***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. ***

Alex North has a very complex brain there is so much going on in this book I found it hard to keep up with who the characters were and their relevance to the story. Even at the end, I'm still unsure!
The story is very cleverly put together making the past and the present join together for the final
Not my favorite book of his but an author I will continue to read.

I enjoyed the whispers by Alex North but this one was slow, boring, and I found myself so confused. I ended up pulling the plug on this one sadly, and chose to DNF it. I was expecting a gnarly serial killer gripping thriller but this wasn't for me.

This was soooooooooooooooooo boring. Not up to par with the author's past work at all. DNF @ 60% which is so late to quit but I just couldn't make myself do it anymore.

I had such high hopes for this book after hearing a couple of trusted sources, say that it was good. And I absolutely loved his earlier book the whisper man.

There were a couple of things that I liked about this book: it has an interesting premise, and there is not a Tired trope anywhere in the book. It is nothing if not original.

But, there is so much going on in this book. There are so many different characters, and it takes at least 40% of the book to have even the slightest idea of how they might come together or why we even care.

There wasn’t a lot of character development in most of the characters of this book. It was just running from one meeting or fact-finding mission to the next.

While I usually like philosophy and religion mix with my mysteries, here, I just found that I struggled the entire way through to care. By the end, things became so convoluted that I just Wanted it to be over.

So I wouldn’t call this a Popcorn thriller, but I really don’t know what else to call it. It was sort of just a muddled mess. Which is such a bummer.

This is the angel maker by Alex North.

This was my first Alex North book and I will definitely be reading others in the future. This book very successfully juggles multiple times lines and plot twists. It was also a rare thriller where I was guessing until the end. Great read!

A very good read! This the third book of Alex North that I have read, and like the others it did not disappoint! Now I will have to wait for his next release. Highly recommend!

My second book by Alex North and yet another 3 stars. It's not that I don't enjoy the book, but I do find it a bit hard to get into. The beginning starts off SO FREAKING GOOOD... then I think I set high expectation and the rest doesn't follow through. Katie Shaw is the main character, amongst about 3/4 others... The beginning starts with Katie making a decision that ultimately changes the course of her life and how she treats herself. Katie and her younger brother Chris are like any other sibling where they share that sibling love until one day Katie doesn't show up for her brother as she should, ending in terrible consequences. Years later, Chris goes missing and Katie needs to fall into that 'big' sister role and play her part in helping.

I think my biggest problem with this book was the multitude of characters and timelines. At a certain point it was just too difficult to keep track of and I found myself lost. I don't recommend the audiobook unless there are sections with the years titled to separate. I was expecting the story to follow a serial killer with some twists, but honesty the story was too layered to liking. It made sense at the ending, but Katie kept getting herself in situations that only *idiots* would... *oops sorry* I liked her at first, but as the story continued I found myself sighing out loud or asking "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT ALONE" smh typical poor me female role...

I'm not sure if I would recommend this one, I truly didn't like it too much but the ending and start of the book is what made me give it that 3 stars. I'll still keep Alex North on the horizon, but I'm starting to realize I'm not a big fan of these horror type of books. I like the ones that will keep me up at night because in a way they are so realistic I'm finding that I can't go to bed at night unless my cats are bundled around me. We shall see what the next Alex North book looks like.

While the book offers an intriguing premise and a well-constructed plot, navigating it was somewhat challenging. The narrative was occasionally confusing, requiring re-reading of certain sections to fully grasp the storyline. This made the reading experience a bit laborious and hard to finish.

Despite these issues, the book's true-crime plot provides an interesting read. The dark and suspenseful elements of the story add a layer of intrigue, making it an overall decent read.

In conclusion, "The Angel Maker" is an OK book with a complex narrative that might require some patience to fully appreciate. I would rate it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

3 stars

Im going, to be honest, I read this at a time when focus wasn't my strong suit, This book definitely takes a lot of focus to follow all the characters and their timelines and how they all intertwine. Everything was closed up fine.

