The Woman in the Woods

By: John Connolly

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

From internationally best-selling author and “creative genius who has few equals in either horror fiction or the mystery genre” (New York Journal of Books) comes a gripping thriller starring private investigator Charlie Parker. When the body of a woman - who apparently died in childbirth - is discovered, Parker is hired to track down both her identity and her missing child.

In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the dead young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby.

Private detective Charlie Parker is hired by a lawyer to shadow the police investigation and find the infant but Parker is not the only searcher. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in much more than a missing child...someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake.

And in a house by the woods, a toy telephone begins to ring and a young boy is about to receive a call from a dead woman.

©2018 John Connolly (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Can we please get rid of the narrator?

I love John Connolly's Parker books. I have them all in hard cover. I also have them all on Audible. I listen to them all at least once a year. This is the last time I will purchase them to listen to.

The story: Yet another good story, very entertaining, with hints at trouble to come. I want to hear more about the item being searched for. And Jennifer. And Sam. I find them fascinating. What I could definitely do without is the politics. Really? An Irishman expressing ideas about the Confederacy? No. The only way this worked for me was Louis reacted. Anything more, and I fear I will commit a spoiler.

Jeff Harding: If you are from Maine, you will probably find this narrator as annoying as did I. We here in Maine do not all have a down east accent. Also, most of us do not have nasal voices. We do not whine. And, why doesn't he request proper pronunciation for towns and areas of Maine? Piscataquis (pis-CAT-a-kwis, an Abnaki word) County was mentioned many, many times during this book, and he never got it right. My teeth hurt after finishing it. *raises hand* I would happily volunteer to be contacted before the next narration to assist whomever is performing to get the Maine stuff right. Now, as a caveat, I have not read this one yet, so he may be referring to a made up town when he says "pis-ka-TACK-us". If so, then I apologize. This narrator has read quite a few of the books, and, in every one, there has been a mispronunciation, or a downeast accent for someone who shouldn't have one.He has a one dimensional viewpoint of us, and it irritates me. Obviously.

Could not get into this book.

Jumped around too much at beginning. Could not get into it enough to keep reading.

Difficult and unnerving

The premise of the story is basic. But to stretch it out for in excess of 130 chapters is not necessary. Much is lost in the dullness of the minutia.

I would have preferred this story to be shorter and less detailed as my attention waived. The story is of a woman helped because of her unsavory living conditions. Then is murdered with the child that she was carrying stolen from her body.
Her ghost haunts her son and many others. There is a hunt to find information about her. There is also searching for her child. This storyline is great. But the detailing hinders the listener and makes it difficult to follow.

I very rarely stop any book in the middle due to disinterest. Yet I made an exception in this case. I enjoy reading immensely. I enjoy audible book listening as well. But this book has proven to me to be too much of an effort to follow. Therefore I admit that I just continued around chapter 76.

It is my hope that this is not the case for other readers. Please make your own decision but understand that I am a huge fan of John Sanford, James Patterson, Harlan Coban, Lisa Scottline as well as Dean Koontz Mary roach, David Sedaris, Robin Cook, Patricia Cornwell and Lisa Gardner among others. Possibly this book alone dulled my interest. Possibly this author has other books I may enjoy.

Good luck.

wonderful

I miss Charlie Parker already. This book reminded me how much I love this series.

Another great Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker is a favorite of mine and this one was great! Narrator Jeff Harding is one of the best narrators, really made all the characters come to life. I could listen to him all day

get in with the plot.

Nope, no story here. Just cashing the yearly paycheck. Cynical effort, has entered soap opera territory with no plot development, only self referential churn. disappointing.

Eerily fun.

A blending of the ancient ways of things lost better off never ever exposed. of the never ending brutality of God and man.

Dumb

Story doesn't hang together. Too many ghosts. Bad ending. Reader tried to make the most of it.

Decent story, odd narration.

Story plot was interesting: murder, mystery, a little sci-fi mixed in. The narrator took some getting used to. He generally did a good job of switching voices for the characters, which isn’t always easy for a man doing women’s voices. His take on a characters voice from Indiana though, was almost insulting. If a man owns and runs a successful diner, helps abused women, is a rare book collector and reader, it doesn’t follow he should be given a dumb- hick kind of voice just because he’s in rural Indiana. It often felt like he was reading a to-do list or instruction manual.

Charlie Parker

The Woman in the Woods is excellent. I'm looking forward to part two and beyond.