A review by the_dragon_reread
The Lovers by John Connolly

4.0

So far, there hasn't been a single Charlie Parker novel that I haven't liked. This one is different from the rest. Parker has lost his PI license, so he finds himself investigating the murders that ruined his father's career and ended his life. This has been an era of Parker's life that has been eluded to throughout the entire series, but we finally get to break open the story completely and find the darkness lying at the bottom. It is a fantastic addition to the Parker saga, fleshing out the mythology more and turning up the amplifier on the paranormal activity surrounding Parker. While some of the Parker books would be fine as stand-alone novels (though obviously better as part of the series due to Connolly's masterful weave of a core storyline throughout all of his novels), this book would probably be the weakest stand-alone book in the series to date. Without the context from the other books, the impact of the story would likely be lost on a casual reader. That's not to say this wasn't a fantastic book--it was one of my favorite in the series to far--just that it doesn't work as well as a stand-alone novel.