This book was a great read, with many twists and turns. There are numerous characters to remember and keep an eye on. The storyline goes between the present and past which makes it somewhat difficult to keep track of the story. Some characters turn out to be intertwined, but this is not apparent until later in the book. The back half of the book is what will keep you reading, and it is worth it.

📚ʙᴏᴏᴋ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ📚

Genre: mystery/thriller
Format: Kindle/egalley
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
Release date: 2/28/23

I was so thrilled when I was approved for this ARC! I read The Whisper Man a few months ago and really enjoyed it.

The Angel Maker is part thriller/part detective murder mystery. It's broken into multiple POVs with rotating characters and timelines, making this one of the more difficult books I've read in a while. I found myself trying so hard to piece things together between chapters and the alternating stories.
It was a workout for the brain, but when the story finally came together at the end it all made sense. However, it was very abrupt. I would have loved to dig a little deeper in an epilogue.

Synopsis via StoryGraph:
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.

This thriller was a little too metaphysical for my taste. AND the metaphysical part didn't even really matter. It could have been not included at all and it wouldn't have changed the plotline at all. All in all, not my favorite Alex North.

The Angel Maker by Alex North
Publication Date: 2/28/23

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 book kicks off with a bang.

I liked Katie's character. I think she did well for herself despite the tragedy that befell her family at such a critical age in her youth. I also respect her for listening to her intuition and analyzing the information provided even when she was treated like she was overreacting.

The detective was open minded and wanted the truth which is preferable over so many stories that portray detectives as simply wanting to close the case, inconsistencies be damned. There was also some humorous banter between the detective and his partner which I always enjoy.

There is a much bigger piece of the story that I cannot really get into without spoilers, which gave some arguments for the nature/nuture debate. And, as with any great thriller, we are treated to an unpredictable twist that explains so much.

Thank you Celadon Books, Alex North and Netgalley for allowing me an early release to read and review!

Review to be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Bookstagram.

So far I have read every Alex North book and they keep getting better in my opinion. I am always a fan of a thriller/mystery involving violence and fear. I like that the book didn’t waste much time and jumped right in to trauma and action. I also liked the family dynamics and how every individual story was intertwined. I did feel that with multiple story lines it did get a bit muddled in the middle. But North did an excellent job of tying everything up with a bow.

I am a huge fan of Alex North’s work. So I was super stoked to be able to read this book.

Let me start off by saying - if you’re a mood reader, you HAVE to be in the mood for this one. There’s a lot of characters & you have to pay attention. But this hit the mark for me! You have a serial killer & paranormal elements. I can't say too much about the book because I feel it will reveal some of the key aspects., but it reminded me a lot of the movie “Frailty” but with North’s own touch. It is a must read if you are a fan of his previous books!

Thank you to @netgalley & @celadonbooks for the advance copy!

It was definitely one of those books that took me a bit to get into which is why I rated it 4 stars. Once I finally got into it it was another Alex North win!

I had a hard time reading this book, it felt like it took forever to finish it. There was too many things going on at once and I stayed confused the entire time. This is not the first book by this author that I struggled with, I did the same thing with The Shadows.

I found this book really difficult to get through, there was so much going on from start that I didn’t follow it easily.

The wins: The author's talent, the mood, and the vibe of this book. The misses (for me): The excessive amounts of points of view, and the disjointed book flow. This author is wonderful, so I look forward to the next book! Thanks again for the ARC!

Overall I can’t really say I enjoyed this book. I found the plot to be extremely far fetched. The relationships between the characters were overly complex and the whole book felt convoluted. As the book went on I found it a little tedious. I can’t recommend it.

What a scary read!

Katie and Christopher Shaw are bother in sister; Katie always felt she was second to Chis when it came to attention from her mother, as well as always being told to look after Chris. Well, the day Katie decided to put her wants and need before Chris is the day all their lives changed.

Chris gets brutally attacked which disfigures his face and he ends up turning to drugs and living on the streets. Katie gets married, has a child and tries to stay away from her brother's drama until her mother calls her that Chris has now gone missing. Katie has a feeling her daughter is in danger and it may have something to do with Chris, so she decides to go looking for her brother. Life as Katie knows it is no more, she goes down an unknown rabbit hole of danger.

