Alex North gripped me with the Whisper Man so I was so pumped to get a chance to get my hands on this before pub date and it didn’t disappoint. This gives you the same gripping, edge of your seat creep factor that you would expect but it also puts a whole new aspect of philosophy into the mix. It deep dives in and there were a few sections I had to go over a couple of times to make sure I was grasping it all-make sure you’re paying attention to everything!!
In 2000, Katie Shaw was the good girl who always followed the rules. Until one day she decided she’d had enough of being her brothers keeper and went to her boyfriends house for an hour after school and in that hour her brother Chris was attacked and nearly killed by a man named Michael Hyde. 17 years later a philosophy professor named Alan Hobbes is found dead in his home and as Detective Laurence Page investigates his death, it looks like he was murdered and the signs seem to point to the fact that he knew he was going to be murdered, that Chris Shaw was somehow connected to Alan Hobbes and that Hobbes had an extensive collection of memorabilia from a serial killer known as the Angel Maker. How are all these things connected?
Katie deals with a lot of guilt as can be expected as a result of what happened to her brother and these years later as he’s been in and out of her life, we see their complicated relationship. There are a lot of characters to keep up with and sometimes it is hard to do but it’s worth sticking with it because the second half just flies by.

I have just finished reading The Angel Maker by Author Alex North

I have read most of the books that the Author has written and have enjoyed all of them.

His writing style grips you, with excellent characters and storylines.

The Angel Maker is a very dark story, about a serial killer. It is a little bit horror, a little bit mysterious, with a whole lot happens in between.

Katie Shaw is very protective of her younger brother Chris, who was violently attacked one day by a stranger when coming home from school, then years later goes missing.

For me although I enjoyed the read,I found keeping the characters straight a bit difficult at times.

Thank You to NetGalley, the Author and Celadon Books for my advanced copy to read and review.

#netgalley #celadonbooks #TheAngelMaker

Spooky, dark but light, utterly engaging!! I could not put this book down.

I read thrillers all the time but The Angel Maker was unique and kept me hooked until the very end. I enjoyed being able to piece together the mystery while getting to know the rich characters.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a fast-paced thriller.

I love Alex North's books and while The Angel Maker was not my favorite of his, it was a solid thriller! Katie Shaw is still holding on to some guilt, as in her teenage years, her brother Chris was attacked after school when she was supposed to be walking home with him. This makes her extra overprotective of her daughter but strains the relationship with her mother and brother. Now she receives a call from her mother that her brother is missing right around the time a reclusive philosopher is murdered. Is her brother's disappearance connected?

Many characters and interweaving storylines make this a bit tough to follow but Alex North always leaves your spine tingling with his books!

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the ARC.

Back when Katie Shaw was in high school, a violent attack took place altering her life and her family. In the present day, Katie is no longer in contact with her brother Chris, her husband thinks she is too overprotective of their young daughter and her mother doesn’t really speak too her too much. However, one day she calls Katie and says that Chris is missing and it is up to Katie to find out where he went and does it have anything to do with the recent murder of an elderly philosophy professor named Alan Hobbes.
I will say that this book is a bit hard to piece together. There is a lot happening and a few storylines working at the same time. In the end though everything comes together. I enjoyed reading it and building the mystery and putting the pieces together as it went along. Overall, I thought it was enjoyable. Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for an ARC for my review. I hope to read more Alex North books as they come out!

The Angel Maker is propulsive, addicting, and suspenseful! Entertaining in the most simplest ways but still a story weaved with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. Multiple point of views and time lines are seamlessly weaved together as well.

Alex North's books always tend to lean towards creepy and disturbing plots. This was definitely the case with The Angel Maker. I felt like there was also a little bit of sci-fi and paranormal to round out this horror/thriller. It's one of those books that makes you think afterward and go "hmmmmm, what if?" and WTF did I just read.

The story jumps around from different perspectives with the main characters being Katie - whose younger brother Chris was attacked when he was 15 and she was supposed to walk him home; and the Detective investigating the mysterious death of a man who has ties to Katie's brother. There were a lot of things going on in this book, including jumps back into the past for several of the characters. It's not a book you can read quickly if you want to pick up on all the pieces and understand the philosophical exploration of whether you can have an impact on changing the future or if the 'story' has already been written.

Another Pulse Pounding Thriller from Alex North!

Fate is a funny thing. Either you believe in it, or you don’t. Alan Hobbes is a Professor who teaches Fate, and Free Will, and believes fully in both. As if he knew, or had some sort of intuition, a few hours before Alan Hobbes is about to be murdered, he fires his entire staff. Sounds almost like fate or perhaps just a coincidence?

Growing up, Katie Shaw and her brother Christopher were quite close until one fateful day when Katie made the greatest mistake of her life. Thereafter, both she and Chris paid dearly for it. Chris most of all.

Years later, Katie has a family of her own, who she would do anything to protect. Unfortunately for her, she’s going to have to do just that.

Throughout most of his life, Chris has been through hell. It seems as though he has come out the other side. It’s too darn bad that hell isn’t done with him.

A twisty-turny novel that got me all riled up, The Angel Maker is another winner from Alex North.

