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A review by donasbooks
Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg
3.0
Instagram Review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCZ0X_zAqeo/
Who remembers Mickey Rourke? Well I do, before he was a fighter, when his face was beautiful and his acting mesmerized every teenage girl and stay at home mom in the country. That was the eighties, and in case I've aged myself, let me set myself straight: I was still falling out of trees. But I did see Angel Heart when I was a junior in high school and just tumbling head-injury-coma-style-long into my horror junkie phase (still haven't woken up, in case you're asking, though I'm a somnambulist and a chatty one). I crashed into an odd something with Mickey Rourke, aka Detective Angel. And that movie stuck with me.
I think what shocks me most about William Hjortsberg's Falling Angel is how long I had to read it before I realized it was the book version of that pinnacle eighties horror film, Angel Heart. It was not until I was approaching the climactic scene and Angel started stacking the evidence together that I recognized the setup of the bombshell reveal at the end (which I will keep to myself, for those of you who still want to read this book). Once I did realize what book I was reading, I admit, I was disappointed.
Mostly because the film, I think, is superior. I find this book's organization a bit distressing in the sense that Hjortsberg seems to favor the horror story over the mystery. I often struggled to follow the case from one scene to the next, even within a given scene. I don't have the patience to read material multiple times to catch the narrative nuance; perhaps you will.
This book gets a three for a really great horror story; I can't really make sense of the author's decision to include the mystery subgenre. At the same time, had he not, we would not have one of my favorite ever horror films, Angel Heart, or one of Mickey Rourke's best roles. If you want something weird (and you won't mind if it turns out to be junk), give it a shot.
One last thing: I don't know anything at all about voodoo, but I'm pretty sure this book gets every single thing it touches wrong about voodoo.
Hope you all stay safe and calm <3
Who remembers Mickey Rourke? Well I do, before he was a fighter, when his face was beautiful and his acting mesmerized every teenage girl and stay at home mom in the country. That was the eighties, and in case I've aged myself, let me set myself straight: I was still falling out of trees. But I did see Angel Heart when I was a junior in high school and just tumbling head-injury-coma-style-long into my horror junkie phase (still haven't woken up, in case you're asking, though I'm a somnambulist and a chatty one). I crashed into an odd something with Mickey Rourke, aka Detective Angel. And that movie stuck with me.
I think what shocks me most about William Hjortsberg's Falling Angel is how long I had to read it before I realized it was the book version of that pinnacle eighties horror film, Angel Heart. It was not until I was approaching the climactic scene and Angel started stacking the evidence together that I recognized the setup of the bombshell reveal at the end (which I will keep to myself, for those of you who still want to read this book). Once I did realize what book I was reading, I admit, I was disappointed.
Mostly because the film, I think, is superior. I find this book's organization a bit distressing in the sense that Hjortsberg seems to favor the horror story over the mystery. I often struggled to follow the case from one scene to the next, even within a given scene. I don't have the patience to read material multiple times to catch the narrative nuance; perhaps you will.
This book gets a three for a really great horror story; I can't really make sense of the author's decision to include the mystery subgenre. At the same time, had he not, we would not have one of my favorite ever horror films, Angel Heart, or one of Mickey Rourke's best roles. If you want something weird (and you won't mind if it turns out to be junk), give it a shot.
One last thing: I don't know anything at all about voodoo, but I'm pretty sure this book gets every single thing it touches wrong about voodoo.
Hope you all stay safe and calm <3