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A review by catpingu
The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
After seeing how long the first book felt, I was expecting something similar in me starting to lose interest. Unexpectedly the opposite happened, in that once I was able to give myself ample time to get into the book I just kept rolling! The need to read was speed!
A year after the grisly events of the Beecham case, Sara Howard consults her old teammates once more to tackle the strange kidnapping of the daughter of the Spanish ambassador in broad daylight. With tensions running high between the United States and Spain, the political implications of a international kidnapping could be all it takes to set off a war! But so soon after Mary Palmer's death, is Dr. Kreizler ready to solve cases again? Especially when the details get more disturbing as the team investigates further.
**Minor spoiler but not really because it's literally the first chapter of the book and thus has no bearing on the actual events of the mystery** I think the reason this book was so much easier to get through and more intriguing was because of the change in narration style. From John Schuyler Moore's incredibly informative introduction to Kreizler and child psychology with the Beecham case, to Stevie Taggart's grounded and compassionate recollection of a case that's more disturbing than those of the perpetrator in the Beecham case.
A period work where women's roles in society were sexist and stereotypical, Sara Howard takes the lead and proves herself just as brilliant, Kreizler is just as intellectual, and the Isaacsons just as reliable and curious as before. Since Stevie is leading the story, we finally get some great background information about Cyrus and Kreizler, and the history of the residents in the house besides the brief tidbits and paragraphs Moore gave during the Beecham case. But where the first book very much has a Holmes-and-Watson dynamic, Stevie gives it more of a young-adult feel where he's present for most of the surprising fact-finding and outside drama, but not fully responsible for any particular action to make him the main character. Stevie is the new Watson, and Moore is basically an idiot. No other words. Moore is an idiot and a sexist and like Sara, there came two points in the book where I marveled at how much restraint it must have taken Sara not to shoot Moore there on the spot.
Stevie keeps on target so we can easily follow the pieces of the puzzle, and it's quite easy to understand Kreizler's thinking and everyone's actions. But is this because we've already had to go through the scientific reading that Moore and the others completed to get a basic understanding of why Kreizler must understand the effect of childhood on adult actions and the published psychology papers of similar subjects? Or is it because the case, and Stevie, are just that much more interesting? I do think a kidnapping is more interesting, especially if we hadn't been expecting the kidnapping and weren't already on the criminal's tail.
The implications of gender stereotypes and roles play a huge part in this book, and a huge part of the entertainment value for me is the efforts to overturn those stereotypes. Sara and her contemporaries doing an excellent job of being incredibly modern women with a positive effect on women's rights, and our new perpetrator's role exploiting the stereotypesliterally playing damsel-in-distress, seductress, and mama bear all in a quick span of moodiness to try and weasel her way out of legal trouble! This Elspeth Franklin! But again, a victim of childhood emotional abuse resulting in a savior complex and conflict between following desire or adhering to gender roles. and being the greatest fear and incarnation of men's avoidance and dismissiveness against women.
A year after the grisly events of the Beecham case, Sara Howard consults her old teammates once more to tackle the strange kidnapping of the daughter of the Spanish ambassador in broad daylight. With tensions running high between the United States and Spain, the political implications of a international kidnapping could be all it takes to set off a war! But so soon after Mary Palmer's death, is Dr. Kreizler ready to solve cases again? Especially when the details get more disturbing as the team investigates further.
**Minor spoiler but not really because it's literally the first chapter of the book and thus has no bearing on the actual events of the mystery** I think the reason this book was so much easier to get through and more intriguing was because of the change in narration style. From John Schuyler Moore's incredibly informative introduction to Kreizler and child psychology with the Beecham case, to Stevie Taggart's grounded and compassionate recollection of a case that's more disturbing than those of the perpetrator in the Beecham case.
A period work where women's roles in society were sexist and stereotypical, Sara Howard takes the lead and proves herself just as brilliant, Kreizler is just as intellectual, and the Isaacsons just as reliable and curious as before. Since Stevie is leading the story, we finally get some great background information about Cyrus and Kreizler, and the history of the residents in the house besides the brief tidbits and paragraphs Moore gave during the Beecham case. But where the first book very much has a Holmes-and-Watson dynamic, Stevie gives it more of a young-adult feel where he's present for most of the surprising fact-finding and outside drama, but not fully responsible for any particular action to make him the main character. Stevie is the new Watson, and Moore is basically an idiot. No other words. Moore is an idiot and a sexist and like Sara, there came two points in the book where I marveled at how much restraint it must have taken Sara not to shoot Moore there on the spot.
Stevie keeps on target so we can easily follow the pieces of the puzzle, and it's quite easy to understand Kreizler's thinking and everyone's actions. But is this because we've already had to go through the scientific reading that Moore and the others completed to get a basic understanding of why Kreizler must understand the effect of childhood on adult actions and the published psychology papers of similar subjects? Or is it because the case, and Stevie, are just that much more interesting? I do think a kidnapping is more interesting, especially if we hadn't been expecting the kidnapping and weren't already on the criminal's tail.
The implications of gender stereotypes and roles play a huge part in this book, and a huge part of the entertainment value for me is the efforts to overturn those stereotypes. Sara and her contemporaries doing an excellent job of being incredibly modern women with a positive effect on women's rights, and our new perpetrator's role exploiting the stereotypes