A River Red With Blood: the spellbinding new Charlie Parker novel

Name: A River Red With Blood: the spellbinding new Charlie Parker novel
Rating: 4.682926654815674 (41 reviews)

John Connolly

May 2026 · Hachette UK

41 reviews

Ebook

416

Pages

Eligible

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About this ebook

'John Connolly is such a brilliant author, I recommend any of his stuff' Richard Osman on The Rest is Entertainment
'[An] absolute corker from Ireland's best mystery writer ... utterly gripping' Express

The players call it The Game. There are just two rules:
No killing close to home.
No Killing outside the game

But what happens when those rules get broken?

When the drowned body of a troubled teenager is recovered from a river in Maine's Kennebec Valley, and a young woman disappears from a small rural town, they draw the attention of the private investigator named Charlie Parker.

Now Parker will be forced to confront a band of men without morality and without loyalty, not even to one another, in a place where the very darkness is alive.

Because something has emerged from the shadows, something very bad.

And it wants revenge.

'John Connolly is such a brilliant author, I recommend any of his stuff' Richard Osman on The Rest is Entertainment '[An] absolute corker from Ireland's best mystery writer ... utterly gripping' Express The players call it The Game. There are just two rules: No killing close to home. No Killing...

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Ratings and reviews

41 reviews

susan wilson

July 18, 2026

Struggled to page 80 and gave up. Too many characters and sub stories, could not follow it at all. Disappointing.

Lisa Moran

August 10, 2026

This latest book was the bestest! I started it yesterday and finished it today. Granted nothing else got done but it was so good. The Game is more like a running commentary or story while the real story is tying together loose ends but also opening up new possibilities. Back to read The Black Angel again which is a firm favourite

Michel Woutersen

September 14, 2026

Felt somewhat rushed (at the school), but the end itself was great. So was the rest of the book. Now again a long wait for the next one.

About the author

John Connolly is author of the Charlie Parker mysteries, The Book of Lost Things, the Samuel Johnson novels for young adults and, with his partner, Jennifer Ridyard, co-author of the Chronicles of the Invaders. John Connolly's debut - EVERY DEAD THING - introduced the character of Private Investigator Charlie Parker, and swiftly launched him right into the front rank of thriller writers. All his subsequent novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers. He was the winner of the 2016 CWA Short Story Dagger for On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier from NIGHT MUSIC: Nocturnes Vol 2.

In 2007 he was awarded the Irish Post Award for Literature. He was the first non-American writer to win the US Shamus award and the first Irish writer to win an Edgar award. BOOKS TO DIE FOR, which he edited with Declan Burke, was the winner of the 2013 Anthony, Agatha and Macavity awards for Best Non-Fiction work.

John Connolly is author of the Charlie Parker mysteries, The Book of Lost Things, the Samuel Johnson novels for young adults and, with his partner, Jennifer Ridyard, co-author of the Chronicles of the Invaders. John Connolly's debut - EVERY DEAD THING - introduced the character of Private Investi...

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