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Dublin, Ireland born author, John Connolly, like many other authors, has held many jobs before solely dedicating his professional career to writing. He worked as a journalist, a barman, a local government official, a waiter, and a department store (Harrod's) gofer. His studies included English and Journalism, and spent five years as a freelance journalist for The Irish Times newspaper. He wrote his first novel, "Every Dead Thing", which was published in 1999. This began the introduction of his now famous main character, Charlie Parker. Charlie is considered to be a sort of anti-hero type, a former police officer who was forever hunting the killer of his wife and daughter. A total of fourteen books were written (through 2016) with Charlie Parker as the main character. The last three books made a change from being told in the first person of Parker, to being told by a third party person's point of view.

Connolly also published other thriller novels outside the Parker series. One such novel was about a young boy's coming-of-age journey through a fantasy of life during World War II England. Film adaptations of some of his works have been procured and will be made for film in the future. The first to appear to audiences was somewhat based on one of his short stories, "The New Daughter", and starred Kevin Costner and Ivana Bauquero.

In 2009, Connolly wrote his first novel geared specifically to younger readers, "The Gates", followed in 2011 by sequels, "Hell's Bells" (UK), and "The Infernals" (US), and "The Creeps" in 2013.

John Connolly's home base is still in Dublin, but he does divide his working time between there and the United States, which is where the Charlie Parker series takes place.