I think I'm getting a little burned out on the Charlie Parker character. In March of 2009, I started reading his journey through the criminal underworld with "Every Dead Thing". While having a little supernatural stuff thrown in there, his character reminded me of a "Batman-ish" vigilante. You had the classic storyline of a traumatic event happening to a good guy followed by spending his life trying to make amends for what happened. I loved it; I was hooked right away. The first book was full of such anger; he hated the world and wanted justice for the murder of his wife and child.

With Connolly's "The Unquiet", we're six books in and two removed from the best Parker novel yet, "The White Road". In this installment, we find Parker dealing with the separation from the mother of his second child. He picks up a job protecting the daughter of a long since missing child psychologist, Daniel Clay. Daniel's daughter, Rebecca, is being troubled by a man who believes Daniel is still alive. The man in question, Merrick, desperately wants to find the location of Daniel in regards to some unfinished business. Daniel Clay disappearance is linked to a scandal involving child abuse and death which subsequently ruined his career. However, nothing was actually confirmed on whether Mr. Clay had anything to do with the events in question, just that his disappearance seems to indicate his involvement.

Parker's life is just a huge mess. He can't seem to make a decision between what he believes is his moral obligation to seek out and help those troubled in life and accepting his role as a father and family man. The novel spends a good chunk of time on the personal life; heavily sinking into Parker's dilemma. He seems like he's just sulking around, hoping things will clear themselves up. He seems to have no desire to make any sort of final decision. It really makes me feel like Connolly jumped the shark a little too early with throwing in a romantic interest into Charlie's life.

While there are some good scenes in the beginning as Parker questions those closest to Daniel Clay; I felt I was really bored. I'm a huge fan of Connolly's wit and sarcastic humor but with a brooding Parker; the novel seems to just fall flat. Maybe that's what Connolly was going for but it's not something I'm a fan of; at least not this far into the Parker saga. I think the novel suffers from its length. Finishing just over 500 pages, I felt it could have used a little tighter editing. A lot seemed like filler to me.

I probably would've rated this novel a lot lower if not for the superb ending. Connolly wraps things up nicely and treats the reader to an epilogue which progresses to the next book nicely. I have to admit, I was intrigued by something hinted at in the final pages - enough to make me pick up the next book right away. Overall, the final 100 pages or so really save this from being a train wreck. If not for some key events occurring towards the end, this would be completely forgettable and seem like a useless entry into the Parker series.

Despite my view on Parker, his associates Louis and Angel remain excellent. Louis has some of the best lines I've read in this series, from his rant on hockey to his explanation of his political views; I just loved him. Despite the bad taste in my mouth from the last two novels, I'm still looking forward to Connolly's 7th Parker book, The Reapers. Why you ask? Because this novel deals primarily with Louis and Angel.