"Every Dead Thing" Review

• Title:  "Every Dead Thing"
• Author:  John Connolly
• Finished:  March 6, 2010 
• Synopsis:  The John Connolly website has an excellent synopsis of the book. 
• Impression of the book:  This book fills in the back story that I missed when I read "Dark Hollow."  The story is gripping as murders and dead bodies seem to surround Charlie "Bird" Parker wherever he goes. His attempts to get away from the hunt for the "Traveling Man" (who killed his wife and daughter) lead him to solve the mystery of another 30 year old series of murders.  Bird is never far from the Traveling Man who seems to know everything he does (and more). "Every Dead Thing" contains elements of the mystical (New Orleans style "voodoo") while mixing in regular, old fashioned detective thriller fundamentals.  I really enjoyed this book.
• Read Again Scale:  8
• If I stumble across this one at the library again, I will definitely consider bringing it home.
• Read Another Book by the Same Author:  10
• After reading a second book by Connolly, I will definitely look for others.

This is a fascinating story of a detective who has his wife and daughter murdered.  The very thought of a police officer's family being dragged into this kind of story makes Bird's actions totally understandable. He lives the worst nightmare of a cop, but he isn't dreaming. It is a story of Bird dealing with grief and guilt over his family's death while hunting, and being hunted by, serial killers.  I would recommend this book for those that like a good murder mystery/detective story.  Again, the warning about trouble sleeping after reading this novel goes along with Connolly's work.