Everyone turns against introverted Colleen Clark as she stands accused of murdering her infant son following a bout of post-partum depression. Enter eccentric attorney Moxie Castin and his brilliant detective Charlie Parker, who both believe that Clark is innocent and are suspicious of her husband, who immediately throws her under the bus. Add a group of weekend Fascists nearby and a reluctant psychic looking to redeem herself, and you have a potent mixture. Once I started this book, I was glued to the couch until I finished. Plenty of twists and turns with a satisfying resolution. This is my first Charlie Parker thriller. I am late to the party, but it seems like I will spend the rest of the summer catching up.

THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS, the twenty-first novel in John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series, is a riveting piece of fiction that seamlessly blends mystery and the supernatural against a shadowy backdrop of horror in an inscrutable, earthy Maine setting.

A young mother, Colleen Clark, stands accused and faces trial for the worst crime a mother can commit, the murder of her child. She claims someone entered the house in the middle of the night and abducted her infant son, and he is still missing. But based on a singular piece of damning evidence, the prosecution, the police, most of her neighbors, and even her own husband Stephen believe she’s guilty and that she disposed of the child’s body. To make matters even worse for Colleen, the local prosecutor and the state attorney general want to use her case to further their political aspirations by convicting her and sending her to prison. But her attorney Moxie Castin believes she is innocent. He hires private investigator Charlie Parker to help him find evidence that exonerates Colleen Clark or at least destroys the state’s weak case. Parker, also convinced of Colleen’s innocence, investigates and soon has plenty of questions about who is responsible for the abduction and possible murder of Colleen’s two-year-old son, Henry, and looks for answers. That puts him on a collision course with the caretakers of an old, twisted house deep within the Maine woods, and the protectors of its evil secrets. As he’s drawn closer to the heart of the mystery and begins to unravel the truth, the greater the peril Parker faces.

Author John Connolly delivers another hauntingly powerful tale with The Instruments of Darkness. This book offers a stark reminder of the folly of regarding everything we cannot explain as phony.

It was only recently that I read my first Charlie Parker novel, Every Dead Thing, the first in the series. By the time I read this one, I had already binged-read the first five novels. I had by then a good feel for the character and had taken the measure of Connolly’s writing style, which I find brilliant. Connolly’s unique strength is weaving together many threads in his stories that add depth and intrigue, and that create apprehension in the reader akin to waiting for an inevitable impending train wreck, as the competing narratives surge toward a shocking climax.

The background of the Michaud family and the heinous events that take place on their land over generations is an aspect of the narrative that helps create an atmosphere of palpable tension building tantalizingly throughout the story. Connolly blends the compelling supernatural element and adroitly explores the way people’s actions leave an imprint on the earth—whether concrete or ethereal.

Despite the hefty length of the book, five hundred plus words, Connolly has crafted a succinct and efficient plot with no wasted pages, taking the time and space needed to develop an absorbing mystery and the host of well-rounded characters. Who knew a mystery and detective novel could be so terrifying? Even horror fans are going to love this novel. And for Connolly’s thriller and suspense fans, this is classic Charlie Parker.

Emily Bestler Books/Altria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster LLC first published The Instruments of Darkness on May 07, 2024. I received an advance reader’s copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review, which represents my honest opinions.

A creepy house in the woods. A mother is arrested for killing her child. The psychic searching for redemption. Fascists wet-dreaming about the Civil War. And Charlie Parker, who thinks — no feels — something more sinister is going on.

The Instruments of Darkness was my first foray into John Connolly’s work and I couldn’t be more surprised or impressed. I’ve seen Connolly’s books for years and heard good things. I went in ‘dark’; I didn't read the synopsis and knew nothing of Charlie Parker’s world. Boy, was I surprised. Dipping into the paranormal/spiritual caught me completely off guard. I didn’t hate it. I didn’t hate it so much I’ve already finished 3 other Parker books.

The Instruments of Darkness is an excellent read even if the paranormal isn’t your cup of tea.

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Instruments of Darkness and be introduced to John Connolly and the world of Charlie Parker.

