Nocturnes
by John Connolly
2006
471 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4165-3460-0
My previous experience with John Connolly's work has been nothing short of delightful. The Book of Lost Things is a wonderfully dark and chilling interpretation of the stories from our childhood. His recent offering, The Gates is a fresh and funny story about a young boy literally trying to stop all hell from breaking loose. While both of these books have been classified as "young adult," I imagine that is largely (solely) due to their pre-teen protagonists. (You would think that the idea that only children can enjoy books about children would have been blown out of the water by a certain wizard.) I think that neither of these is best suited to the younger set, and will continue to recommend both left and right to adult readers. In a recent review on LibraryThing, I compared the footnotes and humor in The Gates to the work of the late great Douglas Adams... and anyone who's read my notes on And Another Thing... knows that I consider that high praise indeed.
With that in mind, imagine my delight to find Nocturnes, Connolly's book of short stories, sitting all alone on the "Last Chance" super bargain table at Barnes and Noble when I walked in, on my birthday, gift cards blazing and on a mission to make up for months of serious book-buying restraint.
Nocturnes turned out not to be at all what I expected. It is as different from The Gates and The Book of Lost Things as the two are from each other, but also nearly as wonderful. The stories here are darker by far than I expected to encounter, but most are also quite gripping.
Many of the pieces here in this collection were originally written for BBC radio, and most are quite short. While some of these shorter pieces are particular gems, including "Mr. Pettinger's Daemon," "The New Daughter" and "Miss Froom, Vampire," others are less successful. Connolly shines most when he gives himself some room to work. The opening novella, "The Cancer Cowboy Rides" is one of the most deeply creepy pieces of writing I've read in some time. As in, I can't put it down even though it's 1:30am, better go check the locks, cuddle a little closer to the sleeping fiancee creepy. It's good stuff. "The Underbury Witches" was so much fun that I sat in the waiting room at the spa long long after my toenails were dry in order to finish it. "The Reflecting Eye" a novella featuring Charlie Parker (who apparently stars in many of Connolly's adult fiction), is entertaining enough that I found myself considering the idea of adding some of those to the ever growing TBR pile.
Overall, this collection is strong, if a little uneven. And it is not just the Maine setting of several of these stories that calls to mind the shorter works of Stephen King. I would say of Connolly's work here something very similar to what I've said about King's short fiction in the past (and I admit that I am an enthusiastic fan)... When he hits the nail on the head, it's glorious, creepy, you'll-be-thinking-about-it-for-days, eerie wonderfulness. And when he misses, he just misses, so it's still a good time. Overall, this is more fun than I've had off the bargain table in a while.
