Every Dead Thing

By: John Connolly

Narrated by: Titus Welliver

Tortured and brilliant private detective Charlie Parker stars in this thriller by New York Times bestselling author John Connolly.

Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining: a world where thirty-year-old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family—a serial killer who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing.

Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of bickering career criminals, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth: the serial killer known only as the Traveling Man.

In the tradition of classic American detective fiction, Every Dead Thing is a tense, richly plotted thriller, filled with memorable characters and gripping action. It is also a profoundly moving novel, concerned with the nature of loyalty, love, and forgiveness. Lyrical and terrifying, it is an ambitious debut, triumphantly realized.

gruesome story about a serial killer

a story about a detective chasing down the killer of his wife and daughter. the killer is sadistic and hard to find. the trail goes in the wrong direction and has a surprise ending.

Blood and guts everywhere - too much

Audible version only

The story was too graphic for my tastes.

Titus, as always gives a masterful performance as the narrator.

Story had an extraordinarily large number of characters and relationships that reduced my ability to track the story line. My least favorite of the Connolly stories I’ve read and/or listened to.

What happened here?

This story was tough to follow as though pieces of the narrative had been chopped out. There also was two totally silent areas. I guess Titus had gone for a bathroom break. As usual Titus Welliver was terrific and I believe the unabridged version would have been much more enjoyable.

Gruesome alert

I enjoy most of John Connolly's stories and I love Titus Welliver's narration. However, I was not expecting this level of gruesome graphic violence (against women and children only). I finished the book but wish I hadn't - just heads up, if you're at all squeamish this may not be for you.

a bit gruesome ...but thrilling story

I purchased it because Titus Welliver was narrator, and although it was a little unsettling to listen to the details it was a solid thriller with twist and turns....good not great...