Katie and Chris were the siblings. Here I am at the end of the novel and those are the only two characters I would be able to talk about with any confidence at all. I cannot name one other character. Then we have Hallberg, she's a smart cookie. I can't wait to see how she grows into her own detective role in future books. In the end, for all its old-new, serio-comic hyphenation, Angelmaker turns out to be a solid work of modern fantasy fiction, coupling credit-crunch anxiety with an understandable nostalgia for the mythical days of "good, wholesome, old-fashioned British crime".

So many tropes in the thriller/horror category are done again and again and again. But Alex North always seems to deliver something original, which this reader appreciates. While “The Whisper Man” remains my clear favorite of the three, this is still worth reading!!One of my favourite things about Goodreads is how many wonderful books I've learned about through my friends that I otherwise would not have found, mainly books by non-American authors that were published before I began working in a library. Had it not been for my GR friend Nancy's review (thanks, Nancy!) of The Angel Maker, I might have lived out my entire life never knowing about this awesome book. A big, gleefully absurd, huggable bear of a novel . . . . Harkaway’s prose is playful and beguiling, with a keen satiric edge.”— Slate

A head-spinning cliffhanger that reads a bit like Harry Potter for grownups. . . . It would be a shame if no movie were made from this glorious piece of kaleidoscope-fiction.”— The Wall Street Journal Kriminalkommissarie Ingrid Falk had taken the suggestion from Kriminalinspektor Anders Wiik of bringing Jamie in to consult as she knew the case inside out as her father had confided in her when working these murders. When the Swedish Police Authority (SPA) ask Metropolitan Police Detective Sergeant Jamie Johansson to consult on the Angelmaker case she's reluctant to do so, it was her father's last big case before his suicide and Hans Sjoberg is already behind bars for the murders. Mr. Pritchard! What are you doing?... My grandfather is weeping in Heaven, or he would be if there were such a place, which there is not because religion is a mystification contrived by monarchists! Again! Again, and this time do it properly!"

They are of themselves,' Ari says, clutching this morning's consignment of organic milk, some of which is leaking through the plastic, 'an opportunity for self-education.'

Crimereads - Alex North on the Pleasure of Fictional Forbidden Texts It’s a familiar and recurring motif in fiction: the search for a work of art that may or may not exist. One that is difficult to find. One that is rare because it’s awful, and which is sought after for both reasons. The idea speaks to a human desire to face the forbidden simply because it is forbidden. To be a member of the select few that have gone through an ordeal that others have not. To be let in on a secret even if learning it will ultimately destroy you. Item of Interest 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.Then there is the question of ethics, of how far "should" we go in manipulating DNA? What amount of suffering is OK in the pursuit of lessening suffering? At what level of "perfection" should we stop? A story of technology and morality. It’s a wonderfully strange, rich piece of work— extremely entertaining and exciting—and has a wonderfully comic aspect to it as well.”—William Gibson The truth of Dr Hoppe and the triplets is both simple and horrific. Victor himself was born with a cleft palate - a hairlip - that he inherited from his father, a GP in Wolfheim. Even after having it sewn up, he's never been able to talk clearly. He's also a bit odd, and no one in Wolfheim really understands him - just as no one understood him when he was born in the 40s. The triplets were born with the same disfigurement, but that's not all. When Dr Hoppe hires retired school teacher Charlotte Maenhout to raise them and teach them for several hours a day, she too wonders about the children. Named after the Archangels Raphael, Michael and Gabriel, the identical boys are exceedingly smart but not physically strong. Their heads are too large, their eyes enormous, and when their sparse ginger hair falls out she can see big ropey veins running around their heads. But all Charlotte wants is to give the boys a chance to experience the world, and experience love, for it's clear they don't get any from their father, who views them mostly as patients. Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. And this is so close to something Grandpa Spork once said that Joe Spork, even after a sleepless night and a bad cat morning, finds himself nodding.