Very good overall story line however there are many times that I felt board because of there being too much detail especially when introducing new characters or providing subsequent background about them. I felt this was unnecessary and was a distraction from the overall plot. The ending was good though I still have some questions.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Well, it felt good getting back into Charlie Parker's head again! It had been a while since I had read a book in this series but I had forgotten how much I enjoy Charlie as a character and this book did not disappoint. Connolly always adds that layer of the supernatural in this series and this was no exception.

Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on May 7, 2024

At some point in The Instruments of Darkness, Charlie Parker tells a cop that he’s read all the John Sandford novels and believes Sandford is “as good as they come.” There’s no doubt that Sandford is an excellent storyteller. He populates credible plots with strong characters and writes snappy dialog. But John Connolly is also a gifted storyteller. Plus, Connolly’s prose has a literary quality that only a handful of crime writers can match.

Colleen Clark has been charged with murdering her son. She’s hired Moxie Castin to represent her. As usual, Castin has hired Parker to look into the charges. The police don’t have a body or proof of death, but Colleen’s husband says he found a bloody blanket in the trunk of Colleen’s car. The blanket came from their house, making Colleen a prime suspect.

Colleen suffered from postpartum depression and made the kind of remarks that parents typically make about regretting her choice to have a child. Parker believes those facts merit sympathy but knows they’ll be used against her. Her husband called the police when he found the blanket and, this being an election year, a decision was made to prosecute Colleen for manslaughter — with a promised upgrade to murder if the police find evidence that Colleen intended to kill her son.

The setup might seem flimsy, but the prosecution is based on the political reality that it doesn’t look good for the death of a child to go unpunished. Charging Colleen will satisfy the perpetually outraged public and help the career of an attorney general who wants to be governor and a prosecutor who wants to be attorney general. The prosecutor assumes that jurors will ignore the absence of evidence (apart from the bloody blanket) because they will be too outraged to care about reasonable doubt. This is a cynical and entirely accurate view of how the criminal justice system works. “A child was missing and his mother was about to be dragged into the machinery of the law. It chewed people up, the innocent as well as the guilty, and called the result justice, but only a fool would accept that as true.”

Colleen tells Parker that her husband admitted to having an affair but she doesn’t believe he would have killed their son. Parker’s investigation leads to a puzzling inability to find the woman with whom Colleen’s husband had sex. How that plays into Colleen’s innocence or guilt is revealed late in the story.

Connolly usually adds a supernatural element to his stories, both because he sees Maine as a creepy place (it produced Stephen King, right?) and because the supernatural is a way of envisioning evil as a force — the kind of force that is necessary to abduct and kill a child. A key character is a medium who speaks to (or at least hears) the dead. Parker has been known to converse with his dead daughter, so he is open to the woman’s help.

Another force of evil is white supremacy and nationalism, represented here by a group of kooks who live on land that is adjacent to land owned by a family of misfits — a family that seems to be harboring or perhaps ruled by the malevolent force that the medium senses. Connolly describes one of the nationalists as “a frightened creature, fearful of change; fearful of anyone whose color, creed, or language was different from his own; and most of all, fearful of others who refused to follow his path.” That about sums it up.

Parker and his two foot soldiers, Angel and Louis, have had unfortunate encounters with the supremacists before, paving the way for more violence when Parker interferes with their plans. The trio (plus Castin) engage in darkly amusing dialog, balancing dark drama with dark humor.

The Instruments of Darkness blends a detective novel with a horror story, although Connolly downplays the horror to an extent, at least as compared to some of his other books. I prefer detectives to look for clues and, while Parker does that for much of the story, he ultimately relies on the medium to solve the mystery. Still, Connolly maintains tension and ties up every thread by the time the story ends. Charlie Parker novels are always a joy to read, if only for Parker’s guardedly optimistic view of humanity as it struggles against evil. This one is no exception.

