well, that was existential in the creepiest way imaginable.

usually, i dislike when writers repeat things (actions, feelings, thoughts) a lot; it tends to feel like padding & becomes quickly tiresome but in this case, i actually felt it added to the atmosphere of dread.

I read "The Whisper Man" years ago and immediately added Alex North to my favorite authors list.

However, this book missed the mark for me.

We start out with siblings Chris and Katie walking home from school, but Katie makes an ill-fated decision to leave with her boyfriend, Sam, instead of continuing home with Chris. But then he's attacked by a madman and things are never the same.

This story then presents another mystery and that's the death of Alan Hobbs, a philosophy professor. Then we have another mystery when a now adult Chris goes missing. And another turn of events is when a strange man is seen watching Katie's daughter.

The writing in this story is fine. The author is descriptive and brings the characters to life. I partially read this book and then listened to the audiobook as well. The narrator is Rosalie Craig and she does an excellent job on the narration. She manages to convey a wide array of emotions and characters seamlessly.

My issue with this story was that it felt really chaotic. It's somewhat multiple mysteries happening at once, but yet loosely connected. I think the connections weren't strong enough and then combined with the timelines bouncing around, plus multiple perspectives, it felt disjointed.

The story does get resolved, and I appreciated that the author didn't leave loose ends.

If you enjoy stories that have dual timelines, as well as different POVs with a sinister twist, you may want to try this one.

This was a really elaborate story with lots of characters who were all connected in some way and lots of twists and turns. It jumped around in time a bit and was a little difficult for me to keep track of who was who and how they were all connected and what period of time it was. I did enjoy the plot twists and suspense of it all, but overall just hard to follow.

A generally okay thriller, but not one of my favorites. Felt a bit slow in the middle, and I found it difficult to relate to the main character.

This was my first novel by Alex North, and it most certainly will not be my last.

Did I feel like I needed to take notes to connect all the dots? Absolutely. Did I feel like I needed someone to explain the connections to me like I was 3? Also, yes. But you better believe I enjoyed every single second of this. There wasn't a single twist or reveal in this that I guessed, or even came close to guessing. This was such a well done thriller. I cannot wait to read more from Alex North!

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the eARC of The Angel Maker by Alex North.

This was my first book by this author. While I think the plot was good…there was just too many characters and the way it was written was hard to follow. I found myself having to go back to reread numerous times. I was confused most of the time reading this. I’ve heard great things about The Whisper Man and I hope it is much better than this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

A serial killer and his two young sons. A family grieving the attack of their child. If you were able to change the future, would you?

This story had the makings of a great tale of a serial killer and the effects he had on his young family OR a family dealing with the dynamics of an assault and how they persevered OR a philosophy class.
Unfortunately, this book was all over the place with various POVs, timelines, and plot points. While the various directions the author took the reader on were entertaining, one could easily have gotten whiplash if they weren't paying attention. I understand that Alex North is an acclaimed thriller writer (this was my first foray into their catalogue), so I am not giving up on their books just yet.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ebook. This is my first time reading this author. I was hyped up after hearing such great reviews about The Whisper Man . But sadly, this book didn't work for me. Had to DNF.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I’ve read and enjoyed The Whisper Man and The Shadows. Both were really well-written and kept me hooked. However, this book fell flat. I felt like it tried to do too much all within one plot. If North had pared down the story and focused more deeply on the major plot, I think that would have helped this book.

As a teen, Katie tries to protect her brother, Chris, but he is attacked and scarred and his life changes forever. As adults, he has struggled while Katie has been successful with a family. Chris goes missing and Katie has to try to find him. There are several alternate plots involving a serial killer who died decades ago, a mysterious book, the man who attacked Chris, and a missing 7-month-old baby. Whew.

Even though this one didn’t work for me, I’m still going to keep reading Alex North’s books because I did enjoy his others so much.

This is a suspenseful book which feels like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. You know all the pieces have to go together and it's worth the effort to see it through. I'm a fan of Alex North and this did not disappoint.

