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The Reapers | 
 enlarge | Author: John Connolly
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Category: Book
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £6.75
You Save: £8.24 (55%)
New (25) Used (9) Collectible (5) from £6.00
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 663
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 0340936657
EAN: 9780340936658
ASIN: 0340936657
Publication Date: May 15, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: New book but the dust jacket has been torn. It is therefore being sold with NO dust- jacket. Otherwise in fine condition. Despatched from within the UK
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Enjoyable Holding Exercise June 27, 2008
John Crothers (Dublin, Ireland)
An interesting addition to the Connolly canon and a gentle nudge forward for the overall story arc.
Parker is missed, but the strength of Connolly is that he can breathe life into the supporting cast and make the Arno and Willie characters (for example) every bit as vivid as his previous creations. He has a similar knack to Stephen King in that he can add colour and depth to his characters with the briefest and lightest of touches.
There is less of the overtly supernatural in this book than in previous efforts and it is more of a straightahead action thriller. I found the pacing better than in "The Black Angel", and was quietly relieved that what at times has bordered on product placement has been toned down.
Connolly's skill at integrating his detailed research of place and context has been evident since "Every Dead Thing" and is one of his defining traits; this time, it doesn't impact on the action in the closing sequence as it occasionally has done in the past.
Moving the Parker story forward will be a challenge for Connolly but one which will be eagerly anticipated by his readers.
Parker is missed June 19, 2008
Mr. Warren M. Fisher (East Grinstead, West Sussex United Kingdom)
This is not a Charlie Parker novel (although he belatedly appears as a supporting character), but instead focuses on the Parker series support players, Louis and Angel. I have never really bought the two assassins, and they are no more persuasive here. They remain uninvolving and affected and lack the depth of Parker. Even more fatally for this novel, large slices early on are given over to two straight-as-a-die New York car mechanics. Connolly's strong point is his depraved villains and his morally conflicted heroes, but here these two goody-good guys are bland and forgettable. This isn't to say this is a bad novel, Connolly is incapable of writing one, but the first hundred pages drag, and the tale only really comes alive when Parker and the hilariously sociopathic Fulci brothers appear, and here we see glimmers of the author's greatness.
Worth sticking with, but hopefully Charlie Parker will be back where he belongs, centre-stage, when Connolly returns.
Different from past books June 3, 2008
Peter Symonds
I won't waste time rehashing the plot of 'The reapers' as the other reviewers have done such a great job. What I will say is that the plot summary on the jacket cover does such a thorough job summarising the book that there isn't a great deal of suprise left.
What IS good is that John Connolly writes the novel a little like 'Godfather II' with long 'flashbacks' to Louis's early teenage years and covers his rise from poor black kid in the Bayous to one of the worlds most feared killers. It adds a lot to the character and really fleshes out what would otherwise be an oversized short story.
Sadly Connolly's other main character fey private detective Charlie Parker is barely in the book at all, stepping back to give Louis and Angel centre stage. With Parker in the background the usual supernatural elements in these novels also take a back seat. The usually hilarious banter and personal abuse between Angel and Louis was rather lacking too.
I'll certainly buy the next John Connolly and I'll buy in hardback, but I did feel ever so slightly cheated when I finished the reapers. I expected another Charlie Parker and got something slightly different. No real complaints but its probably best judging this book on its own merits rather than compare it to some of the previous novels in the series.
 John Connolly - The Reapers May 28, 2008
RachelWalker (England)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I find it hard to know when I think John Connolly is at his best. When I read them, I'm sure it's the slightly slower but meatier vessels like The White Road and last year's The Unquiet (his two best works, I think), but then I'll read one of the pacier efforts, like this one or the marvellously sinister The Killing Kind (the one, I think, that really made the series take off), and be unsure. (One thing's for sure: The Black Angel was too long.) Whatever pace he chooses to go at, he creates brilliant thrillers, and this is one that most *obviously* fits the thriller mould. I loved it. Though he tends to be overly florid and archaic in his prose, it has it's very distinct charms, even if makes things a little melodramatic (the fact is, the events are dramatic *anyway*, and would be more powerful told in simpler language. But there we go.) In any case, The Reapers is a superb thriller, with some great new charachters, and I loved the fact that it was told from the perspective of Angel and Louis. I'm not so attached to Parker that I can't bear for a novel to centre around the periphery character in his life rather than feature him as the star, and very much welcome the insight into these two fascinating. Indeed, it's a very much better book this way than it would have been told from his point of view, or even if he featured more than he does. The first half is a fascinating and brilliant build-up to the action and danger of the second. I enjoyed every minute of the book and very much recommend it. Especially to new readers - a perfect place to start, this standalone.
Connolly at his best... May 26, 2008
Sarah Gooding (England)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm a great John Connolly fan, and have alway's enjoyed his novel's. 'The Reapers' is no exception, and this is the author at his very best. Can't wait for the next one to be released. While writing this review, I would also like to recommend 'Dead Men Don't Bite' by Andrew Towning.
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