Customer Reviews
A Quiet Belief In Angels - By: M. Smythe, 04 Jul 2008 
GREAT BOOK. Don't take any notice of the negative reviews. Its a very unusual "crime" novel & beatifully written. Needs time to read properly but it does grip from the beginning & the macabre content is sufficiently offbeat to make it a real page turner. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who simply likes a good story.
Christine Smythe
Powerful and sombre - By: Net, 01 Jul 2008 
This was a beautifully & methodically written crime story that didn't have to resort to plentiful gory references to set the tone. There was a real quiet intensity about it & the author really took his timein telling the story, building the tension & then finally unfolding the mystery. It was wonderfully but frustratingly wide openin terms of identifying the culprit, with so many twists & turns that I didn't see coming. I did find it creepy & oppressive at times but again that is simply a testament to the author's skillin defining the nature of this book. Definitely one to add to your reading list this year.
A voyage into hell. - By: Aran, 29 Jun 2008 This is the narrative of a journey, or rather journeys, into America, into despicable crime, into loss & gain & loss again, into dreams, ambition, love, hatred & fear. The narrator, Joseph Vaughan, takes us from his childhoodin a superbly evoked Georgia to the bustling streets of Brooklyn via the hellhole of the American penal system. The story, spanning from a pre-WWII America emerging from the Depression to the shattered ideals of that nation at the end of the sixties, relates Vaughan's obessive hunt for the serial-killer of tens of children, a killer who has brought violence & pain into the Joseph's own home & family. We watch him grow, become a man haunted by his own ghosts (a major Ellory theme), & marvel at his desperate quest to both unmask the killer & retain his own sanity.
Lovers of long narratives that take their time weaving their webs, of intricate crime-stories, of rigourous yet entertaining writing, this one's for you. RJ Ellory breathes life into his descriptions of time, place & people that are quite staggering (considering he's English & his theatre of operations is America). It's a sometime's frightening story, filled with so much drama but one which leaves you with faith, inspired by the unhappy Vaughan,in human nature.
As good as it gets ! - By: Brian Moore, 25 Jun 2008 Oncein a while a book comes along that carries you to a place where you do not want be disturbed, interupted, fed or watered, you just want to be left alone to read. This is such a book, It is a book that immerses you & literally makes you forget to breathe. The last book to make me feel like this was A Secret History by Donna Tartt. It is beautifully written & expertly paced. Each character is wonderfully drawn out & the story line never falters. This is a book that will resonate with you for a long time.
A Quiet Belief in Angels - By: Susan Jane Bussey, 25 Jun 2008 Not a traditional thriller, this book isin a category of its own. The sense of place & social commentary create a background of small town living that makes the horror to come even worse.
Did I want to know who the murderer was? It certainly did not seem the most important part of this novel. Although I was glad that there was a resolution for the main character. His journey is a very bumpy one & he & the killer seem to almost be as one.
I particularly liked the whole innocent idea that as a small boy he could keep his community safe with the help of his friends. His own personal need to safeguard his next door neighbour makes the inevitable events even more shocking.
The delicacy of the writing & the way that you can see into the thoughts & feelings of the characters as they are slowly revealed makes this a very compulsive read. I highly recommend this.
