Irish author John Connolly must surely be counted among the present princes of crime writers. In The Burning Soul he has produced a 
first-class thriller in which the plot twists and turns as the main protagonist, private detective Charlie Parker, is employed to protect the interests of a man who, years previously, was the juvenile accomplice in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl.
Unfortunately for the man, Randall Haight, he is now living in Pastor's Bay, Maine, from where another 14-year-old girl has gone missing. Readers will need to have their wits about them as Connolly's long yarn unfolds. For this is no easy-to-predict-the-outcome offering. The author builds up a plot that unloads surprise after surprise which constantly keeps one guessing. So complicated indeed are the daily convolutions that the reader needs to have a clear head to keep abreast of the action, while keeping tabs on the characters, who include Irish gangsters from Boston and the FBI.
The Burning Soul is high-class crime fodder for intelligent, discerning readers. And full marks for the impressive calibre of the author's prose. I suppose it helps that Connolly has a BA in English from Trinity College, Dublin, and an MA in journalism from Dublin City University. This is no best-selling author happy to pen words easily assimilable by vocabulary-shy readers. Connolly is a crime-writer who has a fine command of the English language.
• Clarke Isaacs is a former chief of staff of the Otago Daily Times.
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