Nocturnes

by John Connolly

Take his hand and follow him into the darkness . . .

John Connolly, bestselling author of seven brilliantly scary mystery novels, now turns his pen to the short story to give us a volume of chilling tales of the supernatural. In this macabre collection, echoing masters of the genre from M R James to Stephen King, Connolly delves into our darkest fears - lost lovers, missing children, subterranean creatures and predatory demons.

Framing the collection are two substantial novellas - THE CANCER COWBOY RIDES charts the fatal progress of a modern-day grim reaper, while THE REFLECTING EYE is a haunted house tale with a twist and marks the return of private detective Charlie Parker, the troubled hero of Connolly's crime novels. This edition contains two additional stories - THE CYCLE and MR GRAY'S FOLLY - not previously included. NOCTURNES is a masterly volume to be read with the lights on - menace has never been so seductive . . .

• ISBN10: 0340933992
• ISBN13: 9780340933992
• Publish Date: 4 October 2007 (first published 11 October 2004)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Hodder Paperback
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[empressbrooke]

This was my first experience with John Connolly, and I think it was a really good place to start. His short stories are very Lovecraftian, and while I don't think they were as good as [author: Neil Gaiman]'s short story collections, I still enjoyed most of them. The opening story, The Cancer Cowboy Rides, is the weakest - I'd have preferred to see it pushed towards the end, or not included at all.

The novella at the end is part of Connolly's Charlie Parker series. I thought it was easy to enjoy without having read any of the rest, although I could see threads of stories that fans probably recognized. In any case, I liked it so much that it was the deciding factor in giving this collection 4 stars instead of 3. I will definitely be checking out more Charlie Parker novels in the future.