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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
Everyone is connected in unexpected ways.
Alex North can do no wrong! The Whisper Man was my first novel of his and I loved it. The Shadows was also great. So I was ecstatic that I received a free arc of his newest book The Angel Maker.
Katie Shaw is married to Sam with whom she has a daughter named Siena. They live in a beautiful home on the English countryside and have a great life. Decades earlier, her brother was attacked by a man in a red car on the way home from school and Katie always blamed herself for not being there with him to prevent it. Now in present time, her brother Chris has gone missing and her daughter sees a red car suspiciously parked outside her daycare.
This took me a little longer to get into. It’s a bit more complicated than his previous works. There are many characters and I found myself rereading passages to find my footing. But once I got into it, about halfway in, I couldn’t put it down. Thank you to the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read The Angel Maker!
Alex North can do no wrong! The Whisper Man was my first novel of his and I loved it. The Shadows was also great. So I was ecstatic that I received a free arc of his newest book The Angel Maker.
Katie Shaw is married to Sam with whom she has a daughter named Siena. They live in a beautiful home on the English countryside and have a great life. Decades earlier, her brother was attacked by a man in a red car on the way home from school and Katie always blamed herself for not being there with him to prevent it. Now in present time, her brother Chris has gone missing and her daughter sees a red car suspiciously parked outside her daycare.
This took me a little longer to get into. It’s a bit more complicated than his previous works. There are many characters and I found myself rereading passages to find my footing. But once I got into it, about halfway in, I couldn’t put it down. Thank you to the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read The Angel Maker!
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The timelines were bouncing all over the place and the characters were boring.
I was really excited to receive the ARC (advanced reader copy) of The Angel Maker by Alex North. I read two of his previous books, and found them highly enjoyable and was looking forward to his newest release. The story focuses on several threads. There is a serial killer named Jack Lock who targets children. His nickname is the Angel Maker. There is a wealthy man, found murdered in his home. There is a young teen boy, assaulted by a stranger and there is also a detective thread, trying to make sense of it all. First, I wouldn’t call this a thriller. At no point was I thrilled or nervous for the characters. Its a mystery. Unfortunately, the foreshadowing is too heavy handed which led to me guessing how some of the threads were connected. The only “twist” I predicted from the first clue. It was lacking any tension or intrigue so I didn’t feel compelled to keep reading. It would’ve been a DNF if it wasn’t a review copy.
His previous books have a spooky supernatural atmosphere which was virtually non-existent in the book, which is a bummer. The only speculative element is the accuracy of a prophetic book. If that atmosphere is important to you, I don’t think you’d like this one.
I struggle to bring you any positive points on this book. Some of the writing was nice. I highlighted “The house seemed as saturated by grief and sorrow as it was by the downpour.”
Characters? Nope. A lot of the characters felt 2-dimensional. The husband gaslights his wife when she is worried about someone who tries to break in their house. He’s quite deplorable. There are many characters and none of them fully realized.
There was interesting discussion on the idea of determinism. It posits that everything that is going to happen, will happen. You don’t have free will or choice. Everything is pre-determined for you. The murderer buys into this idea, thinking he is doing God’s will and has no choice in the matter. I wish that had been explored a bit more because that was really the only part leaving me wanting more.
Quote: “But on an evening, when you’re deciding whether to have that second glass of wine or not, it might feel like you’re free to make up your mind either way. But you aren’t. What will happen will happen. What happens was always going to happen.”
“Many religions consider God to be omniscient, all-knowing. And if God knows the future, then the future can’t be changed.”
Overall, this book lacked tension, intrigue, and character development. The discussion of the philosophy was intriguing, but overall, I don’t recommend. 2 stars.
His previous books have a spooky supernatural atmosphere which was virtually non-existent in the book, which is a bummer. The only speculative element is the accuracy of a prophetic book. If that atmosphere is important to you, I don’t think you’d like this one.
I struggle to bring you any positive points on this book. Some of the writing was nice. I highlighted “The house seemed as saturated by grief and sorrow as it was by the downpour.”
Characters? Nope. A lot of the characters felt 2-dimensional. The husband gaslights his wife when she is worried about someone who tries to break in their house. He’s quite deplorable. There are many characters and none of them fully realized.
There was interesting discussion on the idea of determinism. It posits that everything that is going to happen, will happen. You don’t have free will or choice. Everything is pre-determined for you. The murderer buys into this idea, thinking he is doing God’s will and has no choice in the matter. I wish that had been explored a bit more because that was really the only part leaving me wanting more.
Quote: “But on an evening, when you’re deciding whether to have that second glass of wine or not, it might feel like you’re free to make up your mind either way. But you aren’t. What will happen will happen. What happens was always going to happen.”
“Many religions consider God to be omniscient, all-knowing. And if God knows the future, then the future can’t be changed.”
Overall, this book lacked tension, intrigue, and character development. The discussion of the philosophy was intriguing, but overall, I don’t recommend. 2 stars.
Alex North has such great ideas and is a great storyteller. The one thing he seems to struggle with is ending the book. All three of the titles I have read tell this cool story that stretches for 9/10 of the book, and then the ending feels rushed and incomplete. His books are so close to being amazing that it’s frustrating as a reader. But will I continue to read every book he puts out? Definitely.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated