world of the Reapers. Louis left that world after developing the rudimentary beginnings of a conscience --- not much, but enough to ruin him for their purposes --- yet he remains just as dangerous, as readers of Connolly’s other books well know.

Leaving the Reapers meant leaving Gabriel. Suddenly, however, Gabriel is back in Louis’s life. Long ago, at Gabriel’s behest, Louis killed Jon Leehagan. It took Arthur, Jon’s father, years to determine who had carried out the assignment. A man of great wealth and power, Arthur is now visiting a terrible vengeance on all involved, and using as his instrument an individual who bears a great and unyielding grudge against Louis for his own reasons. Louis and his partner Angel are given the ability to go against Arthur on his own ground, but things go terribly wrong. Help for them is coming from an unexpected source, but even that may not be enough as a cataclysmic conclusion is played out against the quiet of upstate New York, where endings will take place and, possibly, new beginnings will occur.

Connolly is at the top of his game here. He takes great risks, peeling back the story of one of his most unique protagonists while keeping Parker at bay for the most part, and introduces new characters, some of whom will no doubt have roles to play in future efforts. But what the book arguably signifies is the broadness of the canvas on which the author paints. While Parker is a fascinating character, there are a number of people in his orbit who can hold a novel on their own. At least two, and possibly more, are introduced who could be the fodder for an entire book, tied into Parker’s life or not.

After seven Parker novels (if one counts BAD MEN), Connolly can swerve back into Parker’s life or meander on the edge of it, successfully merging the new with the familiar. As strange as it may seem, what we have read from him to date may well be but an introduction to where he is going. And if THE REAPERS is any indication of what the journey will be like, you will want a lifetime ticket.

    --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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