Scan barcode
A review by iblamewizards
The Black Angel by John Connolly
3.0
I still love John Connolly, but I have to admit that The Black Angel was the first of his novels that I didn't love. The story was certainly gripping, well researched, with excellent pacing, but for the first time, I felt a disconnect from the characters.
The Black Angel fell into the trap that so many crime writers fall into, in that the women in the novel did nothing much except serve as a plot device to make the male protagonists have something over which to be melancholy. The novel's women were all very different, but their experiences and emotions simply weren't given the development they needed. Parker's wife comes across as unreasonable and weak because we only see their relationship through Parker's eyes, Louis' niece, Alice, lives a tragic life, but we only truly experience that tragedy through how it affects Louis, and his Aunt makes a desperate journey to find her missing daughter, only to disappear from the novel when her presence is no longer needed.
I know that John Connolly is excellent at writing characters, including women, and this novel may just be the product of its time. I still enjoyed reading it and found the narrative utterly compelling. But, for the first time, I have to say I 'liked' this, rather than 'loved' it.
The Black Angel fell into the trap that so many crime writers fall into, in that the women in the novel did nothing much except serve as a plot device to make the male protagonists have something over which to be melancholy. The novel's women were all very different, but their experiences and emotions simply weren't given the development they needed. Parker's wife comes across as unreasonable and weak because we only see their relationship through Parker's eyes, Louis' niece, Alice, lives a tragic life, but we only truly experience that tragedy through how it affects Louis, and his Aunt makes a desperate journey to find her missing daughter, only to disappear from the novel when her presence is no longer needed.
I know that John Connolly is excellent at writing characters, including women, and this novel may just be the product of its time. I still enjoyed reading it and found the narrative utterly compelling. But, for the first time, I have to say I 'liked' this, rather than 'loved' it.