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.

I just want to start off by saying that this is the first book by Alex North that I have read and I went in blind so I really didn't know what to expect.

This book has multiple time lines and POV's. At times I had a hard time keeping things straight in my head. At the beginning I felt completely lost as to what was going on but by the midway point I was able to grasp it.

I haven't listening to a lot of audiobooks that aren't nonfiction so I wasn't used to having to pay close attention to the story. My opinion is I probably would have enjoyed the physical copy better rather than the audio.

Thank you @celadonbooks and @netgalley for an ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a thriller book broken up into 4 parts. The first 2 parts are a bit slow and with many characters it is hard to follow at times. The 3rd part picks up a bit and the ending was ok. I'm not sure if this book wasn't for me because of the subject matter or I just didn't connect with any of the characters. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Synopsis:
"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."

My Thoughts:
This story is told in one of my favorite formats with multiple POV's and dual timelines. However, this one didn't quite work for me. With each chapter we would get a date to indicate the timeline, since I was listening to the audiobook I struggled to remember the dates from one chapter to the next. As a result I would rely on the chapters content to try to place it within the overall story. This, paired with characters that I just didn't really like pulled me out of the story at times.
With all of that said, I did really enjoy how the story came together in the end. I thought that the overall concept was fantastic, I just struggled with the format.

Easily my favourite Alex North novel, THE ANGEL MAKER is a great thriller full of twists and turns. It's not afraid to make you feel "the ick". I kept wanting more, despite the way it made me feel. If you like character-driven stories, this is one for you. At times I felt a bit confused, but the story itself sucks you right in that it doesn't take long to right yourself again. North has the ability to make a story play out like an edge-of-your-seat horror movie, and it's uniqueness will draw you back to his writing every time.

Thank you Celadon Books for inviting me to read THE ANGEL MAKER!

I don’t even quite know where to start on this review as I try to wrap my head around what I just read. While I normally give a synopsis with my reviews, this one is a bit more tricky. This book was very close to a DNF for me initially. There are several characters to follow and several different timelines. Sometimes 2 years ago, sometimes 15, 30 etc. the timelines jumped all over the place and it got really hard to follow along. I will say, once I hit about 55% the story picked up and I was completely intrigued at how it would all play out, and the suspense got intense with a few events. Overall the ending tied up some of the questions I had, but there were still a few unanswered for me and it fell a little flat without those answered for me.

Thank you NetGalley and celadon books for my ARC in exchange for my honest feedback!

Thank you to NetGalley, Alex North, and Celadon Books for an ARC of The Angel Maker. This was my first Alex North book, and I'll read more.

I had a hard time with this book, honestly. There were too many story-lines, too many timelines, and too many point of views. When they were younger, siblings Katie and Christopher had something terrible happen, and Katie feels it's all her fault. Christopher never really recovered and has led a rough life ever since then. Now, something else is happening to their family, and Katie is trying to save them...but from what exactly?

Detective Laurence Page was there the day Michael Hyde attacked Christopher, and now he's searching for him as a person of interest in a major crime. Alan Hobbes was found dead, in a dilapidated home where there is a collection of items used by The Angel Maker, a serial killer. Why is he buying all these items? What's his fascination with Jack Lock?

Edward Leland is trying to track down his father's journal, which is supposed to have a record of everything that will ever happen in the world. And somehow Christopher got his hands on it first. Does Chris know what he has, and can he keep it out of the wrong hands?

I spent most of the book confused on how all the different plots wove together and getting lost in stories and time-frames. There were very few mentions of The Angel Maker himself, and I would have rather this been a story about him instead of trying to find his journal. I was slightly disappointed with this novel, and wasn't really in suspense for it, I was more just reading to get to the next part.

All in all, a decent mystery read. If you enjoy multiple viewpoints, stories, and timelines, then you'll probably like this. If you have read other Alex North books and liked them, then you'll probably enjoy this one.

I enjoyed reading that but I was really confused on who was who and how they all fit together. I'm glad I read other reviews and found out it wasn't just me. Good, interesting story and I will definitely pick up the next Alex North book.

This story took a while for me to find the groove of but half way in the plot picks up and the pieces start coming together. A great thriller.