RECOMMENDED

My thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler and Netgalley.
It's Charlie Parker and Louie and Angel and the Fulci brothers. Of course this dang story is the bomb!
One of my favorite things in life is reading about Charlie and friends. I love them all.
The first half of this book is mostly filled with Parker! I'm ecstatic about that because I seldom seem to get my fill of Charlie. Charlie is my most beloved character of all time in a series.
This story has everything that we crave from this series. Mostly just being around Charlie and the supernatural aspect. This was that!
Lot's of changes. "No spoilers."
I did have one issue, and that was the fact that Charlie seems to have become intolerant of other opinions. I'm with Parker on all of his thinking "mostly" it just reminded me of how some other people, from the other side of the aisle are so set and fixed in their ways. Well, both sides of the aisle I suppose! Still, this is the one and only series that I've read since its inception and have continued with. Parker and friends never get old.
I'd recommend reading this series from the beginning. Otherwise you're going to miss some incredibly important stuff.

It’s a funny thing about long running series, how some of them become stale after a time while others just keep building. The Charlie Parker series by John Connolly is one of the latter, and with every addition to it I am more riveted, more amused, and more engaged than I was before. The Instruments of Darkness is the 21st in the series. My thanks go to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler for the review copy; that said, this is one of the rare times that I would have laid out full jacket price if that was the only way I could obtain a copy.

This book is for sale now.

Charlie Parker is a former cop turned private detective with a terrible past. He stepped out to buy a newspaper one morning and returned to find his wife and small daughter savagely butchered; the guilt at not being home to defend them was overwhelming, if irrational. He dedicated himself to finding the person that had done it, and making certain they never did it again. Since then, he’s served as a professional snoop on behalf of other wronged persons. Because he often upsets people with money, power, and twisted morals, he often brings along his own muscle when he works, or in some cases, contracts with them to bodyguard his clients during the process. So it is this time.
The job has to do with a young mother whose baby has been kidnapped from its crib during the night. Colleen woke from the first sound sleep she’d had in forever only to find the nursery window open, and Henry gone from his bed. Later her husband Stephen finds a blanket in the trunk of her car, soaked in blood, which, when analyzed by law enforcement, turns out to be the boy’s blood. Stephen tells the police that he is sure she must have done it, and he leaves her.

But she didn’t. Of course not.

In his last few Charlie Parker novels, Connolly has added touches of horror and magical realism, and it’s only made his stories better. In particular, he is adept at sentient houses or other buildings. Sometimes it really is the structure; at other times there’s some sort of being that lives there, unseen. In this case it’s an old house built from a Sears Roebuck kit over a century ago, and so he names it “Kit No. 174,” and after it appears a time or two in the story, generally as the opening of a new chapter, I get the shivers just seeing the name. The narration tells us, “No one had ever spent long in it—or no one had ever lived in it for long, which is not the same thing. No, not the same thing at all.” There are some minor references to other houses that have appeared in the series, and these will delight the faithful readers that remember them; it did me. However, newbies that are just starting this series will be fine.

The recurring characters shine brightly here. The attorney that often hires Parker, Moxie Castin, opens the book, and we get a resonant character sketch:

“Moxie Castin was easy to underestimate, but only on first impression. He was overweight by the equivalent of a small child, didn’t use one word in public when five others were loitering nearby with nothing better to do, and had a taste for ties reminiscent of the markings of poisonous insects or the nightmares of LSD survivors…He lost cases, but not many, and his friends far outnumbered his enemies.”

Other recurring characters are the Fulci brothers, and when I see their names, I smile. They’re described as “two wrecking balls in human form.” Another is Sabine, a shy, tortured psychic that just wants the dead to go away and leave her alone, and best of all, Angel and Louis, a lawless couple of friends—the word “couple” applies in two different ways here—that Parker hires when things get spicy. If I smile when we are joined by the Fulcis, I beam when I see Angel and Louis. And in a nod to series regulars, there’s a point when Parker simply tells someone, “They’re coming,” and he doesn’t say who, but of course, we know exactly who. (Later he explains them for the uninitiated.) There’s a favorite passage of mine in which Parker is concluding an interview, done in a restaurant, and when he and the other person emerge, she sees them and asks,

“Are they with you?’
“They’re my associates.’
“They don’t look like private detectives. Don’t take this the wrong way, but they look like criminals. If they came into the store, I’d lie down on the floor with my hands behind my head.’
“Sometimes that’s precisely the effect we seek.’”

