The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
A Novel
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4.0 • 80 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Notable Book and Best Thriller of 2024
A whip-smart and “fast-paced mystery” (The Daily Telegraph, London) from the internationally bestselling author of The Twyford Code and The Appeal about a true crime journalist who revives a long-buried case about a cult—and finds herself too close to the story.
Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared.
Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby’s trail.
As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A pile of old papers leads to a shocking reveal in Janice Hallett’s taut and original thriller. True-crime writer Amanda Bailey lands a deal to pen a book about the Alperton Angels, a turn-of-the-millennium London cult whose charismatic leader convinced his followers they were celestial beings who must kill a child he claimed was the Antichrist. Unfortunately, Amanda’s longtime frenemy Oliver Menzies is also working on a piece about the Angels, and their rivalry takes a very disturbing turn. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels reads like a literary version of a chilling found-footage thriller like The Blair Witch Project—Hallett tells the story through emails, text messages, letters, and excerpts from previous books about and inspired by the cult. This uniquely off-kilter structure makes it all the more exciting to see the pieces come together in a truly startling climax.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this inventive offering from Hallett (The Appeal), true crime author Amanda Bailey investigates the Alperton Angels, a cult that carried out a mass suicide after one of its members—a teenager whom the cult was convinced had given birth to the anti-Christ—alerted the police to its criminal activities. Eighteen years have passed since the Angels' death ritual, and no one has been able to track down the mother or her child since. Planning to write a book about the incident, Bailey searches for the missing Alperton baby, now presumably a young adult. There's only one problem: rival author Oliver Menzies, with whom Bailey shares a checkered history, is on the same trail. As in The Twyford Code and The Appeal, Hallett isn't afraid to make demands of her readers: she pieces most of the novel together via a series of WhatsApp messages and discarded drafts of Bailey and Menzies' work. The twists never let up as Hallett barrels toward the finish, frequently undermining reader expectations along the way while staying firmly in the realm of fair play. Hallett's fans and newcomers alike will relish this brilliantly constructed and eminently satisfying mystery.
Customer Reviews
Outstanding
I agree with Adam’s review. No one writes like Hallett.
Whew…the ending!!
This is a great book! Highly entertaining. It is a little hard to connect dots because of the level of detail, the structure in which the story is told, and complex plot. But the author does a great job of subtle recaps to keep the reader going “ok, now I got it!” Definitely recommend!!! And the ending is so good!