This one fell flat for me until around the 75% mark in the book. There was so many characters writing from their point of view that it was really hard to understand what had happened in the past and what Katie and Chris' stories were and how the other character fit into the puzzle. At the 75% mark, it seemed like the story really started to shake out of the disjointed mess and began to really get down to the story. This was disappointing and this book really could have benefited from some editing and less point of views throughout. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

First off let me say thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an arc copy of this book! I have some mixed feelings about this one. Coming from The Whisper Man, I had high expectations. While the premise is very intriguing, the story didnt feel like anything new. I dont want to give spoilers in my reviews, and if this is your first Alex North book it will make you want to read his others, but if you have read Whisper Man, this one is not going to be on that same level. Its a good book, just not good enough to take down 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon Books for this advanced digital copy of The Angel Maker by Alex North! What a come back! The Whisper Man was my very first review on my Instagram account and has stuck with me ever since. I will always recomment it, but Alex North's follow up book The Shadows did not fill its shoes. I felt there was a big disconnect in the writing style between the two which made me very sad. BUT I'm happy to report that The Angel Maker was a success. It was creepy, it was twisty, it was a head scratcher. It was an all around thinker, and I love that in a psychological thriller. There are a LOT of names to keep up with, so heads up on that. I feel that can either make or a break a book, but as long as you know going in to the book that it's meant to take up all of your attention, I think you'll love it like I did. I can't wait to see what else Alex North has up his sleeve!

Gosh, I feel like this book had so much potential, but never quite went the distance. As with North's other books, there were so many different scenarios playing out at once and it was difficult to remember who was who, and even once he began to connect the dots, I still felt that the book was disjointed and that plot holes still remained after the last page.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book ahead of publishing date. Secondly, Angel Maker did not capture my attention, as I hoped it would. I read to the end, as sometimes it can take a few chapters in for me to grasp what is going on. There were many characters and many voices that told the story, which I believed clouded the story telling. With that being said, I can only give this book a 3 out of 5. It was an interesting premise to begin with, but fell the way side, the more confusing it became.

The Angel Maker is classic Alex North—a creepy story that ramps up the terror as it goes along. This story was a little more complicated than his others. It was confusing at first because of the amount of characters. However, once you figure out the characters and the different timelines it is such an amazing read! Parts of this book actually made me afraid to put my feet out from under the covers at night when I was reading. If you are a fan of his previous books, you must definitely read this one. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book definitely caught my attention in the beginning, but unfortunately fell flat for me as it went on. I had a hard time keeping track of everyone’s storylines and the ending felt anticlimactic for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I was quite excited to read it, because I'm a big Alex North fan. I can't say it's my favourite from this author, but I still devoured my way through it.
The only real negative is that I wasn't surprised by any plot twist. It still was quite a good book, and it entertained me.

This copy was kindly given to me by Netgalley and the publisher for review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. Alex North really does know how to weave a tense story. The only complaint I have about this book is I didn't feel like it followed the serial killer aspect of the plot enough. It centered more on the MC, her brother and the possibility that a man could see and alter the future. The moments where we are in the father serial killer (who was a nut job) and his son that followed in his footsteps was dark and twisted but we lost the killer aspect of this story which I think would have made it a 5 stars.

Overall I tend to enjoy Alex North's books. My only complaint about the audiobook if you decide to pick it up is that many of the characters we follow have similar names (and sometimes go by more than one) and that was confusing at times while listening.

The Angel Maker is my first Alex North read even though I have The Whisper Man and The Shadows on my TBR forever. I was a bit unsure about this book seeing some of the unfavorable reviews on GR but so glad I read it!

I started the book on audio and was immediately drawn in with the multiple characters and various timelines that don’t make much sense in the beginning. I don’t want to give away too much about the story but I love how this story is like a puzzle pieces that eventually come together.

This is not a fast read, and I found it a bit hard to follow on audio with the different POVs and timelines, so I switched to reading with my eyeballs halfway through. There is one character whose story I wish was more flesh out, and there wasn’t much explanation to how this character was connected to the whole thing. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed The Angel Maker. If you’d like to read a slow-burn murder mystery with Final Destination vibe, give this a read!

Thank you Celadon books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I went in knowing very little about this book other than a brief synopsis and Im happy about that decision! This book is one I had to go back and reread little parts especially in the beginning but I started to understand who all the characters were by about a quarter of the way in. I found Katie very likable and the detectives provided a more comedic tone which was needed to break the tension! This book has that very creepy feeling but also is a supernatural thriller. I enjoyed the twists and found myself reading most of this in one sitting! This is my second Alex North book and I definitely recommend it for those wanting a fast paced read!
Thank you so much to Celadon books and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars

I really enjoyed The Whisper Man & The Shadows by Alex North, so I was stoked to pick up The Angel Maker. Alas, this one was a miss for me.

My chief complaint is that the story was quite convoluted. We follow a lot of characters, numerous cases, and intertwining timelines. Things get mucked up pretty quick. Like, I'm not sure I could describe what this was about in a concise manner. I think the story could have benefitted from further development of characters in place of some of the plot elements.

At the end of the book, there were things I felt went unaddressed, and I didn't get the feeling of everything being wrapped up. Maybe some of this just went over my head, but I was left confused at the end. There was also a supernatural element kind of randomly inserted into this that was never really explored or developed much.

In conclusion, I'm still confused lol

Thank you to Celadon Books and Netgalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest review.