Oh, there’s so much more, but you need to find these things for yourself. The story is on the gritty side, but not nearly as much so as some of the others in the series. In fact, I generally have a policy of not reading this series at bedtime, lest it enter my dreams. I violated that policy once, and I did indeed have a dreadful night afterward. And so I behaved myself until I hit the last twenty percent, and at that point, I knew I would read it until it was done, regardless of the time or proximity to lights out, because I had to see the resolution. I had guessed, long before, whodunit, but that felt beside the point. So I stayed up and saw it through…and I’m not a bit sorry.

Highly recommended to those that love the genre, and especially to Charlie Parker buffs.

Really enjoyed this one. Less violence as he allows Charlie to age and a bit less of the super natural. A woman is accused of kidnapping and presumably killing her son. Charlie becomes involved and of course gets involved in a very tangled mess.

This, the 21st installment of the one of the best dark fiction series' ever created, holds up to the standards I've come to expect from John Connolly.

This time around Charlie is working a case for Moxie, one that appears to be cut and dried. But the mysteries and cases that Charlie works are never cut and dried, and this one was no exception. A woman's son is missing, taken from his bedroom while his mother slept. The police were furiously looking for the missing boy, until they found a blood-soaked blanket in the trunk of the mother's car. From that point on, the police are only looking at her and she is soon arrested. Luckily she has Moxie for a lawyer and Charlie comes along with him. Enter a sad and tortured psychic, a group of white supremacists, and a decrepit house in the woods, and you have the setup for THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS. Will Charlie clear the mother of murder? Will the psychic be redeemed and WHAT is in that house? You'll have to read this to find out!

Here we are 21 books in and I never want this series to end. I know that it's going to because all of my favorite characters are getting old now. Angel and Luis are beginning to show their age, and they don't move as quickly as they used to. Same with Charlie, too. But when an author is as good as John Connolly is, the reader never wants to let go of characters like this. Angel and Luis are killers and would be considered bad guys in any other books, but not these. Every time they appear I find myself smiling.

Once again, Connolly hits the top of the bar with this reader, and that bar was already set pretty high. I am eagerly anticipating, (and kind of dreading), the next book in the series. I sense heartbreak will soon be coming for Parker fans, but I still want my heart broken just the same. I mean, if it's going to be broken, it might as well be at the hands of one of the best crime writers out there, right? Until that time, I reluctantly say goodbye to Charlie, Angel and Luis. I hope to see you all again, alive and well, my friends.

My highest recommendation!

*ARC from publisher.*

Nothing--NOTHING--is comparable to a John Connolly "Charlie Parker" novel. I firmly believe this Series exists in some sort of liminal space, and as soon as I turn to the first page, I am "awa' wi' the faeries" (sometimes, almost literally, because long-bereaved Charlie Parker, brutally deprived of his first daughter and her mother, later of the presence of his second daughter), exists himself in a realm not quite our own, an in-between world where suspension of disbelief is unnecessary).

To enter any novel in Connolly's Charlie Parker universe is to step across a portal into an "unknown country" where surface "reality" might look just the same; but in a few moments you're going to discover that not only are you "not in Kansas any more, Toto," you're also not in recognizable reality any more. Here the dead are just a blink away, and apparently we all are psychic. Here the most convoluted conspiracy and plots imaginable are not only possible, but actual.

A child is missing, his mother under suspicion…but evil comes in many guises.

