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The Killing Kind

Author: John Connolly
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

19 reviews
Sales Rank: 50991

Media: Paperback
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.5

ISBN: 0340771224
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780340771228
ASIN: 0340771224

Publication Date: January 3, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Paperback 2002. Plenty of creases to the spine, but the covers remain good with a little rubbing to the edges and light creasing along the hinges. The pages remain in good condition

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
Spider-bites are a nasty way to die, and there is a man out there with an unusual taste for insect venom of all kinds and for the deaths of those who disagree with or affront him. John Connolly's sleuth Charlie Parker is free of the ghosts of his slaughtered wife and child, but sooner or later new ghosts come to him demanding silently that he avenge them. In The Killing Kind, it is not Grace, the ex-girlfriend whose faked suicide he is hired to investigate, so much as the dead fanatics she was killed for writing a thesis on. The Aroostook Baptists disappeared into the gloomy woods of North Maine in the sixties and nothing more is known until road workers find a mass burial. Connolly provides his usual excellent combination of snappy one-liners (many of them from Parker's gay assassin sidekicks Angel and Louis) together with scenes of the utmost terror. Parker soon realises that the spider killer, Elmer Pudd, is only the tool of someone far worse, a sanctimonious artist in intolerance and mayhem--and it is only by carefully measured doses that we come to realise just how bad that is going to be. --Roz Kaveney

Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Great Read June 23, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I absolutely loved this book but something ruined the end for me. My copy included the first chapter of the next book. I didn't know this as I'm not in the habit of checking the end of the book I'm reading. Therefore, when I got to the big climatic sceen I thought there were still 30 pages to go which must mean several plot twists and surprises.
You can imagine how disappointed I was on turning the page to find out it was all over. To be fair I was enjoying the book so much that I didn't want it to end no matter how badly I wanted to see the bad guys get what's coming to them.

5 out of 5 stars

More bulging body-bags than Baghdad on a bad day October 22, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

As the third in the Charlie `Bird' Parker series, it might make you wonder if you should read the two predecessors first. In my case, I've read them in the right chronological order, but it wouldn't do any harm to mix them up. That's partly because the survivors of all three novels are the same, and very nearly everyone else dies; I would estimate that there are more than sixty specific characters across the first three books of this linked series, and the four who don't die are the same every time. There's a lot of killing going on, that's for sure, so the title of this book is very apt.

Bird sees dead people. Not every day, but it's a recurring and admittedly well-drawn theme in the writer's creation. In this case, as a private investigator in Maine, he's hired to look into the apparent suicide of a young woman and before long Bird has opened up a big enough can of worms to find their way into the skeletons of a group of religious fanatics who disappeared nearly forty years earlier and whose fate the young woman was trying to find answers to. As seems routine in the life of Charlie Parker, very nearly everyone he meets, or tries to meet, ends up dead - and sometimes in pretty gruesome circumstances. The sheer numbers of the dead or dying borders on the absurd but this is a story masterfully told by a relatively new writer clearly getting stronger and more confident with each publication. His prose is a cut above that of many other authors, and his knowledge of the history of many of the smaller townships of Maine is awesome and comprehensively researched. This spreads across its people, its landscape, its vegetation and even its wildlife - although some of the `eight legged freaks' that appear so prominently are imported from more tropical climes and bred under the watchful and loving care of one of this tale's key protagonists Elias Pudd, or `Mr Pudd' as he is usually called. I have to confess that, much as I enjoyed the story and its vaguely supernatural elements, there were some touches of Lord of the Rings to one or two of the characters. One example would be `The Golem', ostensibly human but not the first of Connolly's creations to seem (to me) to have emerged from another world, usually a very dark and evil one.

What makes John Connolly stand out from a highly competitive crowd in this genre is his imagery, his intimately well drawn descriptive approach, his ability to write in a metaphysical yet always contemporary style and his under-stated but usually successful attempts at humour, for the the last of which he often employs the enigmatic Louis, a black contract killer who just happens to be gay. Louis and his partner Angel are now firmly established personalities in the Bird series, their appearances are always welcome for all manner of reasons both horrific and humourous, but Connolly is wise enough to use their appearances economically which leaves the reader wanting more.

So yes, there's a lot of death and associated violence but it rarely, if ever, leaves a bad flavour in the mouth and there's a high probability that if this is your first taste of the Connolly style, you will be wanting more. Having read three of his novels with two more on my `to-be-read' pile I guess you can call me a fan, and consider the purchase of The Killing Kind a very low-risk investment as I would expect your rewards to be high.

5 out of 5 stars

Great book, I forgot my holiday September 28, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I am quickly becoming a fan of John Connolly's writing, his books chill you enough to draw you in and at the same time are witty enough to keep most readers interested.

The Killing Kind was the first book I read by Connolly and I wasnt dissapointed. I bought it before going on holiday and had finished it by the time I got back three days later, most of my holiday was spent with my nose in it.

Connolly's writing is suspenseful and at the end of every chapter something else, something new is hinted at. The Killing Kind is no different, the bad guy Mr Pudd is revealed to you early in the book leaving his threat hanging over the detective, Charlie Parker till the end.

Mr Pudd is apparently in league with a cult of known as the Fellowship, an organisation linked with many murders and with likely knowledge of the murders of another cult the Aristook Baptists. During his investigation into the Fellowship, Parker makes new dangerous enemies which want rid of the threat he brings to their operation.

A brilliant book worth a look for anyone new to Connolly or if youve read any of his other books this one wont dissapoint you.

4 out of 5 stars

Eeeeek - Spiders!!!! September 7, 2006
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

John Connolly is always a good read. I like the way he's able to combine a mystery with a slight hint of the supernatural. My only disappointment with his books are with the characters of Louis and Angel. Though I find them interesting characters, it's their use as a sort of Deus Ex Machina that is a problem - whenever Charlie Parker is in trouble, up pop Louis and Angel to save his ass: not always but enough times to spoil the effect somewhat.

That said, this book nips along at a great pace. But be warned, if you don't like spiders this might not be the book for you! Easily the creepiest of the series (thus far - i might change my mind when I've read the others).

4 out of 5 stars

Very very good July 25, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I came across John Connolly through other peoples recommendations and am very glad I did. He is a fine writer indeed and has created a truly fantastic character in Charlie Parker.
There are few books that have the ability to chill me and this was one of them. Its the subtilty of his writing that creates such tension and atmosphere. It is well paced and finely crafted.