La Crosse County Library's Reviews > The Angel Maker

After enjoying Alex North’s previous two books, I was excited to get started on this one. For some reason, there wasn’t as much hype surrounding this book’s release like the author’s other two books even with its interesting premise. My verdict on this book is that I wanted to like it more than I did because I think Alex North tried too hard to top his other books.



I like how short and easy it is to read just as with the author’s previous works. On the other hand, I felt that there were too many POVs jumping around in different timelines as well. The plot became too convoluted since it wasn’t linear. The book felt rushed in wrapping certain while other things really weren’t properly wrapped up.



Normally, I am all for twists as I really enjoy them. It seemed like the author tried to be too smart with the twist, philosophy (think Laplace’s demon), and story. I didn't get surprised by anything unlike his last book because of that. I enjoy the author’s flirtation of supernatural elements in his previous mystery books, but the use of the supernatural was too blatant in this one for me. The overuse of it took away from the story.



I just did not connect with many of the characters. Katie started out as a solid character for me, but there were instances where she acted out of character which dialed back my fondness of her. I felt bad for Chris but could not connect with him without there being more chapters dedicated to his pov. Other characters felt generic, but I guess my two favorite characters were Siena and Pettifer. The thing I enjoyed the most about the characters was the relationship between them and how it developed (Mother-daughter and siblings especially). (view spoiler)[ I did not enjoy the pov of a certain 2nd generation angel maker because he was a psychotic zealot with tunnel vision. That’s the downfall of having a pov of a psychopath since it's hard to develop them as characters. (hide spoiler)]



Motivations for certain characters actions also weren’t properly explained. (view spoiler)[ For one, why was Michael fixated on Siena instead of Katie or Chris since Siena isn’t an anomaly. Who killed Alan? It could have been the goon that Edward dispatched, but Edward seemed like he would have reacted to it in a different way and addressed it in his inner monologue. Speaking of Edward, why wasn’t the topic of his Angels addressed? He supposedly had a lot (number never really addressed), and yet it seemed like there was no investigation following those disappearances.

There were other things glossed over too. My biggest gripe was with the father of Edward and Alan. The book made it seem that the nutjob serial kill was in fact some prophet with supernatural abilities. He was straight up despicable, yet the events of the book seemed to confirm he was right since it never addressed the reason for why the book had power in the first place. (hide spoiler)]



Overall, I ended up liking the book, but I didn’t love it. It felt like Alex North tried to do too much with story and it backfired and wasn't as engaging as his other books since the story bogged it down. That being said, if you enjoyed his previous works such as the The Whisper Man you probably will at the very least enjoy it.



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