John Connolly and his haunting series featuring private investigator Charlie Parker has been essential reading for me. If you like your thrillers packed with a mix of classic crime noir and a healthy dose of the supernatural, you are in the right place.

THE CHILDREN OF EVE continues the winning formula of its many predecessors. There is much to unpack in this one and a darkness that underlies the entire narrative. The story opens with a dying man from Mexico who deals in antiquities. He is planning to leave all of that behind to seek treatment for the disease that is eating him alive. Before that can happen, he is met by a strange and dangerous little man named Eugene Seeley, who tortures him to death in return for information he requires pertaining to a dark mission of his. Accompanying Seeley is a woman known only as La Senora, and she will turn your blood into ice with a glance.

"When the legend about the Children of Eve is revealed, it is beyond frightening and ramps up the entire narrative to the typical supernatural levels that Connolly’s terrific Charlie Parker novels reach."

This is all related in some fashion to the latest assignment that Parker takes on when Zetta Nadeau, a rising Maine artist, hires him to find her missing boyfriend, Wyatt Riggins. She is worried about his well-being after finding his cell phone, which includes a message that simply says RUN. Parker needs to find out not only who sent that text but also what compelled Wyatt to leave everything behind and run away. That search will see Parker cross paths with some extremely dangerous people, including Seeley and La Senora, who are still searching for a specific treasure stolen from Mexico that Wyatt may know something about.

Wyatt’s half-brother, a preacher, lets Parker know that Seeley had come to see him in search of Wyatt. As he gets deeper into the investigation, Parker meets with Rybeck, who worked at a cannabis dispensary with Wyatt. They had been in the military, and when they got high on their product one night, they shared war stories. Wyatt’s were the stuff of nightmares, and Rybeck confesses that he had used his special military training to involve himself in smuggling things from Mexico --- specifically children.

Wyatt is also being sought by a couple of gangsters, Aldo Bern and Devin Vaughan, the latter of whom owns the dispensary where he worked. All of these conflicting sides will converge, and the outcome will be violent, bloody and quite scary. Perhaps Parker should have listened better to the late-night visitations he receives from his deceased little girl, Jennifer, who claims she had been approached by a small group of children to pass on a warning to him.

With all of this and Mexican cartel boss Blas Urrea now involved in the chase, events in THE CHILDREN OF EVE get messy in a flash. Parker is able to rise above it with the use of his brilliant noir-style quips and wisecracks, all the while feeling the evil presence of some dark angel on his back. When the legend about the Children of Eve is revealed, it is beyond frightening and ramps up the entire narrative to the typical supernatural levels that Connolly’s terrific Charlie Parker novels reach.