I will admit that I wasn’t sure about this at first, and had a bit of trouble keeping all the storylines straight. Listening to the audio simply didn’t work for me at all! Normally, I just would have given up on a book that confused me from the get-go, but since I’ve loved all of Alex North’s previous books, I decided to switch to the ebook and start fresh. Let’s just say that I’m super glad I did.

This was a buddy read/listen with Kaceey.

Thanks to Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

So far this guy can do no wrong. I have read Alex North's previous novels and this one is right along with those. Thrilling, suspenseful and fast-paced. Now, you do have to pay attention. There are a lot of time jumps and little details and a story that has a lot to it. I enjoyed the interesting family of characters, although again, you have to pay attention as even those can be a bit confusing at times. It is definitely worth it though, for sure!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Alex North and Celadon Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I was very excited to get a sneak peek of Alex North's newest book. Having loved The Whisperman and The Shadows I figured I was in for a twisty read. My overall rating is more of a 3.5-3.75 - rounded up to a 4 for this book. Overall a good story and one that really made me think about life and fate. The book goes back and forth between different characters and along different time lines, which at times caused me a bit of confusion about the who, what, where, especially since the author had 2 characters with similar names and one character there was a tendency to sometimes refer to them by their first name and sometimes by their last name - so that halted my flow a bit, but was minor in the overall picture. When I was done with the book there were still a few questions that were left unanswered for me. Overall if you are a fan of North's previous works this is on equal footing and worth a read.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

It was just okay. I liked the characters and their dynamics, I appreciated that it was fast paced, there were really good twists and moments of suspense BUT there was a lot of jumping around and it got confusing and I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted.

I was very excited for this thriller by Alex North yet I caution the reader that the plot line jumps around A LOT. With the time shifts, numerous characters and view points it took me time to wrap my head around where I was in the plot and distracted me from enjoying the great thriller this could have been.
I enjoyed the philosophical aspects woven in, and while all the pieces characters links eventually reveal themselves it was just too difficult to get to the big conclusion.
I thank Netgalley and Celdaon Books for giving me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

The Angel Maker was an entertaining read. It held mystery and suspense, as well as the stress of family dynamics. The plot was fast paced and I enjoyed the books and the characters. The ending, though satisfying, was a bit abrupt. Overall this was a good read.

Unfortunately this really missed the mark for me. The characters were very underdeveloped, the storylines were incredibly confusing and hard to follow, and overall I just felt lost the majority of the time.

There were so many alternating plot lines and various characters. As soon as I felt hooked by one character’s storyline it would switch to someone else, losing me entirely. Also the constant changes of using a characters full name to just their first name to then sometimes just their last name was impossible to follow.

There was a lot of potential with this one but it just wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed this! I was intrigued from the beginning and couldn’t figure out how everything was going to come together. I felt like one plot point was a unnecessary and kinda pointless but otherwise it was great!

I'm usually pretty good at remembering who the characters are and following the plot, but with this one for some reason it felt difficult to me. Overall it was interesting but there was a lot going on.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I started reading The Angel Maker at night, and that was a mistake. This book is full of chilling moments that will have you looking over your shoulder, and what a read it was!

The plot is quite complex, and to say much in a synopsis would give away important plot points. It is imaginative, dark, and very character driven. There are a ton of characters, to the point where I really wasn’t sure how everything would connect in the end. They did feel fleshed out, particularly the main characters whose motivations we needed to understand. The connections between the characters in the end was described masterfully, leaving the reader shocked and also chilled to the bone.

Multiple time jumps occur in this book, and it is not always clear when we are back in the present vs 5, 15, or even 30 years in the past. Something saying ‘10 years ago,’ or something similar, may have been nice at times!

The book leans heavily into philosophical topics like whether we have any choice in our lives or if things are destined to happen. I’ve never been a student of philosophy, but found the discussions in the book thought provoking and interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Rating: 4 Stars
I had to take notes while reading this. Im probably missing some characters, but I counted 21. Yes, 21 characters, possibly more. It wasn't a fun time. However, the plot....LOVED IT.
Listen, I'm not saying it wasn't a good book; just be prepared.

What a mess. I went back to my Good Reads profile to ensure that I did indeed enjoy Alex North's two previous novels. There are too many points of view and poorly fleshed-out characters. I could not keep track of who was who and found myself wishing for an org chart. There are also time jumps, which didn't bother me as much as other things. The reader is left with many unanswered questions and trying to make tenuous connections about who did what and why. I can't be certain, but it seems like North caught Bill Paxton's excellent film Frailty and decided that a twist on that story would be a good idea for a book. He's not wrong, but this isn't that book.

If you're an Alex North fan, pick this up now! If you haven't read any of his books, read them all! North never disappoints. This one will take a little bit of patience, there are a lot of details that don't click in the beginning. By the end of the book, everything falls together. Katie Shaw hasn't spoken to her little brother, Chris, in two years. He's a drug addict living on the street somewhere. One night out of the blue, Katie's mother calls and Chris is missing. Chris has had contact with his mother for the past few months but did not want contact with Katie. Katie goes to Chris' apartment, her mother has a spare key, to look for clues. It looks like someone cleared out of the apartment very quickly! Where could Chris be? Could this have anything to do with Chris almost being murdered as a teen? Can Katie follow the clues and save her brother?