I don't know where to start with a review for this book. I've finished it roughly 4 hours ago and I am raw. I feel like a part of me was sliced into and I am simply bleeding emotions from this story. When will I learn that Alex North has the capability to drag me into the depths of horror novel and make me cry with how much I am IN the story.

The Angel Maker focuses on something I have always wondered and studied: nature versus nurture. Are monsters born or are they created? Can you create a child into an empathetic productive member of society by the nurture of love and stability or will their DNA ultimately take over? North tackles this within The Angel Maker but you have to pay attention to what's going on as its unfolded before you in a unique and engaging way.

I was sucked into this story immediately and had so many theories on what was going on; who killed who, who was who and what does all of this actually mean. I have read the authors previous works so the familiarity of past to present to memories to articles to a side character showing up with a POV because it's how it has to happen was easy to fall into. But while this had a familiarity to it, North delivers a brand new story with depraved characters and those who fight against the dark.

I worried about Chris from the beginning. I worried why Katie thought it was her fault. I loathed Leland and that never changed. I didn't trust Sam though I wanted to. Alan broke my heart and made me cry. I liked that Detective Laurence had a connection to the attack on Chris as a teenager - that's something that comforts me in a way. Knowing the cop on the job is more than just a cop, you know? Pettifer was a great contrast to Laurence and the way they work together was a joy to witness.

I don't know how to describe this story without giving everything away that needs to be read. I keep thinking about forbidden text and people who think they really are doing gods work by murdering innocents, How much our past can influence our futures and how much free will or control we really have over what happens in our life.

I am in awe of the timeline in the book and how the author was able to keep it all straight as he wrote it, if he did keep it straight. I am just in awe of this book. So much so that I ordered in in hardback to match the other two from the author on my library shelf.

Alex North, the author of the brilliant The Whisper Man, is back with the complex, enthralling new thriller, The Angel Maker. The book has not one, not two, but three crazed killers running around! Don’t miss it!

High schooler Katie decides to have an after-school tryst rather than walk home with her slightly younger brother, Chris. When Chris meets up with a mentally unstable man, both his and Katie’s life are changed forever.

I’ll leave the synopsis at that point to avoid spoiling the unexpected plot twists to come. It really is best to come in blind like I did to enjoy the rollercoaster plot twists of this excellent book.

I highly recommend The Angel Maker to readers who like twisty and complex plots that slowly unravel. 5 stars!

Thanks to Celadon Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

Katie Shaw lived a lucky and good life with graduation around the corner and an amazing boyfriend. One unlucky day her brother is attacked and she comes across the scene which traumatizes her. Years later Katie is living with a child of her own and still feels the guilt of what occurred year ago to her brother. Her brother is struggling and she has not heard from him in years but she gets a call one day saying Chris is missing. As Katie deals with her problems Detective Laurence Page is investigating a case where a professor dies after firing all his staff. Little does he know that Katie Shaw life and this case are intertwined.

This book was actually pretty good but I will be honest in saying that it was not exactly my favorite book of Alex Norths. I understand what the intent was but I became bored half way through. I really wanted to love it but I just couldnt! There are topics of the future and seeing the future and I truly got lost in that. I dont like and understand abstracts very well and I felt like the concepts they talk about it abstract. It tries to talk about serial killers and the future and it became confusing.

5⭐️

<b> The story was already written, and it would unfold in the way it had been intended, just as the flower contains the seed that contains another flower.

<i>Deus scripsit.</i>
</b>

Chris Shaw is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it turns his world upside down. He turns to drugs, and drifts away from his family. Katie Shaw is racked with guilt that she was not with her brother at the time of his attack; if she were, maybe it wouldn’t have happened. Years later, after Chris has seemingly burned the bridge between himself and his sister, Chris returns sober into their mother’s life. When Chris goes missing, their mother asks Katie to help find him. Katie now has a family of her own, but fears that Chris’s attacker all those years ago may be stalking her family once again.

Edward and Alan’s father was abusive and evil, and Edward idolizes him and hopes to follow in his footsteps until Alan upends their lives and exposes their father for who he truly is: the Angel Maker.

This book was so suspenseful and a great read. Although the undertones are dark, it’s not gory and the killings are not descriptive, leaving much to the reader’s imagination. I liked how layered and complex this story was, and I liked the characters a lot. It was a little confusing at first with the different points of view and timeline, but overall I really enjoyed it.

When she was a teenager, Katie Shaw’s brother was attacked. Now she’s married and has a child of her own but her family never recovered from that incident, that’s why, when her brother disappears, Katie decides to risk her own life to find him.

A serial killer claims that he knows the future. A wealthy philosophy professor is found dead. A man is obsessed with finding a book. What do these have to do with Katie’s brother and what is she willing to sacrifice in order to find him?

Alex North created an intricate plot with multiple characters, storylines, and timelines. It takes a while to understand each of the characters’ identity and the relationships between them. Everything is interconnected in this complex story that had me unable to stop reading until the end.

I particularly enjoyed the philosophical questions about free will and fate and the confrontation between god and evil.

