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dantastic's review against another edition
2.0
Alberta Murray is convinced her husband is having an affair. Imagine her shock when her husband is arrested for his mistress's murder! Alberta happened upon the crime scene before the police and the only clue is a matchbook with the letter M embossed on the cover. She pilfers the victim's address book and starts going down the M's one by one. Can she find the killer before her husband is executed?
My problems with this book started with the premise. If a woman found out her husband was cheating on her and the police thought he killed his mistress, would she go to such great lengths to clear him? Somehow I doubt it. I know I wouldn't in her place.
Despite my initial misgivings, I liked the story. Alberta went up against some interesting characters: the mistress's ex husband who had degenerated to a drunk in the Bowery, a drug pusher, a lady's man, and a gangster. Too bad the story dragged on a bit. If it would have been 150 pages, it would have been perfect. Instead, it felt bloated.
The ending was a little on the weak side. After the Bride Wore Black, I was hoping Woolrich would sucker punch me with the revelation that the husband did it all along and Alberta had gone through hell for nothing. The ending wasn't bad but wasn't as good as I was hoping for. After three of his books, I'm convinced Woolrich was a misogynist. All of his female characters are either whores, psychopaths, or doormats.
I'm giving this a 2.5. It was on the good side of okay but I didn't really think it was a good book.
My problems with this book started with the premise. If a woman found out her husband was cheating on her and the police thought he killed his mistress, would she go to such great lengths to clear him? Somehow I doubt it. I know I wouldn't in her place.
Despite my initial misgivings, I liked the story. Alberta went up against some interesting characters: the mistress's ex husband who had degenerated to a drunk in the Bowery, a drug pusher, a lady's man, and a gangster. Too bad the story dragged on a bit. If it would have been 150 pages, it would have been perfect. Instead, it felt bloated.
The ending was a little on the weak side. After the Bride Wore Black, I was hoping Woolrich would sucker punch me with the revelation that the husband did it all along and Alberta had gone through hell for nothing. The ending wasn't bad but wasn't as good as I was hoping for. After three of his books, I'm convinced Woolrich was a misogynist. All of his female characters are either whores, psychopaths, or doormats.
I'm giving this a 2.5. It was on the good side of okay but I didn't really think it was a good book.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Welp…you can check Cornell Woolrich’s name off the list of great Golden Age noir writers I have yet to read. It took me way too long.
What I found most interesting about The Black Angel was Woolrich’s style. I don’t know what I expected, perhaps something more hardboiled or with a benighted prose. But he doesn’t write like that, at least for this one. Woolrich is a smooth writer, not prone to overwriting or making his characters sound like Oxford-by-Brooklyn the way some of his contemporaries did (looking at you, Chandler and Hammett). It’s a noir tale that has an earthy feel to it, which I found refreshing.
The premise is noir as hell: a woman knows her husband did not murder his mistress but he’s arrested for it. So she goes “undercover” such as it is to exonerate him. As she does, she gets pulled in deeper and deeper to the New York underworld in ways she does not expect and is not ready for. But it exposes a side of her she does not expect. She becomes steeled in her resolve. Her evolution and reaction is what gives the book its strength.
Woolrich is great at building up the suspense. I didn’t know where the story was going from chapter-to-chapter and eagerly turned the pages in order to see. It builds up to its conclusion that, while perhaps a bit of a let down, fits in well with the noir themes. I didn’t need another writer’s catalogue to go through but I guess I’ll be making my way to his work more often.
What I found most interesting about The Black Angel was Woolrich’s style. I don’t know what I expected, perhaps something more hardboiled or with a benighted prose. But he doesn’t write like that, at least for this one. Woolrich is a smooth writer, not prone to overwriting or making his characters sound like Oxford-by-Brooklyn the way some of his contemporaries did (looking at you, Chandler and Hammett). It’s a noir tale that has an earthy feel to it, which I found refreshing.
The premise is noir as hell: a woman knows her husband did not murder his mistress but he’s arrested for it. So she goes “undercover” such as it is to exonerate him. As she does, she gets pulled in deeper and deeper to the New York underworld in ways she does not expect and is not ready for. But it exposes a side of her she does not expect. She becomes steeled in her resolve. Her evolution and reaction is what gives the book its strength.
Woolrich is great at building up the suspense. I didn’t know where the story was going from chapter-to-chapter and eagerly turned the pages in order to see. It builds up to its conclusion that, while perhaps a bit of a let down, fits in well with the noir themes. I didn’t need another writer’s catalogue to go through but I guess I’ll be making my way to his work more often.
tim888's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tommyro's review against another edition
4.0
The creator of noir fiction, Cornell Woolrich rarely, if ever, misses. He certainly doesn't with this brilliant thriller. The tension is fantastic. The characters are great. The plot is as tight as a high tension electric wire. A definite must read for anyone who likes thrillers.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Welp…you can check Cornell Woolrich’s name off the list of great Golden Age noir writers I have yet to read. It took me way too long.
What I found most interesting about The Black Angel was Woolrich’s style. I don’t know what I expected, perhaps something more hardboiled or with a benighted prose. But he doesn’t write like that, at least for this one. Woolrich is a smooth writer, not prone to overwriting or making his characters sound like Oxford-by-Brooklyn the way some of his contemporaries did (looking at you, Chandler and Hammett). It’s a noir tale that has an earthy feel to it, which I found refreshing.
The premise is noir as hell: a woman knows her husband did not murder his mistress but he’s arrested for it. So she goes “undercover” such as it is to exonerate him. As she does, she gets pulled in deeper and deeper to the New York underworld in ways she does not expect and is not ready for. But it exposes a side of her she does not expect. She becomes steeled in her resolve. Her evolution and reaction is what gives the book its strength.
Woolrich is great at building up the suspense. I didn’t know where the story was going from chapter-to-chapter and eagerly turned the pages in order to see. It builds up to its conclusion that, while perhaps a bit of a let down, fits in well with the noir themes. I didn’t need another writer’s catalogue to go through but I guess I’ll be making my way to his work more often.
What I found most interesting about The Black Angel was Woolrich’s style. I don’t know what I expected, perhaps something more hardboiled or with a benighted prose. But he doesn’t write like that, at least for this one. Woolrich is a smooth writer, not prone to overwriting or making his characters sound like Oxford-by-Brooklyn the way some of his contemporaries did (looking at you, Chandler and Hammett). It’s a noir tale that has an earthy feel to it, which I found refreshing.
The premise is noir as hell: a woman knows her husband did not murder his mistress but he’s arrested for it. So she goes “undercover” such as it is to exonerate him. As she does, she gets pulled in deeper and deeper to the New York underworld in ways she does not expect and is not ready for. But it exposes a side of her she does not expect. She becomes steeled in her resolve. Her evolution and reaction is what gives the book its strength.
Woolrich is great at building up the suspense. I didn’t know where the story was going from chapter-to-chapter and eagerly turned the pages in order to see. It builds up to its conclusion that, while perhaps a bit of a let down, fits in well with the noir themes. I didn’t need another writer’s catalogue to go through but I guess I’ll be making my way to his work more often.
persey's review
2.0
One expects Golden Age mystery plots to be preposterous, but they need to be internally consistent and two of the four subplots here failed in this respect. Add a third subplot which was entirely irrelevant to the story, and you’ve got a poor potboiler.
emilygigs's review
4.0
What a great piece of lady-centered noir! (in which the lady is the protagonist, not just the femme fatale.)
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