This was a very well written book I thoroughly enjoyed. Alex North has written another masterpiece!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Alex North has become one of my new favorite authors! I always look forward to reading his work. My customers are already waiting in line for it! It did not disappoint!

10 stars out of 5!

The layout of the story got a little confusing at one point, but as you keep going the author did an excellent job of putting the pieces into place.

There was one specific storyline within the book that ended very abruptly. I thought it could've used a little more explanation.

All in all it was a great story, and I plan to purchase a physical copy for my collection when it's released!

The Angel Maker is a twisty, dark thriller with a complex plot that will keep you on your toes. There is a serial killer that can predict the future, which is unique, but for me, the story moved slowly at times. Overall, I liked the story a lot and enjoyed trying to put all the pieces together.

I sadly did not enjoy this book. The multiple storylines and abundance of male characters was hard to keep track of.

Thank you to Celadon Books and Alex North for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

You guys. Thrillers are always a hit or miss for me. I need them to capture my attention immediately and keep it throughout the book. And that is EXACTLY what The Angel Maker did. I was hooked from the very first page and I never felt bored. The book seamlessly transitions throughout the lives of several characters, and flashes back to several different points in time, that all come together in a cohesive way. I was trying to piece together the story and how everyone connected throughout the entire story (and although I did guess SOME of it, I was also surprised by a good portion). I also liked the end of the book and how it left a little bit of magic and speculation surrounding some parts of the story. Overall, I seriously can’t say enough how much I loved this book.

Fate…or just pure evil

When I first started reading The Angel Maker, I was convinced I was delving into a YA story about a romance between two teenagers. But when the question arose, "If you could see into the future, would you want to?" I was intrigued because who hasn't asked themselves that question?

The story jumps ahead to the future and the mystery ensues - why has a wealthy man let go of his staff just before he died? Who murdered him, and did he know it was going to happen?

There were a lot of characters which at first was confusing, but I knew there would eventually be connections.
The book felt to me like it was written in the era of Jack the Ripper, or Sherlock Holmes. It had an atmosphere of dark alleys, crumbling, moldy, mansions, and antiquities. The horror was just under the surface.

Many thanks to NetGalley/Bookish First and Celadon Books for an advance reader’s copy!

This book was a bit of a mix for me. Just in the first few chapters we’re introduced to a lot of characters in different timelines, and the short time spent on them so early in the book made it really hard to remember who everyone was and keep track of that while continuing through the book. I felt like I spent too much time trying to remember who was who/in what timeline certain people existed. I wish we had more background on Jack Lock in his own timeline with his sons, and felt like that could’ve been fleshed out more. The ending of the book felt abrupt and some things weren’t cleared up, including a whole character’s story. All that said, there were things I definitely liked about this book, like the spooky/creepy vibes I was hoping for. The exploration of choice and free will was really interesting and I liked how that concept was woven throughout the story. The last 1/3 of the book really picked up the pace and as more of the pieces fell into place, I couldn’t put the book down. Overall this one was ok, but I think my hopes were too high going into it.

“People choose their own paths, and however much you love them there comes a point when they have to take responsibility themselves for the journey they’ve embarked upon.” 🙌🏻

Katie Shaw lived a charmed life in the English countryside. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, her devoted boyfriend Sam, 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, 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 and wealthy professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered. 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.

“It is a parent’s job to guide their children gently and hope for the best, not to control them.”

Ever since I read The Whisper Man, @alex had been an auto-buy author for me. So I was elated when I was given both the ARC and ALC of his newer book! And it did not disappoint. This is a multi faceted story spanning multiple generations with both deeply disturbed and supremely honorable characters. Initially I was not sure how these different stories intertwined but what a joy that ah ha moment was when it all came together. There were a few twists I had an inkling about and some I did NOT see coming. A solid thriller!

The audiobook was fantastic and narrated with just the right amount of emotion to have you feeling the angst and fear and determination of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley, Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and the author for the advanced copies in exchange for an honest review.