I was a little worried The Angel Maker would be too intense for me (as a mother), but they weren’t super heavy of the serial killer/murder aspect, and it was more so the aftermath of a serial killer.

Perhaps it was the amount of characters in The Angel Maker, but it was A LOT. Listening on audio vs an actual book could have played a part in that, but there were a lot of names/people to keep track of. I felt like we bounced around and required some major concentration.

That said, I really did want to know what happened - and continued listening. It was a pretty climactic ending that I enjoyed! 3.5 stars for me for The Angel Maker!

I had never read anything by Alex North but so many people have recommended his books to me that I was so excited to get this audiobook.
Perhaps it was the audio and I needed to physically read this but it was so convoluted I had no idea what was going on for probably the first half. I couldn't keep the characters straight and kept trying to figure out what timeline we were in.
So, although this fell flat for me, I will give it another go in physical form and maybe I will have to revise this review.
Regardess, I'd like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan audio for my copy.

I was excited to get his book as I enjoyed The Whisper Man. I found the characters and timeline a bit confusing at first, though I listened to the audio so that may have contributed to that confusion as the plot dips in and out of time. However, once the story got going and I had the characters sorted out I loved it! The way that North gradually reveals how all the characters lives intertwine was awesome. I loved the discussions about determinism and time - and viewed through that lens the way the book is written makes sense. This is my second book I have read by North and I look forward to reading more!

I was so excited to have been approved to read this book, one of, if not THE most-anticipated thrillers of 2023. I really liked The Whisper Man and The Shadows was decent, and this book has the same sinister quality as those.

One thing that North does well is write atmospheric stories. As in his other two novels, this one has a similar paranormal realism that you question the validity of the entire way through. I’m not sure quite how to classify this. Similar to magical realism, but bordering more on the occult. Either way, this aspect lends to the pervasive creepiness of the book.

The thing I struggled with in this one was that with so many points of view and timelines jumping from present to recent past to present to farther back, it could be a bit tricky to follow along with. I think that this would have been easier to follow if reading the print version instead of listening to the audio, so if you prefer audio, just be aware of that.

I also had a problem with the narration of the audiobook. The diction of the reader was a bit difficult to make out at points and I had to listen very carefully to try to work out what she said. Overall, she had a nice cadence, but sometimes it was how she would say certain names or words that it took a few minutes to try to work out whose POV she was reading from. Since keeping up with those POVs and timelines was already a struggle, this was not helpful.

I had most of the reveals figured out long ahead of time, which took some of the fun out, but I never quite understood the motivations of Michael. Still, I enjoy how North delved into determinism and how that effected the motivations of the characters in the story. Combined with the atmosphere and quick pace, it still made for an enjoyable listen.

I think if you liked his previous work, you’ll like this one well-enough, though I don’t think it’s as good as The Whisper Man, which still maintains its spot as my favorite of his books.

This was my first novel by Alex North and I was very excited because of the things I’d heard about the author’s previous work.

Unfortunately I did DNF The Angel Maker 41% in. From the start I found it was hard to follow and difficult to feel attached to what was going on. Pretty early on I felt like I knew where the story was going and was waiting for the characters to catch on, but I kept pushing forward because I was intrigued and wanted to know more.

Eventually I got to a point where I realized I had no idea what was going on anymore and didn’t care enough about the characters to get to the end.

According to other reviews, this book is an outlier so I do still want to read some of the author’s backlist.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to provide an early review on this book!

The Angel Maker By Alex North is a very dark and complex thriller. Unfortunately this audiobook was not for me. Half the time I had no clue what was going on. There were so many different sub plots and characters it was hard to keep track of who was who and who was connected to who. I also found the back and forth between different time lines added to my confusion. I had to listen to the audiobook at a much slower speed then I usually listen to audiobooks and even then I couldn’t stay on top of the characters, subplots and time lines. I had to revisit several chapters to try and make sense of what I’d just listened to. Sadly this audiobook made my brain hurt because I had to concentrate so much.

That being said, I do think that the author has a brilliant mind as he was
able to write such an intricate and complex story. I have a feeling that The Angel Maker would make more sense as written work compared to audio.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my advanced audio copy of The Angel Maker in exchange for my honest review.

