“If you could see the future, would you want to?” The first chapter had me hooked! Then it got very confusing and went down hill from there. Jumping around to different perspectives and timelines, but not letting you know at the start of each chapter. It took me a bit to wrap my head around who’s who and how they are tied together in the bigger picture. I love the idea of the plot, but the way it was presented was too chaotic for me. I would have enjoyed a more straightforward timeline and telling of the facts. I felt like Alan was the most interesting character and there wasn’t enough of him. I also felt like Michael’s storyline wasn’t fully realized. It didn’t connect with the overall plot as fluidly as I would have liked. I only rated it a three because I finished the book and liked the idea of the plot, but am hesitant to read more of Alex’s work if it is going to be this disorderly.

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.

Going into this one I was expecting a thriller, but it turned out to be more of a crime read. I read/listened on audio and found several parts of this one to be confusing. The twist was good and had some action, but it never totally had my interest. I never really felt any connection to the characters. It wraps up pretty quickly which was nice.

After loving The Whisper Man and The Shadows, I had high hopes for this one. It fell short of those two novels, and I think the main reason is because I found it to be fairly confusing. I had a hard time getting into the book and had a difficult time following the plot. Maybe it was just me!

I have mixed feelings about this novel. I've enjoyed North's other novels but this one kind of missed the mark for me. I found it confusing and chaotic. I guess it's hard to predict how things will play out when you can't quite keep up with everything as it's presented.

This is a tough one for me to review. On one hand I feel like the plot was very unique which I appreciate. On the other hand I was confused through much of the book and still am after reading it. A lot of characters and timelines and storylines along with a complicated premise made this not super enjoyable for me.

This is the 1st book that I have read by this author, and I am positive in saying it will not be my last.
For me it started alittle slow, but when I started getting into it I couldn't stop reading.

Always expect the unexpected when reading any Alex North book.
I tell myself this with each book I have read from this author. You absolutely will not guess what is going to happen. This is exactly what I love with this book! The storyline, the characters, all of it kept me engaged from the very first page.

I was completely confused for about 60% of this book and then things started making sense. I honestly don’t know how to feel about this one. I wasn’t enjoying it much in the beginning but it all came together in the end and made me like it more.

This book reads really different from North’s other novels. The perspective is constantly changing and I had to keep flipping back to remember who was speaking. The loose ends are tied up and the ending is pretty good but I could see a lot of people not finishing this one because the beginning is confusing and frustrating. It was worth it in the end but it didn’t live up to my expectations.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc.


Ok. I was lowkey confused the entire book. Even at the end… like what? This just wasn’t it for me but 2 stars because there was potential for greatness … I just don’t feel like Alex North delivered. I would like to say I did read it fairly quickly and I just kept hoping for more and it never happened.

I read the previous book by this author so I couldn’t wait to get into this one. He sorry was great and it pulled me in from be very beginning. I can’t wait for the next book by his author.

Thanks to Celadon Books for the Advanced Copy!

So after a few days of back and forth deliberating, I have to go and rate this one a 2.5/5 Stars, which is upsetting for me to even do personally.

The story is broken down into 4 parts. Throughout Part 1, I was completely hooked. It starts off really well with a gripping introduction of a murder which leads two detectives to investigate said murder and how the events of the present, coincide with the events of the past.

However...parts two and three made it very very hard for me as the reader to properly follow along, as there were too many confusing plot lines, plot points and plot/character developments, to the point where at many times; I couldn't tell if I was reading about the past or present, and with the amount of changes of character names and relations, it almost seemed like there were up to 30 different characters at play.

I will say though, as the book was coming to its conclusion, it quickly tied up some of its loose ends to make the ending a bit more understandable but still left me feeling like I missed out on a good chunk of story for everything to make complete sense.

I have read both of Alex Norths other novels; The Whisper Man and The Shadows, and I found them to be quite enjoyable reads, The Whisper Man especially, so it was odd to me to see such a different writing style when it come to The Angel Maker.

This is not a biased review, this is an honest review based on reading said novel, so I am sure others will appreciate what is written here and can make their own personal claims/honest reviews on The Angel Maker, and still recommend others to read this, as not everyone's views are the same.

Again thanks to Celadon Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy and I can't wait to see what's in the store for the next one!

The Angel Maker by Alex North is the third book I have read by him and sadly it is my least favourite of the three. I liked the overall premise of the story but found that there were far too many story lines interacting with one another and the ending sort of remained unfinished, I did find myself somewhat confused with the ending and I wanted a little more. I found his other two books more creepy and eerie and that is something I missed in this one. I did think this was the perfect lenght of book and I enjoyed the short chapters.

