A time of torment by John Connolly

A Charlie Parker Thriller. Hodder and Stoughton, 2016. ISBN 9781444751581
(Age: Adult) Themes: Horror/Thriller; Supernatural; Crime; Cults; Evil. With a focus on a West Virginian Community-Cult called 'The Cut', this intensely written Crime and Horror story reintroduces the Private Investigator, Charlie Parker to another collection of evil characters. In this case he is commissioned by a former prisoner to uncover the truth that led this man to being incarcerated despite his claims of innocence, and in the process uncovers horror that is naked and malignant and driven by the force of the 'Dead King'. Individual Cut characters with no redeeming qualities are driven to perform macabre and violent actions that can only be described as malevolent. With a shadowy and spectral influence over both the good and extremely evil, this is a very different crime story, permeated with the marks of supernatural power.
With apologies to those who have followed Charlie Parker before, I initially did not warm to his dry, but driven focus and his 'rise-from-the-dead' history. He investigated, employing some unscrupulous and disreputable sidekicks and equally questionable methods to pursue the 'bad eggs' at the heart of the dreadful action. Ultimately though, it becomes obvious that only Charlie Parker can withstand the incredible influence of the evil tendrils that have wormed their way through the community. The threats by Cut members and the graphic violence that they perpetrate is awful and not for the faint-hearted reader. This story, revealing the worst of human behaviour, will genuinely turn your stomach and make every noise at night a cause for concern as you wonder whether the power of evil will win over truth and justice.
Recommended only for mature readers who can cope with Horror and extreme violence.
Carolyn Hull