Publish Date: February 28th, 2023

Thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy of Angel Maker through NetGalley. I received an audiobook copy in return for an honest review. I genuinely enjoyed this book. The narrator did an awesome job portraying all of the different POV, and the story never had a dull moment. It was very thought provoking and fun. I enjoyed trying to figure out the next twist/turn. The story was very unique and interesting, it showed the contrast between good and evil well and did so in such an interesting way. If had me thinking a lot and for that reason, I gave it 4 stars!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.
This was my first book by North, and unfortunately, I was not impressed. There is so much going on in this novel. While I could follow the philosophy parts usually, I still ended up so confused. There are so many characters here, and I think focusing on less could've made this a better book. I also think it was trying to do and be way too much. There were so many tangent plots and so many theories going on the main plot, that I found it easy to get lost in a chapter and have to rewind to figure out whose head I was in and what exactly was going on.
The narration was good, but I think this story could've benefitted from a full cast. That would've made it easier to keep track of character changes.

After enjoying The Whisper Man, I was excited when I was offered an advance audio copy of this book. Bring on the tension and twists…

Twists? Yes! Tension? Yes! Smooth flowing narrative that kept the tension taut and kept me engaged? Not so much. I am normally a fan of multiple points of view and past-present timelines. However, I think this book tried a little too hard with these strategies.
The jumps in timelines ended up confusing me, and I found myself replaying several sections to ensure I knew what was present events and past memories. That being said, it did not break my heart to listen to more of narrator Rosalie Craig… beautifully narrated, with all the nuances required to carry off a multiple character story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with an advance audio copy for my honest thoughts.

THE ANGEL MAKER is the first novel I have read by Alex North but it will not be the last.
⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
Fate/Free will, sibling relationships, and a serial killer all have a part to play in this dark thriller.

Kate has a charmed life with a boyfriend and a loving family when one day after school, her brother Chris is brutally attacked, & it all comes crashing down. The attack has reverberating effects far into adulthood when Kate struggles to let her daughter out of her sight. When issues with Chris resurface, Kate's fears do too, but surely not without reason.

Laurence Page was on duty when Chris was attacked and now another bizarre case is on his doorstep. A well-regarded philosophy professor has been found dead in odd circumstances that may have a connection to Chris.

I will admit my hesitancy to pick up a novel of North's, mostly due to the sinister covers! I do enjoy a dark suspense, but I have found I have certain limits. This atmospheric story didn't go past any of those for me, but rather fit my boxes neatly, in that slightly off way a good dark tale should. There was a deeper philosophical thread that pulled on the tension of free will vs fate in a way I enjoyed. I felt pressed in and almost claustrophobic with the Gothic feelings throughout, which was just right.

I was given the opportunity to read both the digital copy and pair it with the audio which has become my absolute favorite. The beginning was easier to start with the digital, but once I ot a handle on it, the narration was superb and took me deeper into the story. Rosalie Craig captures so much tense emotion.

Thank you so much @celadonbooks for sending me these advance copies through @NetGalley! I am not sure I would have chosen it, but now I am a huge fan! I should have known, as Celadon Books is a very represented publisher on my shelves.

I would recommend this story to fans of thrillers, obviously, but if you are craving a deeper mystery that engages your mind in the edges of reality and shadows, please grab this on February 28th!

What happened in this book? I really can’t even tell you so I shouldn’t really be writing a review about it. I did listen to the audio, so maybe there was a lot lost in translation and it was just too hard to keep up with characters and timelines for this one, but I couldn’t tell you much at all about this book. I’m struggling to even come up with anything to say about the twists but I can’t even figure out what the twists and outcomes were? There were so many plot lines and characters to keep up with I have no idea. That’s the review - I have no idea what’s happening.

AngelMaker was a very creative and interesting story. I liked the serial killer aspect, and overall it was a really great read

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. I was a huge fan of the Whisper Man, and was so excited for more from Alex North.