The story follows a brother and a sister who are estranged in adulthood. There is a book that may tell the future, an unexplained death, there are a whole bunch of other threads that make the whole picture.

This book was just ok for me. The writing was fine the story was just meh, If you have trouble with stories with multiple timelines and and multiple characters then you might want to skip this one.

Thank you Celadon Books and NetGalley for the ARC and ALC of The Angel Maker! All opinions in this review are my own.

The Angel Maker was offered to me by the publisher and not necessarily one I would have picked out for myself. I have heard great things about North's other books, The Whisper Man and The Shadows, but they seemed too creepy for me.

While I'm not disappointed that I gave The Angel Maker a try, it was definitely much darker than I normally read. I listened to it and found it difficult at times to keep the story straight, especially when it came to how characters were connected. Overall, it was a decent dark thriller, but I don't think this author is for me!

Thanks so much to the author, Celadon Books, and Netgalley for the gifted e-copy of this book, as well as to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audio copy, in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } My reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW: death/murder, stalking, violence, death/injury to children

Oh my gosh, I listened to this book on audio and it was slightly terrifying! I couldn't stop listening to it and almost listened to it all in one go, just because I needed to know how it ended and what happened next.

There are multiple stories and timelines going on in this book - there is the past with two young siblings being raised by a religious serial killer who believes everything is fated and pre-written in a diary for him; there is the more recent past with two young siblings that experience a great trauma in the form of an attack on the brother; and then there is the present, where the police are investigating a strange death that may link the two other storylines together.

This book was really well written and had me invested basically from the first page, and the narration on the audiobook was amazing! The narrator really captured every emotion, and absolutely added to the horror and terrifying atmosphere of the book. I think that it is absolutely worthwhile to read the book in this format.

Overall I would absolutely recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers - but I would definitely recommend looking at the trigger warnings before reading this book, as it is pretty intense at times. I think that the perfect way to read this book would be inside on a grey and stormy day, under a blanket, and with a very large glass of red wine. Maybe even next to a roaring fire, to add to the ambiance and make it feel like a real ghost story!

I found this to be an interesting mystery but I had a difficult time setting a pace while reading it. The plot was good, but it had many facets which I found confusing at times. Overall it was a good read.
Many thanks to Celadon and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Alex North is known for chilling thrillers that hint at the supernatural, and his latest, The Angel Maker delivers more of the same, while also exploring topics of fate and destiny.

One thing I love about North’s books is that he places a strong emphasis on family, in addition to the mystery. It makes it easy to get invested and really care about the characters. In The Angel Maker, he takes that to the extreme, focusing primarily on the relationship between Katie and her brother Chris, and how their lives were changed by a violent encounter with a stranger, rather than the core mystery of the novel.

I can’t say this is my favorite of North’s books but I think dedicated fans will love it.

The Angel Maker is out now. Thanks to Celadon and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of Alex North's previous spooky thrillers, I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy of Angel Maker.
Like his previous work, this sounded like a thrilling mystery with spooky elements. North's stories have always had multiple views and complex stories that somehow connect to give you a great read. But unfortunately, the multiple views and complex stories here never really obviously connected until the last half of the book that felt rushed. And without any spoilers, what was I supposed to get out of the ending?
I loved The Whisper Man and The Shadows, but this one was a miss for me. Too often I felt like there were too many characters and not enough connections to have what I was reading make sense. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book. I will continue to recommend this author to patrons looking for spooky thrillers/mysteries but not this title.

3.5⭐️

In the years since her brother’s tragic assault, Katie has not been quite able to let go of her own guilt. Her brother, Chris, has spent years on the streets struggling to make it by. In 2017, Chris resurfaces only to disappear again. At the same time, we have an old man murdered in his bed and Katie cannot shake the feeling that someone has been watching her family. How does it all connect?

Ok so, positive: this was a pretty twisty story that had some good elements and at times, felt like I could be reading a Criminal Minds episode.