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for my review copies of The Angel Maker.

Set in the English countryside, Katie Shaw’s life is turned upside down when she decides to go off with her boyfriend, and soon to be husband, Sam after school instead of walking home with her young brother, Chris. Chris is violently attacked which is the beginning of a troubled life of homelessness and drugs. The guilt has never left her and now fast forward several years and Katie gets a call from their mother that Chris has gone missing. At the same time, two detectives are investigating the apparent murder of an elderly college professor, and their leads involve a long dead serial killer who supposedly could see the future and Chris Shaw who lived with the professor until just (like hours) before his untimely demise. Add in the history of the professor and his son and brother and brother’s son and you have a very convoluted plot.

Obviously, all the events are eventually connected but I found it difficult to follow the story - so many characters and so many story lines flashing from one time frame to another to yet another made if a difficult read. I would like to thank Celadon Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the ARC of this book.

Alex North’s “The Angel Maker” is creepy, in all the best ways. Whether happy teens are cuddling in the sunshine or a policeman is exploring a bizarre murder scene, the atmosphere is one of dread.. When she was in high school, Katie stole a forbidden hour with her boyfriend and came home to find that her younger brother, Chris, had narrowly escaped a murderer who tried to cut off his face. Chris lived, but with scars, and Katie was left scarred too, always blaming herself..

They aren’t the only scarred characters in “The Angel Maker,” in which evils of the past also haunt two brothers who many years earlier escaped a serial killer father — he believed he was predestined by God to “make angels.” They escaped, but they didn’t get away unscathed.

Told in multiple voices and with digressions into the past, “The Angel Maker” is disturbing, absorbing and, in the beginning, a crazy kaleidoscope of storytelling. Be patient, though. As when Katie enters an art studio and confronts a wall-size canvas that turns out, when approached, to be composed of many smaller paintings, the big picture here does come together. And when it does, it’s not one you’re likely to forget.

I read <i>[book:The Whisper Man|51540935]The Whisper Man</i> and <i>[book:The Shadows|55169043]The Shadows</i> within a couple of months of each other in 2020 and they were two of my favorite books of 2020. So when I saw that<i>The Angel Maker</i> would be coming out in early 2023, I was really excited.

I'm not disappointed.

The book has a little bit of a different feel than the previous two, something maybe a tad closer to detective fiction in places than I remember the previous two books reaching. And early, I did think the portions of the book that focussed on the detectives were the weakest parts. That's not to say it was necessarily <i>bad</i> but rather that everything else was so interesting.

A huge theme in the book is family dynamics, something that shows up even with characters who are only in the story for a few pages. The various family dynamics amongst the main characters work phenomenally well and add layers to the story that probably could support a second reading of the book.

Eventually, all the plot threads and characters come together in the last fifty or so pages, and the book peaks, which is the goal but not always the reality.

Two big thumbs up


I want to thank NetGalley and Celadon for my ARC copy.

I really love Alex North's writing. His stories are dark and truly creepy. I didn't like this one as much as his first two books only because it felt a little over complicated. I think he could have tied things together a little better. It was still a really enjoyable read though and I recommend it if you like though provoking, twisty, serial killer type books.

This is my second book by Alex North (THE SHADOWS being my first–I liked it, but it didn't blow my mind), and unfortunately, it might just be my last. I found this one to be convoluted and thus hard to follow for the most part.

It felt like the author had a basic idea of what they wanted the narrative to be and then jumped around exploring different timelines, perspectives and atmospheres trying to grasp it, all while (unfortunately) carrying us along. As a whole, the storyline was intriguing–very Sherlock and Watson with a smidge of the potentially paranormal–but the execution quite literally gave me a headache at one point. It was all very jarring and weirdly positioned.

If you're into thrillers that veer from a linear path (like..seriously and confusingly veer) and don't mind being bogged down by an excess of random scraps of information, you might find this one a lot more entertaining than I did.

I want to say thank you for the advanced copy of The Angel Maker!
I really enjoyed The Whisper Man from Alex North so when I got this ARC of The Angel Maker, I was very excited.
The flow of the book was hard to follow at times. I often found myself having to flip back and review things in the previous chapters. The story line was very interesting and twisty, but it got muddled up sometimes between the multiple characters and timelines.
The story follows a brother and sister who experience a life changing event in their childhood. This event has led to an estranged relationship between the two. Enter multiple other characters and crazy twisty interweaving story lines. There is an essence of paranormal activity throughout. Some questions went kind of unanswered or unresolved.
The ending was good, and I did not predict some of the events that ended up unfolding. It was an enjoyable thriller but just not my favorite from Alex North.

So good!!! It was scary, chilling and shocking. Serial killer who is able to see the future, get away with crimes and set situations in motion. Evil father and wife beater with two sons, one good and one evil. Edward the oldest son and deranged like his dad is trained and tutored, while Alan the youngest son is tolerated by his dad and brother. Both sons have been instructed to never enter their dad's inner sanctum. Event occurs and Alan disobeys and enters the room while Edward is insistent he not do so. They see something that cannot be unseen and Edward realizes that Alan has entered a domain that was meant for him alone and not Alan, which sets other events in motion.

