The Furies (2022) by John Connolly
The Furies (2022) by John Connolly[spacer height=”25px”]
A very good friend is a huge fan of John Connolly and it is through her that I got to hear of him. She’s mentioned him so often that his tempted me as a publisher to expand my reading horizons and see what his writing was like. An additional lure was that he has a South African connection and he regularly tours the country after having a new book published.
Why I chose The Furies I can’t remember. It might have been that it was his most recent book after I decided to read something by him and see what he was about. And I have been rather impressed to say the least. As usual, I didn’t read the blurb and so I was quite surprised thinking I was halfway through the book when it turned out I had just finished the first novella, there being a second one for the second-half of the book. The first novella was called The Sisters Strange, while the second is actually called The Furies.
All in all I think I preferred The Sisters Strange to The Furies. The story seemed to be more involved and less mystical/supernatural. It was more grounded, which is what I prefer but both stories kept my attention and I was quite keen in The Furies to see whether Charlie Parker, the lead character in the series, who is a private investigator, managed to achieve everything he set out to within effectively 24 hours or whether it was going to all backfire on him and some people were not going to end up satisfied. I shall leave you to find out for yourself.
It was also fascinating to read at the end of the book how John Connelly had gone about writing The Sisters Strange. It was a Covid project. He produced short daily chapters which he put online for people to follow whilst they were in lock down. Following this he then decided to rework the chapters into a book commenting that it actually meant he added more and instead of it being a novella, it became a full novel albeit a shortish one. It had a faster pace than The Furies despite its longer length taking place over more days. This adapting a serial into a book was also undertaken by CS Forester in producing The African Queen (1934).
I think what I enjoyed about John Connolly’s writing is his way of taking the reader through time, introducing his characters whilst going back to the story. In some ways it seems a fluid story but on other occasions it’s almost as though he’s weaving different stories together but he has a knack or habit of doing this that I found surprisingly works. I’m not sure I will go out of my way to get some more John Connolly books, purely because of time constraints and that it’s not a series that fits in with other interests of mine at this stage. However, I will be recommending Mr Connolly to my nephew reading partner. For those who don’t know, every month we read the same book and discuss it which is quite a lot of fun and has also helped me expand my reading horizons. I think this is something he might enjoy given his interest in Percy Jackson, Clive Cussler and a few others. In fact his tastes are quite similar to the person who inspired me to try a book by John Connolly.
Whilst I might not read another John Connolly I do think his writing is well worth reading. Although you know who the guilty person is early on, he keeps the suspense going throughout and has a subtle sense of humour which I did appreciate. One can see why he is regarded as an international author, my copy says the ‘multi-million copy acclaimed bestseller’. It’s also been interesting to see that his books have been translated into French Spanish, German and Italian, I think it is and what was also very inspiring and which really appeals about him as a person is that when he was doing his short chapter installments during COVID he was automatically having them translated into the other languages as well so that all his fans across the globe could access them. He is connected to and appreciates his readers, wherever they are. So, if you’re looking for something new to read I would highly recommend the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly.
A final observation is that his books are set in America and written in what is commonly called American English. I’m used to Irish writers following the British English style so this struck me but only because I knew the author is Irish. Again, it shows his care and attention to his readership.
While numerous authors wrote during Covid, a TSL author who used the unusual circumstances we found ourselves in was playwright MajeedThe phobia of e-learning during Covid-19
Melville Lovatt has a few poems on the subject in his anthology Dancing for England.
On the supernatural suspense front, there’s Pat Simpson’s Death is Waiting, Roberta Cheadle’s A Ghost and his Gold and Jane Lockyer Willis’ Guys and Ghosts.
Through the Nethergate and The Good Vicar might also appeal, while A Donkey Called Oddsock could also fit the mixed genre writing themes.
