Having read this authors two previous novels and loving them, I had to read this one as well. I'm typically drawn to writing style over plot in most cases and although the plots in the other two were done quite well, I thought this one ended up being a tad confusing and almost felt like he was maybe trying to hard, if that makes sense? There was ALOT going on and if you don't stay focused I think it would be very easy to get lost. Its one of those books that you would benefit from reading a good chunk of the book in one sitting to really get yourself familiarized with the characters and the story. With that being said, the writing did very much hold my attention and in the end I did enjoy it. Alex North can create a super spooky scene that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

3.5 ⭐️

Alex North will continue to be an auto read author for me!

Shoutout to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Katie had a great life and her future looked bright. Until a terrible event happened and it deeply affected her family. The tragedy that occurred happened to her younger brother Chris, who she adored. She moved away from her hometown started a new life. Her brother Chris turns up missing and there are no clues to this crime. Another crime happens and the police are trying to piece together these events. A serial killer is on the loose and the killer has a special skill set. A compelling horror suspense story, a fast-paced page turner and has appealing characters. The author is my automatic buy for horror/suspense stories.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for this review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

i'm a little disappointed in this one! I loved The Whisper Man so much. This one though just didn't do it for me.

This was just a pretty overall confusing book. The audio made it hard to differentiate between past and present. I honestly feel like I shouldn't even be writing a review since I can't even tell you what this book was really about like a week later as I write this.

I would suggest the print copy of this book versus audio - I just don't think the audiobook translated well for me.

Thanks you @celadonbooks for gifting me this copy for my honest review.

Alex North became an autobuy author for me after loving The Whisper Man. North’s writing has such a dark quality to it that I always know I’m in for something unexpected and twisty.

This is going to be a hard book to talk about without spoiling any of the details, so I’m going to keep things a bit vague and go with a pros and cons list review.

Pros:
📚 The setting! I loved that everything had a small town vibe where people and stories were interconnected. I thought this setting lends itself to making the characters' interactions and location choices for different scenes seem authentic.
📚 Multiple POVs! I’m a sucker for multiple narrators because I love that it allows the reader to fully understand the author’s vision from all sides. I’m always eagerly waiting for how they’ll finally connect as well.
📚 The writing! I honestly didn’t fully understand what was happening in this book until around the midpoint, but North’s writing is so good that I knew I needed to keep going. I think this might be a case of me zoning out on the audio, so perhaps people who chose the physical copy didn’t have this issue. Despite that hiccup, when I hit my ah-ha moment, nothing could stop me from wanting to know how this book would end!

Cons:
📚 The multiple POVs not being labeled at the start of the chapters. I listened to this one on audio and with each chapter constantly switching narrators, I would have loved an addition of labeling who was going to narrate at the start of the chapter.
📚 The amount of characters. Whew! Ok, once I finally got where things were going, this was fine, but I was confused for probably the first half of the book trying to figure out who was who and what they had to do with the story.

A huge thank you to Celadon Books for my gifted copy!

[Review to be posted on blog & social media on 4/24]

Katie Shaw has spent her life regretting the consequences of one decision she made when she was a teenager. The aftermath and the damage done to her brother Chris is immense and life altering. One day out of the blue she gets a call from her mother that will set her life on a completely different course as she tries to find the brother she hasn’t spoken to in years.
Detective Laurence Page is placed on the case of a bizarre death of a reclusive professor and by chance, is looking for Chris as well. Through investigating and delving into the professor and Chris he goes back in time to the accident that forever changed him. He finds out how the secrets kept by one family can come back to haunt you.
I really did enjoy this book as I have all the rest by Alex North! This one took me a little while to get into but once I did I was hooked.

I was really excited for this one since The Whisper Man is one of my favorite thrillers. Unfortunately, this one did not blow me away.

It was really hard to keep track of all of the characters and their storylines, which left me really confused in the beginning. I feel like so much information is thrown at the reader. It does get easier to digest, but at that point I was just trying to make it through the book.

I didn’t feel the same spookiness I felt while reading The Whisper Man. I also did not feel connected to any of the characters at all. Katie constantly made dumb decisions, which drove me crazy.

Overall, this book was a bit of a let down. I also feel like some things were not really explained and the ending left me unsatisfied.

3.5 rounded to 3

This is the third book by this author that I’ve read and quite frankly the only one I’ve liked. The premise sounds spooky, entertaining, and eye catching. Now what I enjoyed:
- crime fiction aspects
- puzzle like (although you reallyyyyy have to pay attention or else you loose details and get confused)
- supernatural elements
- atmospheric elements

Now what could have been better?
- too many characters
- I felt bored much throughout the first half
- confusing and too much detail at times left me lost

I didn’t hate this but I didn’t love it. Not so sure if I’d pick up another of his books!

This book totally creeped me out in a good way. If you don’t like reading about bad things happening to children (even in a very superficial way, ie not a lot of details), you’ll probably want to avoid this one. The element I found much more fascinating was the idea of determinism and how the belief in it (or lack thereof) impacts our thoughts and actions AND how we perceive the actions of others. I think I missed some of the nuance in this story by speeding through the audio, I would recommend reading either the digital/physical versions to get the full experience.