When young Henry Clark goes missing in Portland, ME, suspicion soon falls on his mother Colleen. She was known to have suffered from postpartum issues, and even her husband is convinced that Colleen is guilty. Her mother Evelyn contacts lawyer Moxie Castin to represent Colleen, and Moxie in turn brings investigator Charlie Parker on board. Colleen has been found guilty in the court of public opinion, and Attorney General Paul Nowak and Assistant AG Erin Becker concur. They also have political ambitions, and the successful conviction of a baby killer would help both of their career aspirations. Nowak and Becker also loathe Moxie and Parker, which will only complicate matters. Parker lost his own child to violence, which makes him either the best or the worst choice to investigate Henry’s disappearance. As he digs into the case, he looks more deeply into Stephen’s possible role in the disappearance, especially given the man’s recent infidelity. When Parker is contacted by Sabine Drew, a woman whose psychic powers had in the past helped law enforcement in cases like Henry’s but who retreated from public view when her involvement in a case went horribly wrong, new but dark avenues to pursue emerge. They are drawn to a property which in days of yore would have been simply marked on a map as, “here there be evil”. What if anything does the Michaud family land have to do with the Clarks? Is Sabine genuine, or does she have ulterior motives? Can Parker find out what happened to Henry, or will others have to die?
This is the 21st outing of Charlie Parker, but do not fear….this novel can easily be read as a standalone. The characters and their relationships are well drawn, and the story is one that grabs the reader’s attention quickly and doesn’t let go. There is more going on than just a missing child, there is a sense of tangible evil at play throughout the story. There is also a peek at the political considerations that can affect a criminal case, and the reality of how quickly the public can and does assign guilt and blame based on a few headlines. As a mother I can think of little more terrifying than for my child to go missing and then to be blamed for the crime….knowing myself to be innocent and realizing that the search for my child is not being pursued effectively. A nuanced and gripping thriller, The Instruments of Darkness should be snatched up by fans of Dean Koontz, John Sanford and Preston & Child, as well as by those who have already read some or all of author John Connelly’s previous books. Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for allowing me early access to this dark but gripping story.

When John Connelly published his first Charlie Parker book in 1999, I'm not sure if he expected the series to take on a life of it's own. THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS is book #21 in this awesome series that combines so many different story elements that I'm not sure how the publishers settle on mystery/thriller for the genre. You could read this as a stand alone and be absolutely WOWed by it, but I'd plan on some serious binge reads to catch up. The story lines are unique, each has some elements of mystery, thriller, horror, supernatural, a little romance and an unforgettable cast of characters. Charlie is a private investigator who takes his show on the road on a regular basis, so you never quite know where he'll end up next. The book synopsis gives you an overview of the basic story line but you'll find so much more inside. This is the kind of book you read, then tell your reading circle.....OMG, you have to read this book!

The Instruments of Darkness by John Connolly is a wonderfully dark and fabulous supernatural/mystery novel.
The characters are so strong and well developed. Charlie is flawed and realistic and he is one of my favorites.
This was deliciously creepy, compulsively addictive and thrillingly satisfying! I LOVED it!

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Nothing made me happier than seeing that a new Charlie Parker novel was being released. In this story, Charlie is hired by Moxie Castin to do some investigating for one of his clients. His client is Colleen Clark and she has been accused of murdering her two year old son. The child was reported stolen in the night and no sign of what happened until ten days after his disappearance and even then, he has not been found.

All is not normal however when Charlie Parker is involved. He is given information by a medium, maybe, that the child is dead and a general area of where his body may be found AND that there is something very dark, some entity with the child. Everyone, including the husband believe Colleen is guilty, but not Charlie. This book has the regular Charlie Parker wit and methods and eventually he brings in his guys, Louis and Angel. I was so thrilled that they joined him and it was a really good idea that they did so.

Twists and turns and solid investigative work brings this story to a big flash of an ending.

Loved the read and I would like to thank Atria books and NetGalley for this ARC which was given to me in exchange for my honest review.

Detective Charlie Parker is hired by the defense lawyer of a woman accused of murdering her own child. Naturally, when Parker's involved, the story is never what it seems to be, and once again the mystery involves more than a touch of the supernatural. John Connolly is a master of his craft and mixes the complexity of the murder mystery with the supernatural forces in a way that almost feels real. There's a lot to this story, and not all loose ends are tied up as neatly as could be, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment. I highly recommend this book and many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleased Connolly returned to the supernatural elements after The Dirty South. I don’t really see the Furies as much more than 2 small stories in a greater universe so for me The Dirty South was the last real Parker book.

