The Angel Maker
A Novel
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3.9 • 58 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"Deeply complex and carefully crafted, this novel is a thrilling question mark all the way to the end, and it puts North’s storytelling skills on full display.… The Angel Maker, his best so far, is a superb addition to his already impressive oeuvre."–NPR
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Whisper Man and The Shadows comes a dark, suspenseful new thriller about the mysteries of fate, the unbreakable bond of siblings, and a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future.
Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.
Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.
Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When Katie Shaw, the protagonist of this uneven thriller set in the U.K. from bestseller North (The Shadows), was 17, she made an innocent decision that proved calamitous; instead of looking after her younger brother, Chris, she spent an afternoon with her boyfriend. As a result, Katie wasn't on hand when Chris was attacked by a stranger, Michael Hyde, who tried to cut off Chris's face. Now in her 30s, she feels even more guilt when their mother reports that Chris, who became an addict and petty criminal, has gone missing. This news drives Katie to try to find Chris, despite having given up on their relationship years before when she turned him in to the police for theft. Chris is also the quarry of a police detective who met the siblings when Hyde assaulted Chris. Meanwhile, a philosophy professor, a fervent determinist, has his throat slit under circumstances that suggest he expected to be killed; Chris was caught at the scene by security video. That the professor's murder is also linked to a serial killer known as the Angel Maker adds intrigue. Not every twist works, and the potential of the intersecting story lines isn't realized. North has done better.
Customer Reviews
Leave the lights on!
Alex North will have you scared to turn the page, while at the same time anxious to see what happens next in “The Angel Maker.” Quick, cunning & terrifying, this thriller takes the meaning of “family” to an entirely sinister level. Leave the lights on. Or better yet, lock the door & curl up during the daytime. This one will keep you up at night.
Meh
I’m not sure what everyone is talking about. This book is tedious. With all the back and forth, irrelevant details, and characters, you end up hating like all of them. I've read and enjoyed his other books immensely, but man, this one misses the mark.
This one is the best
I’ve read the other two books written by Alex North, “The Whisper Man” and “The Shadows”. They were really good. But this book, “The Angel Maker” was incredible. It’s a little hard to understand at first, but once the story ramps up, it is awesome.