“And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths…”
    — William Shakespeare, MACBETH

As a Shakespearean actor and teacher, when any story opens with a quote from the Bard, my antennas are raised. When that novel is John Connolly’s latest supernatural thriller featuring PI Charlie Parker, I am more than a little interested.

"THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS is one of Connolly’s best Charlie Parker novels to date. It also may be the finest balance of real and otherworldly elements driving a horrific murder case that he has ever depicted."

THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS tackles a very dark subject matter and shines a light not only on that alleged crime but also on the very nature of evil and human frailty. I have absolutely loved this series and still cannot understand why Connolly is not a household name. Hopefully, this brilliant and creepy novel will open up some eyes and attract a legion of new fans.

Set in Maine, an area already made infamously spooky by the likes of Stephen King, this story seeks to peek beneath the surface of small-town normalcy to expose the dark underbelly of depravity and evil that exists there. Defense attorney Moxie Castin, who often utilizes Charlie for his investigative expertise, calls on him for a high-profile murder case that the current D.A. wishes to use as a platform for a gubernatorial run.

Colleen Clark has been accused of killing her two-year old son, Henry. He had been reported missing and feared abducted until a search of the Clarks’ house showed a blood-soaked child’s blanket stuffed in the wheel well around Colleen’s spare tire. Even her husband, Stephen, seems resigned to her guilt as she had suffered from postpartum depression after Henry was born. Colleen swears she is innocent and insists that the blanket must have been planted to make her look guilty. Moxie needs Charlie to protect Colleen from the neighborhood vipers who wish to crucify her as a child murderer, while at the same time digging into her story to see if she is indeed capable of such an evil deed.

A critical part of the case is when Charlie meets with Sabine Drew, a medium who lives in the area. Sabine’s role in the story is really what drives the supernatural elements of the tale as she claims to hear Henry’s voice crying out. Throughout the book is a depiction of a house somewhere deep in the woods where nefarious and potentially supernatural activities are occurring. Sabine eventually will draw Charlie and his team to this strange place as it might have some connection to the child.

THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS is one of Connolly’s best Charlie Parker novels to date. It also may be the finest balance of real and otherworldly elements driving a horrific murder case that he has ever depicted. In keeping with the Shakespearean theme, he drops in another quote, this time from Tom Stoppard’s play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”: “There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said no. but somehow we missed it.” This tongue-in-cheek perspective from the plight of the ill-fated, bumbling ex-friends of Hamlet speaks to obsession and the intent to do the right thing. Charlie Parker certainly knows something about that.