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booksamongstfriends 's review for:
The Angel Maker
by Alex North
I had high hopes for The Angel Maker, especially since I love thrillers and heard great things about the author. While I wasn't completely hooked by this book, I'll likely give some of North's other works a try.
The alternating perspectives and timelines, which I usually enjoy, felt a bit confusing here and didn't deepen the characters as I'd hoped. Honestly, I found myself indifferent to whether the characters lived or died. There was so much taken on, it just fell flat.
The story kicks off with a brutal attack against Christopher Shaw and the ominous death of Alan Hobbes. Soon, and yet slowly, we're introduced to themes of identity, addiction, and familial trauma through characters like Katie & Christopher Shaw, their surrounding loved ones, detectives and Michael Hyde. The use of determinism and darkness embodied by characters like Professor Alan Hobbes, The Angel Maker, and Edward held potential, but there were too many unanswered questions. A major one being, was Michael Hyde even a necessary character? If so, why was he not better connected to the story?
North also introduces a supernatural element, but it left me wondering: how did this character gain such power? And what's the real story behind the elusive "angel maker"? While so much of this story, even the title, centers around a serial killers journal his charcter feels like an after thought. It just started to feel like too many side quests.
Despite my reservations, I can see why others may enjoy this book. There's a palpable darkness explored here, and genuine character relationships to care about. It just needed a bit more development to fully engage me.
The alternating perspectives and timelines, which I usually enjoy, felt a bit confusing here and didn't deepen the characters as I'd hoped. Honestly, I found myself indifferent to whether the characters lived or died. There was so much taken on, it just fell flat.
The story kicks off with a brutal attack against Christopher Shaw and the ominous death of Alan Hobbes. Soon, and yet slowly, we're introduced to themes of identity, addiction, and familial trauma through characters like Katie & Christopher Shaw, their surrounding loved ones, detectives and Michael Hyde. The use of determinism and darkness embodied by characters like Professor Alan Hobbes, The Angel Maker, and Edward held potential, but there were too many unanswered questions. A major one being, was Michael Hyde even a necessary character? If so, why was he not better connected to the story?
North also introduces a supernatural element, but it left me wondering: how did this character gain such power? And what's the real story behind the elusive "angel maker"? While so much of this story, even the title, centers around a serial killers journal his charcter feels like an after thought. It just started to feel like too many side quests.
Despite my reservations, I can see why others may enjoy this book. There's a palpable darkness explored here, and genuine character relationships to care about. It just needed a bit more development to fully engage me.