Decades later a family with two kids, Katie and her younger brother, Chris whose lives intersect with events from Edward and Alan. Katie is always looking out for her younger brother, but when she is not around Chris is attacked by a deranged man. What ensues is a good vs. evil with many twists and turns and philosophy of determinism vs. free will. Can Katie save Chris this time? How do you rein in evil? How you get lives of those effected by evil tipping back in the right direction? Looking forward to another Alex North book.

This is the first novel that I have read by Alex North. It isn't an easy read. There is a lot going on and a lot of characters to keep track of. If you can hang in till the end, the book comes together nicely. I thought it was a good story and I really liked the supernatural elements of it. Although, I understood the story at the end, it still left me wondering about certain things. Unless I missed it, it never fully explained why the serial killer was called the Angel Maker. I would like to have seen more of what was inside the book that could tell the future, to help further explain what drove them to do the things they did.

Besides my minor complaints, I'd recommend it and would read more of Alex North's work.

Alex North does it again. The mystery and twists had me gripped until I finished this novel. The amount of POVs was a little confusing at first but nothing that made me want to set the book down. Everything tied together in a perfect little knot by the end. I don't want to give any spoilers in this review but will say, if you liked Mr. North's other novels, this will be a hit as well.
Thank you so much for this copy.

The Angel Maker
By Alex North
Celadon books
Pub date feb 28, 2023
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I was eagerly looking forward to reading it! And now it’s available to the public!
Loved the paranormal vibes, puzzling storytelling style and twists in the plot. Whisper Man is still my favorite work by North. But I did enjoy this book more than Whispers.
3 stars

The Angel Maker is the second novel I have read by Alex North. Unfortunately, I have to say that this one was not for me, that is not to say that you shouldn't read it or that it won't be for you. Let's talk first about what I did like...it was an extremely quick read with short chapters. I found the plot intriguing, there were philosophical elements that I really enjoyed making the story even that more interesting and the plot twists were solid. Moving into what I (personally) did not care for... The many, many, many POVs. One? YES! Two? Sure! Six????? That's pushing it.. (that number may be an exaggeration but it was a lot). The ending fell flat for me. I'm always disappointed when the story has so much potential and then doesn't deliver. Lastly, I like the ending of my reads to leave me feeling a sense of satisfaction. Wrap it up. Make it make sense. Don't leave me with unanswered questions. An open ended conclusion rarely works for me, sometimes it does, here it did not.

Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. These opinions are my own..

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Celedon books for the review copy! I love all of Alex North’s books and The Angel Maker is no exception. It was fast-paced and exciting. It kept me up way too late reading by but I had to finish! Would definitely recommend

This was quite the interesting dark mystery thriller. While we read about sibling bond , where a older sister Katie is guilty for something that happened to her kid brother Chris during teen years and holds herself responsible for his destructive path in adulthood, is now trying to figure out what new trouble he’s gotten into that seems to entwine her child & family ? Meanwhile a detective is investigating what seems a gruesome murder/suicide of a well loved philanthropist professor but as he dwells into the case there is more than what meets the eye and a serial killer from past where legend says he could look into the future , the attack on Chris and all that’s happening in the present seem to connected!

The story is narrated from multiple perspectives plus dual timeline and takes a moment for the reader to catch on on, but once you have it down it’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle that slowly creates the whole story. I liked the author exploring the theory that whatever happens in our destiny is inevitable/ actually already planned, it gave a whole another insight to the plot.
But there were some lingering questions I had after reading this for which there wasn’t any answers in the story . I will not elaborate them here as they may be spoilers.
I give this 4/ 5 stars.

Rating: 3.5

This was my first novel by Alex North and I was thrilled when the beginning had a promising start. Shortly after, the story started getting confusing with the non-linear timeline and too many characters to keep track of. I had to go back and reread pages. I definitely was spooked at times and the story had me on the edge of my seat with the suspense and plot twists along the way. I also enjoyed the surprise ending.

Katie Shaw lived a quiet yet charmed life with her parents, younger brother Chris and her devoted boyfriend. Like most people who grew up in a tiny town, her dreams were big. With graduation right around the corner, she faced the uncertainty of life ahead … until tragedy struck, and her family was forever changed. This story dives into the bond between two siblings and the mystery of a notorious serial killer who is intertwined with their fate.

Read this if you enjoy:
Serial killers
Plot twists
Horror
Suspense

I received an electronic advanced copy (eARC) from publisher Celadon and Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview this book.

This novel was disturbing. But like, I love it disturbing. A murder mystery with many layers, and the biggest web of paranormal and horror combined weirdness spanning multiple timelines. Alex jokes at the end of his author’s note but I think he really put a lot into this one on the psychology front. The book is based on determinism, the doctrine that including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions. 🤯 You might walk away from this one with a fear of coincidence 😂 throw in a serial killer with that mentality and oh wow…

Alex North’s books have been on my back list for far too long. I got approved on @netgalley for his latest, and now I know I need to bump these up on my priority list.