Dark Hollow

By: John Connolly

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

Length: 14 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Still raw from the brutal slayings of his wife and daughter, and the events surrounding the capture of their killer, The Travelling Man, Charlie Parker, retreats to the wintry Maine landscape of his childhood. By following in the steps of his beloved grandfather, Parker hopes to heal his spirit and get through the bitter anniversary of Jennifer and Susan's murder. But the echoes of the past that await him are not all benign.

In a gruesome re-enactment of Parker's own nightmares, another young woman is killed with her child and his brief involvement in their lives impels Parker to hunt their vicious murderer. As the death toll mounts, Parker comes to realise that the true answer to the puzzle lies 30 years in the past, in a tree with strange fruit, in his own grandfather's history, and in the perverted desires of a monster incarnate - Caleb Kyle.

©2000 John Connolly (P)2004 ISIS Publishing Ltd

The Charlie Parker series is a good

John Connolly is clearly an accomplished writer and the Charlie Parker series is a good one. Haunted by the loss of his family and guilt for his involvement in or connection to so many deaths and tragedies Charlie Parker finds himself invlolved in complicated situattions. With his customary introspective mindset, and the support of a couple of endearing characters, Charlie often finds his initiatives require unexpected life or death split second reactions in order to survive. Looking forward to his next adventure.

Beautifully crafted suspense mingled with poetry

Would you listen to Dark Hollow again? Why?

For the complexity of the story, which is multi-layered, for the superb reading by Jeff Harding who brings such colour to each scene and every personality.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dark Hollow?

From the beginning to the last word.

Have you listened to any of Jeff Harding’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Jeff Harding is the master of readers...incomparable delivery. I often choose a book because I know the quality of his delivery.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

For adults with poetry and danger in their souls.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Lost My Way!

I lost my way very early in this story. The author's constant side-tracking into lengthy explanations of each mood and gesture of the protagonist, his minutely detailed descriptions of the looks and dress of each character as they appear, the landscape, the weather, etc. and I totally lost any thread of plot I might have previously picked up. I kept coming back to the Publisher's Summary on this site to remind myself what I was supposed to be listening to! I did plough on but it got no better and I can't, in all honesty, tell you what it was about.

I do, however, enjoy hearing the voice of Jeff Harding, whatever he reads, and I know that's what kept me going to the end - whatever it was.

6 of 9 people found this review helpful

Great story telling

I enjoyed this book and thought that the story was great. The narration too was very good, although I felt during the first 3 quarters of the book the narrator's "normal" story telling voice was a bit monotone and lacked feeling. This changed later as he seemed to get more into the story himself. However, throughout the book his voices and accents were excellent, especially those of Angel and Louis.

Great complex plot and brilliant turns of phrase

The story weaves though complicated intersecting plots. But it is the writing and original turns of phrase which bring smiles in the dark doings as Bird tries to find a kidnapped girl among a growing pile of corpses.

brilliant

I loved this book so much
brilliantly written and Charle Parker is great character
very addictive series

Jeff Harding brilliant as usual!

The story was dark and troubling, the characters are well portrayed. I loved the book!

Gruesome,gripping, read

The second book in the Charlie Parker series is just as grisly as the first. Connolly weaves a masterful story about the bogeyman and sets it in Maine. There is a little light relief from wise cracking duo Angel and Louis but it's a bump in the night read with a particularly nasty baddie.

Great tale

This a really good story which had me hooked all the way to the end. The narrator did a good job and although he only used two voices I thought it was well done. Would definitely listen to more by this author.

Not Easy

if it hadn't been for the narration, I would have put this down. However, I persevered, but found the book very hard going, so did not finish it.

Predictable

Enjoyed it but always a predictable read. Nice descriptive writing but some times v long winded. Easy read not challenging