"Sometimes, this is how it must be done. It’s wrong, and it stains the soul, but it has to be, because the other option is so much worse.” ~ The Nameless Ones, John ConnollyJohn Connolly's Charlie Parker series are the kind of books that keep you up all night to avoid having nightmares, and this one is no exception. They depict evil so vile you can but hope it only exists in books. But if it is real, you can only pray it doesn't live near you.Like Parker, Louis and Angel stand at the crossroads of good and evil, the three having met there coming from different directions. Parker, driven toward evil by the excruciatingly cruel murders of his wife and daughter, and Louis and Angel, men known only in the darkest of circles, driven toward good by Parker. But the lines are murky and it's easy to drift across the lines.Connolly's gift for story and prose make every book a must read, even his children's books. Yes, he also writes those with far less depravity and a lot more fun. He is, in my view, one of the best mystery authors alive, now or ever.I won't offer a synopsis here (you can read that in the book's description}, except to say this is Louis and Angel's book, and it's about revenge served over ice. There are a few cameos from the series, including Parker, his dead daughter and the incomparable Fulci brothers. If you want to know more about all of them, and how Parker, Louis and Angel meet, you really want to start with the first book in the series, Every Dead Thing, and read them all in order before you pick up this one. Yes, there are 19 of them, but you'll thank me for suggesting it. You won't want to miss out on the evolution of Parker's character and the beginning of the bond between Parker, Louis and Angel. We should all be so lucky as to have such loyal friends if evil ever comes calling.