This is by far Alex North's worst book and I think after this one I will just cut my losses. I'm unsure if it's the books or just that I've read so many adult thrillers that I just can't enjoy them anymore. This one is bogged down in way too many characters that made the plot overly complicated.

This book was fine.
I like a slow burn but this book was incredibly slow. I loved the Whisper Man and The Shadows, so I assumed I would love this one but didn't. It was confusing and hard to follow, but I read it all the way through.

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.*

Alex North is an amazing writer and I fell in love with his writing when he released The Whisper Man. I remember staying up all night just to finish it and nearly scaring myself because of it. Not often does a book evoke the sense of fear. The Angel Maker was quite different and while I still liked it, I would not call it my favorite. It was still a great read though, with an amazing start and an almost near perfect ending. 3.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy of The Angel Maker by Alex North in exchange for my honest review.

The shifting time periods, numerous characters, and poor character development led to a very chaotic and messy story. These elements also made the book very confusing. At the end of the day, it was difficult to recall which character was which due to the poor character development. Again, because of the poor character development, I did not care what happened to any of the characters! More than a handful of times I wanted to call it quits on this book, but I stuck it out. Not too sure it was worth it, lol!

I don't think all issues were resolved at the end of the book either, which left me frustrated. Honestly, maybe they were in the novel, but it was so haphazard it is hard to say.

I think what this book lacked was some good editing. This should have never been the final version. A coherent timeline would have made all the difference, as well as tightening up the character list and developing those that remained.

Thanks Celadon Books and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am usually such an Alex North fan. Unfortunately, this one provided more hype than the final result. I will still be an avid reader, though.

This one definitely solidified @writernorth as an autobuy author for me and well, I’m not surprised. I really enjoyed The Whisper Man & The Shadow Man because North really knows how to build up a story with the perfect webbing of unease plus characters that grab you along their journey. I also really enjoy how he can utilize multiple POV’s and time jumps in a way that only strengthens the narrative instead of muddling it.

In The Angel Maker, you get Katie Shaw who is an older sister that is burdened by guilt after a small decision led to a brutal attack of her little brother. Years later, the siblings are estranged with Katie struggling to grasp the feeling that she can protect her small family. Detective Laurence Page faces a murder investigation that somehow correlates with the attack on Christopher Shaw as well as the crimes of a notorious serial killer that claimed to see the future.

This by far was one that was tough to put down. It’s just a classic thriller crime procedural that has you wanting to connect the dots as the story unfolds. For a work of fiction, it uncannily has the ability to feel realistic so it really puts you on edge at points. I practically exploded when @netgalley approved me to receive this as an arc. I encourage any thriller fan to run not walk to snag this!
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I enjoyed The Whisper Man and The Shadows by Alex North so I was very excited to read The Angel Maker.

Unfortunately, the book just fell short on impressing me. At times the storyline was very hard to follow, I even tried listening to the audiobook to help. The story just seemed jumbled & in the end I couldn’t tell you who I was even reading about.

This is my third Alex North book and it did not disappoint. He does an amazing job of giving us the perfect thriller. This one definitely has a lot going on and if you are not someone who enjoys multiple POV/timelines then this not for you! However, without these multiple POVs I do not think this story would have been what it was. You were able to really understand the characters more and get more invested. I loved this concept of how these people were all intertwined to lead us to where we are. Alex north definitely seems to always deliver a thriller that gives you that shock factor- and for that I'm grateful!

Alex North has some CREEPY, HAUNTING books. And this one was no different. I loved both the Whisper Man and The Shadows. The Angel Maker, although enjoyable, rates third of the three books of his I've read. This again, has an interesting and complex plot, has haunting characters and keeps me hooked the entire book. I would recommend to anyone who loves that chills-down-your-spine feel from a book.

This was...fine. It was often disjointed and difficult to understand some of the story lines, and how they came together. There was some suspense, but the disjointed story lines honestly made this overall too distracting to enjoy.