I enjoyed The Whisper Man and The Shadows and really looked forward to reading The Angel Maker! It took a bit of time to get used to who was who because there was a large cast of people. The philosophy was interesting. Are our lives predetermined by fate or do we have control? I liked the paranormal vibes, suspense and each chapter was short and sweet. I was curious to know how the people fit together in the larger scheme of things. Once I got used to who everyone was, the pace picked up a lot more. I wound up reading this in 2 days. I felt like it wrapped up too quickly and would have liked an epilogue. There were a few chapters that felt like distractions and didn't really keep to the story. The Whisper Man is still my favorite but I enjoyed this one and anyone looking for more of a crime novel will enjoy this too. Thank you for the complimentary copy.

In the Post-war era, two brothers are born and raised to a father who is a fanatical believer in determinism - the philosophical theory that all events, including the actions of human beings, are inevitable. It denies the existence of free will, propounding that people could never have made any other decision. In the 1990s/2000s a brother and sister grow up to be very close, until one day a violent and delusional young man attacks the brother, causing horrific injuries and psychological trauma. It doesn't seem like these storylines are related, however the lives do intersect and in very tragic ways, with long roots in the past.

When Celadon calls this book "deeply complex", they are not joking. It is a complex, multi-layered plot, with multiple points of view and multiple timelines. I confess I found it confusing and jarring at times, with the constant transitions from present to past in the various character storylines. There were some aspects I found a little tired - the weary cops always several steps behind and the husband who downplays the wife's fears - that elicited an eyeroll from me.

The brother and sister supposedly have great affection for each other, however we don't see much evidence of that. Some of the plot twists were brilliant, and the main antagonist is definitely diabolical to the very end, although I found the ending to be a letdown. It felt like a frantic tying-up of loose ends, with constant jumping around in time. I had to read it twice before it made sense to me.

Overall, I have to conclude that I felt indifferent to it at the end. I wasn't connected to the characters and I didn't feel like I had much of a stake in the outcomes. It felt a little wooden to me. That being said, I see many positive reviews and regular readers of Alex North seem to love it. Thank you to Celadon for an ARC to review.

While I wanted to love this, it fell short of the mark. The author just put too much content in the narrative, not affording the reader to connect with characters or even follow the storyline. It was a challenging read, definitely for those with better information management than me. Perhaps this is why the story felt chaotic and slow moving. Did not enjoy.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC which was read and reviewed voluntarily.

I love a solid thriller and had seen tons of rave reviews for North’s “The Whisper Man” so I jumped on this ARC from Netgalley. Unfortunately, this book was a slog for me. I DNFd it a little less than halfway.

Katie grew up with a happy, normal childhood until her younger brother Chris was brutally attacked by a stranger just before she graduated. Decades later, Katie is still haunted by the violent attack and her own guilt. Chris is now an adult but he is suddenly missing and Katie jumps at the chance to help her brother in ways she never could before.

I cared about Katie and Chris but they were such a small sliver of the first half of the book. There were way too many timelines and characters to care about anyone or anything going on. I felt so disconnected as the book jumped around. I feel like I read a lot of books with multiple POVs and timelines, yet I was lost here. Makes me not want to check out North’s other works…

✨Trigger Warnings: Murder, Child Abuse, Death, Violence (probably way more but this is what I got to)

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

It is fast paced, and I finished it in a couple of days. I was initially drawn in because I had so many questions and no clue how anyone was related. The beginning felt like I was reading two (three?) separate stories.

Then slowly, inexorably, the pieces started to click together and the twists revealed themselves.

Endings are where I'm picky and I felt this one ended a touch abruptly. Not a lot of closure for me as the reader. Still, I enjoyed this book and do recommend it.

I recently finished this one and have been trying to collect my thoughts on it. Im still not sure if I understand everything that happened 😂. Even though I am confused I still enjoyed this one! I love Alex North’s writing style and how invested I get into the story and characters. I listened to this and also read it at the same time and the audio was great but I did get a little lost because of the time jumps as well as switching pov’s. This story follows Katie who was a part of a traumatic accident involving her brother. Years later he is missing and Katie is asked by her mother to look for him. At the same time we are also following a pair of detectives investigating a murder. I really enjoyed all the perspectives and was invested in all of them. Highly recommend this creepy thriller! Thank you @celadonbooks and @netgalley for my #gifted copies!

I have enjoyed North’s previous book so I was excited for The Angel Maker. I was super interested how this story was going to go from the very beginning, but the amount of characters was really overwhelming. Overall this was an read okay for me and I look forward to what Alex North comes up with next!

I haven’t read a thriller in a while and I’m glad Celadon sent me this.
There is various timelines and multiple characters it is hard at first to get into. It’s a little dark and a little creepy but I’m a good way. There’s a few twists and turns that surprised me ! Make sure you pay attention :) I loved it thank you for this arc