But despite the interesting aspects, I feel like it was not organized well. There were lots of people and names to remember, and storyline kept bouncing between time and POV. This made the story difficult to keep up with and so I feel like I was not invested as I could have been. I was hoping this was just a “me” problem but after checking reviews, it seems I am not alone in this.

I was also absolutely shocked when I finally checked the page count of this book! I had been reading my NetGalley copy, so I was seeing my progress as a %. This book felt WAY longer than 336 pages, which does not bode well for a thriller.

Despite me reading and reviewing The Angel Maker months after publication, I would still like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my free digital copy!

“It was like looking at a selection of puzzle pieces. Some of them appeared to fit together, but for now he couldn’t tell which ones even came from the same puzzle.” - Me, reading this book

Shew I feel like I just did mental gymnastics to get thru this book. Ok I have to admit that 25% of the way in, I kept losing interest bc all the components of the mystery were so foreign to each other and I wasn’t really invested in any of the stories. 50% in and I had a very thin grasp of what was going on. I had already highlighted numerous unnecessary passages and was genuinely perplexed at where this was going.

The last 50% went much easier as things started to come together. Def more *mystery* with supernatural vibes than thriller.

I loved The Whisper Man, enjoyed The Shadows, but this one was a miss for me. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of this book.

Alex North’s writing is complex and beautiful. I absolutely love how he weaves his stories together. Every little thread has a place to make up the bigger picture.

I really enjoyed Angel Maker. I found the character work complex and addictive. I wanted to know where all these stories connected. I loved how everything played out in the end. It was beautiful done. The audiobook was a fantastic listen. The narrator did a fantastic job telling the story.

My only complaint was this book felt hard to get into. I didn’t find myself really into the story until about 45% through. Then the action picked up and felt like a race against the clock. So just know it’s a little bit of a slow burn in the beginning but definitely worth it in the end.

Overall I really enjoyed this book like I do most of Alex North’s work. I will continue to pick up his books. I just love how complex his writing style is. If you are into thrillers with multiple povs and timelines I would highly recommend this book to you.
3.5/5 Stars

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Alex North has become one of my go-to author and this book did not disappoint. This was a 5-star book for me, and I would highly recommend that everyone pick this book up, sit back, and enjoy the ride of The Angel Maker and all that it has to offer. If you want violence, there is plenty. Want horror, yep that is included. Want some twists and turns and mind-blowing revelations, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. 3.25 stars rounding down to 3 for GoodReads. Having read North's other two novels, I was quite excited to be approved for this one. Unfortunately, I'd have to say this is the weakest of the three. There are things I absolutely loved about this novel. I thought that the short chapters and hops between characters created the perfect atmosphere to keep the pace steady but fast as I worked my way through the story. I do, however, think that it may have been too many characters to follow for such a short book. I think the highlight of this book is the underlying theme and the philosophy discussed within the novel. The theme of whether or not we as humans are predestined for our entire lives already or have free will is one of my all-time favorite philosophical themes. And obviously by the end of this novel that is not answered because it never can be. But I do wish this had some type of wrap-up-style ending. I actually thought I was missing pages because I felt the story ended so abruptly. There were still many loose ends that could've been quickly summarized in a last concluding chapter. For fear of spoilers, I won't mention too much but the end was the most unsatisfying part for me. The plot was fine and moved in a typical thriller way but if you are looking for a super twisting, plot reveal book, this probably isn't the one for you. This felt more like characters discovering connections they didn't know they had but it didn't really feel twisty. I am still super interested to see what Alex North does next and I recommend this one to anyone looking for a quick, theme-driven thriller.

It took me quite some time to digest this book. No, not reading it - that was quick and easy. But taking the time afterward to ask myself "What did I just read?". I must admit that I love when books leave me in this state after reading them. It is a sign of a truly good book.

I haven't liked all of Alex North's books, but I felt this one sounded like a book I would enjoy - and I wasn't wrong. Fans of thrillers or mysteries will really enjoy this fast paced book. Mixing both old crimes with new crimes, the detectives have a lot to figure out.