A dark and dramatic tale that slowly weaves together the outcome of Traci events and the desire to stop the evil.
So many complicated characters with their own dark past, each essential to the story.
Very well told without difficulty to follow.
The buildup of suspense is masterfully done!

"The Angel Maker" by Alex North is a chilling and suspenseful novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. As a follow-up to "The Whisper Man," North does an excellent job of recreating that sense of dread and uncertainty that made the first book so successful. The characters are well-developed, and the plot twists and turns in unexpected ways. North's writing style is engaging and keeps you hooked from the first page to the last. Overall, "The Angel Maker" is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers and mystery novels. Alex North has once again proven himself to be a master of the genre.

Make no mistake about it, Alex North is a writing genius. He has a way of telling a story that takes you on a journey, and by the time you're at the end you're left utterly shell shocked. This book makes the past and present collide in an explosion of events, and definitely has moments you never see coming.
Katie holds guilt over a tragic event that scarred her brother for life. An old man is found murdered in his bed in the middle of the night. Past revelations about an old serial killer comes to the surface. So much pain, heartache, confusion, mystery, secrets, and death....but what connects it all to these people? I promise you, when you read the last few pages, your mind be will literally blown. It left me asking the question, how's does Alex North come up with all this? He's just brilliant.

This one's hella dark. Well-paced, spooky, and a little over-the-top, but definitely something I enjoyed.

Alex North really nailed it with The Whisper Man and unfortunately I don't think this was on par with that one but it was still enjoyable. I saw a couple of different reviewers and bookstagrammers saying that they found the story confusing to begin with and I do agree with that. It took me awhile to really "get it" and settle in with the story but once I did, I was ok. I feel like if you enjoy thrillers that are multilayered and border on horror, you will enjoy this book.

This is Alex North's 3rd novel that I have read as it came out and I really enjoyed it! I don't think anything will ever hit like The Whisper Man did, though. The story was rather slow paced but I was excited to find out what was going to happen. The story follows a few different story lines, both in the past and the present. The one big critique I have is in the book's description it states ".... a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future" and I was disappointed to find out that this storyline didn't get flushed out. I won't say anything that might spoil why, but while it was alluded to, it wasn't explored like I wanted to when I read that. I really enjoyed the last serial killer fiction story involving time and like seeing the theme again. Overall, I enjoyed reading it and will still pick up his next book! I just can't stay away from a potentially great thriller!

The newest release from Alex North was just not for me. Having been such a big fan of The Whisper Man and The Shadows I was excited to get to read The Angel Maker before it hit the shelves. Unfortunately, I felt very disconnected from the characters and the events going on. And there was a LOT going on.... the past, the present, a fire, a book, a serial killer etc. I felt like there were very intriguing parts of the story but in putting them all together the author lost me. I found myself wondering what was going on most of the time but I trusted that I would know at the end of the story. When I got to the end I still did not know what was going on. This will not stop me from picking up another Alex North book in the future though. Thank you NetGalley for my advanced copy of The Angel Maker in exchange for my honest review.

After the first few pages, I knew this was a book I wasn’t going to be able to put down, until I got to The End. Compulsive and gripping! Suspenseful, addictive and complex! Will keep you swiping the pages furiously. If you like absolutely unpredictable, twisted suspense as much as I do, you can't go wrong with this book!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

I was so disappointed in this book can't believe this came from the person who wrote "The Whisper man"

The timeline was very confusing, the characters were terrible and it just didn't make any sense

Description

"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 ended up being a DNF for me. The storyline was a jumbled mess and the POV constantly changing didn’t help. I wanted to like this so much because I’ve loved his other works. I will be back.

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the e-ARC of this novel. I struggle to review this one because there were parts of the book that I liked, but others that I felt really slowed the book down and made me lose interest. Though I typically like multiple perspective books, I thought this one got a little complicated, especially when switching between different time periods of each characters experience. I did enjoy the ending however and how different storylines came together. While this won't stop me from possibly picking up other Alex North novels, this one was not a favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #CeladonBooks #AlexNorth #TheAngelMaker
This was a treat to read as is typical for Alex North. He always delivers compelling plots and relatable characters. This thriller begins with Katie Shaw choosing to go home with her boyfriend instead of seeing her younger brother home. She will never forgive herself when she finds out that, on his way home alone, Chris has been attacked and stabbed several times. Although he survives these injuries, their lives are never the same. Years later, Chris has become a recovering drug addict and he and Katie have become estranged. Katie is now a teacher and living with her boyfriend now husband and their three year old daughter, Siena.
One day, she gets a call from her mother saying that her brother is missing. Meanwhile, the detective who handled Chris’ stabbing has another grisly crime to solve. Could they be related?
Alex North is firmly in the thriller genre if you ask me. He has always ridden the line between thriller and horror really well. In this book, there are even some flavors of true crime. There are no overt paranormal happenings but there are whispers of them. His original plot line and familiar prose is both comforting and terrifying. I have always felt that “The Whisper Man” was his best work. I believe this one has taken its place for me now. The ending was predictable and I still loved it. It was the only way to end it.
There were a few small plot holes that didn’t get the attention that I would have liked. Even so, the story was addictive and compelling. Alex North has hooked me again!