Book #28: The Reapers by John Connolly
The Reapers by John Connolly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A sort of spinoff novel from John Connolly's Charlie Parker novels, and it centres around the two characters who deserve to take centre stage: Louis and Angel.
Both have appeared since the start of the series, as assassins who do jobs for Parker; they are also (although I missed it for the first few books) a gay couple.
So, in this book, Louis and Angel get approached by a man who wants them to assassinate the patriarch of a family who has apparently been involved in his daughter's death. To complicate things, they are themselves the targets of an assassin called Bliss (who I think may have been in one of the previous titles, but I wasn't certain).
John Connolly has previously done a decent job of expanding on the histories of both Louis and Angel, and this book explains how Louis became the assassin he is, with a series of flashbacks that introduce his mentor, Gabriel. I'm not always fond of flashbacks, but the ones in this book became enjoyable to read, and explained some of the characters' background involving bliss.
Charlie Parker himself appears, but feels like a side character, referred to simply as "The Detective" for most of the novel.
Overall, I enjoyed this; it felt shorter than many of the other books in this series, and it was different in that it wasn't a straight-up mystery thriller. I would love to see if John Connolly had set another book around Louis and Angel, or would even consider making them the subjects of a whole series of books.
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