All the trademarks were here, as John Connolly agains writes the macabre so beautifully with his cast of damaged yet resolute characters in Parker, Angel and Louis who continue to fight the darkest of evils as they age and darkness seems always ready to befall them.

Connolly is elite. The series is for me is no 1.

5 stars

When attorney Moxie Castin asks for Charlie Parker's help with his latest client, Parker is at first reluctant to take the case. The client, Collen Clark, is accused of abducting and possibly killing her young son. But as Parker gets to know her better and investigates deeper, he comes to believe her innocence. Bringing in his usual cohorts in the form of the Fulci brothers and New York couple Angel and Louis, Parker will engage with illicit figures he's dealt with in the past, including gangsters and white supremacists, plus a somewhat famous, or infamous, Maine psychic who believes she's in contact with the missing boy. What he doesn't know is awaiting him in the backwoods are neighboring feuding clans and a boarded up house that hides something ancient and evil within its depths.
After the most recent entries in the Charlie Parker series included a multi-book arc involving the villains Quayle and Mors, a "solo" adventure for Louis (and Angel) helping out with someone from his past, a case very early in Parker's life that he wasn't responsible for but happened to stumble into, and a pair of one-off novellas in one book, The Instruments of Darkness was a welcome return to the more conventional and enjoyable adventures because of Parker's investigations. It did have the requisite inclusion of him running into some villains he squared off with in other books, though they turned out not to be the reason for his client's predicament, though in a tangential way they aided his endeavors. And, like some of my favorite books in the series, this was a hardboiled crime case mixed with a supernatural entity, meshing squarely between crime thriller and horror. Even though I still enjoyed the previous entries, this was by far my favorite book in the series in quite some time.

This is a translated version of the original review which was published in Spanish on Goodreads:

Score: 4.6 Stars.

For many years my colleague Juancho from the Juancho Juanchito Books channel had recommended John Connolly to me. He spoke so highly of the author that every time I found his books in bookstores I bought them. The funny thing is that, thanks to Netgalley, the first book I read by this writer ended up being book #21 of his acclaimed Charlie Parker series: The Instruments of Darkness.

I start this review by telling you that this is a crime book that takes place in Maine, United States, a place well known to horror readers, especially those who enjoy the work of Stephen King.

The plot of the novel seems simple: After a child goes missing, his mother (Colleen Clark) is accused not only of her disappearance, but also of his death. Stephen Clark, her husband, fervently believes that she has committed this terrifying crime, this after finding a blood-soaked towel in the trunk of his wife's car, which tests ended up determining to be the little boy's (Henry's) blood.

This becomes national news, portraying Colleen as a heartless woman who deserves the full weight of the law to fall on her. But what if Colleen isn't the real culprit? This is where Charlie Parker, the protagonist of this literary series, comes in. He works together with Moxie Castin, the lawyer who will be defending Colleen.

Parker's task is to find, through his investigation, the evidence that will help confirm that Colleen is another victim of this event, and that she had nothing to do with this heinous crime. In the process of the investigation, Parker will follow trails of criminal organizations, oil industry trade fairs, and even a medium, who suggests that even the supernatural world could be involved in this matter.

I really enjoyed this novel. I found the ending fascinating and full of action. Connolly gives us several revelations in these last pages that have left me completely satisfied and excited for what is to come, plus I am now extremely eager to explore the previous 20 books in the Charlie Parker series.

From the characters and the plot, to the narration, the supernatural elements and the way in which the events developed in the novel, I am convinced to read more books by this author and, in addition, I would be positioning this novel as the best thriller book that I have read so far this year. Obviously, I recommend this story to crime novel readers, I assure you that it will not disappoint you.

Secrets and red herrings keep this story moving. A familiar character, Charlie Parker adds to the intriguing mystery. The mother is a mysterious character, and it is not easy to determine if she is a likable one. This talented author has once again penned a book that is quickly read. Thanks Netgalley.