I liked this book. I thought it was an entertaining story with a good handful of twists. That said, it was so hard to keep characters and plot lines straight by listening to the audiobook. I hate saying that because the narrator gave a 5 star performance. There is a LOT going on, and not being able to flip back a couple pages or chapters to cross reference made it hard for me to breeze through. Now that I have sat with the ending for a few days, I do ultimately thing it is a good thriller. I think you need to be very focused with zero distractions (not even a lawn mower in the distance) in order to listen to the book. I would say grab the hard copy.

This is such a difficult review for me to write because I have absolutely LOVED everything else I have read by Alex North! Maybe that placed the bar a bit high for this one, but regardless… I was left feeling pretty disappointed!

I received an e-ARC and ALC for The Angel Maker and started with the audio. I quickly realized that the book had too many characters, connections and storylines for me to keep track of in audio format so I switched to the e-ARC! Unfortunately, this change in format did little to help with my confusion and I made the decision to DNF at 56%

I really did enjoy the glimpses of twists that were beginning to unravel but I was not invested enough in the story to push through the confusing aspects.

First I have to thank Celadon Books for bringing this book to my attention. NetGalley gave me access to the audiobook and I devoured about half the book during my first listen. Although I own copies of The Whisper Man and The Shadows this is still the first book of his that I have read, but I will be reading the other two sooner than later. I enjoyed the narration provided by Rosalie Craig, but there were a couple of times that I needed to go back and listen because I heard something wrong.

I did not know much about this book going in, but it kept me entertained.

3/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Let me first start by saying that I read The Whisper Man and absolutely loved it. However, this one just feel a little bit flat for me and was a bit of a disappointment. I’m not sure if it was because I was listening to it on audio, but I found it so difficult to keep track of what all was going on and kept getting confused while listening to the book. This might have been better if you are reading the book physically, but I’m not sure. This book was just so slow to get through and I found myself just wanting it to be over at times. I’m still going to give his books another shot because like I said I really enjoyed The Whisper Man, but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me.

Ｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 by Alex North
Published: February 28, 2023
Reviewed by: Mel
Format: Audiobook ALC

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you so much to @netgalley @celadonbooks and @writernorth for both the eBook ARC as well as the audiobook ALC! It was #gifted in exchange for an honest review. I ended up solely listening to the audio.

First off, I just want to say that I was a huge fan of North’s writing in The Whisper Man, and maybe my review is somewhat skewed by my 5-star review of that previous work? Either way, I agree with other reviews that I have read that reading…shouldn’t be this hard.

Let me explain. The plot is incredibly twisty, turny, and very intricate. There are a lot of characters and it’s very difficult, especially listening to audio [when you can’t flip around to remind yourself of a character or their connection] to keep the characters straight and know how they fit into the storyline.

By the end, I could tell most of the reveals were the shocking connections between characters — but the shock was lost on me because I couldn’t remember who anyone was. The character that stood out the most to me was Kate, and I understood that I should have been shocked to find out that her brother was adopted — but I couldn’t quite focus enough to figure out how that all fit into the larger plot line.

I could tell the writing was tense and captivating — I just wish the plot was more clear and direct, and the character connections were either more obvious or less confusing.

I was bummed that this didn’t live up to my expectations, but it won’t prevent me from reading anything else from North already on my TBR.

Dnf at 50%

Confusing and uninteresting so I’m throwing in the towel. I gave it a fair chance but it’s not for me

The predestination theory and supernatural elements leave me cold, so I am not the right reader from this book.

I would definitely recommend physically reading this book instead of listening to it on audio. I found it hard to track and I kept confusing the last names Hyde and Hobbs. This book is told from multiple POV which I liked but that was hard to follow via audio.

This book is a twisty one! It hops around a lot and has a lot of different storylines that all tie together. Overall, I liked it but didn't love it. I really think my opinion would have changed if I didn't listen to it.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book!

I was thrilled to get an advanced audio copy of this book having read and enjoyed North's former books. The Angel Maker was another spinetingling mystery that kept me riveted. There were several perspectives involved, which made the start of the book a little slow and confusing. As the story picked up and came together, it pulled me in. Like this author’s firmer books, there were some sprinkles of supernatural aura, which I personally loved. Creepy, intriguing and worth the read if you’re looking for a mystery thriller bordering on horror.

Thank you to #Netgalley for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.