The Whisperers

When Bennett Patchett asks Charlie Parker to investigate his son's apparent suicide following a tour in Iraq, Parker follows a thread that connects veterans running contraband across the Maine-Canada border to a string of suspicious deaths. The same day, a police officer is found dead near the ruins of the Blue Moon Bar, and Parker senses the two cases are linked. John Connolly's ninth Charlie Parker novel explores the particular damage war leaves behind and the dangerous men who exploit the walking wounded.

Holter Graham narrates with the brooding weight the Parker series demands, giving the Maine landscape a threatening atmospheric quality that has defined the better entries in the series. His command of the ensemble, including the murderous partnership of Angel and Louis, remains reliable. The Spanish-language description in the source material is noted, but Graham's English-language performance delivers the story's emotional core intact.