Oh my goodness - Janice Hallett has done it again. This is an outstanding mystery that twists and pulls you in to conspiracy theories, predictions and possibly the truth.

The layout through a series of emails, messages, interviews and extracts of fiction build the case and ultimately reveals the answers.

Filled with tension this really is a gripping read.

Another cleverly constructed mystery from Janice Hallett. This time we follow two rival journalists/true crime writers in an uneasy partnership as they investigate a decades-old multiple murder linked to a notorious cult. While they search for the baby (now about to turn 18) at the centre of the cult they also investigate the events of the earlier case and the cult's belief that is members were angels sent to earth the destroy the antichrist.

Hallett deftly weaves the take from emails, transcripts, document drafts etc., as her characters track the evidence and try to stay one step in front of a mysterious rival trying to thwart their efforts. It's a thrilling, twist-filled ride with an edge of humour. While it wasn't quite as clever as The Appeal and didn't quite replicate the brilliant way that the different sources intersected and a couple of the red herrings were downright ridiculous, it was enormous fun to read.

Well that was bloody brilliant!!!

I wouldn't be surprised if in December I'm still raving about this one saying this was my favourite read of the year! If you have read The Appeal by the same author and enjoyed it then do not hesitate to grab a copy of this amazing tale...

🚓I adore the format this author uses. The story is told through emails, book drafts and recorded dictations, it reads like a script or conversation. ...for this case you open a safe deposit box. Inside you will find research material for a true crime book. You must read the documents, then make a decision. Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police?

👼The Alperton Angels murder case is as renowned as the crimes of Fred West or the Moors Murders... Nearly 20 years later true crime writing Amanda Bailey is raking over the case and stirring up all sorts of activities. We follow Amanda as she searches for the truth of the case and uncovers all sorts of hidden secrets....

🥰I could actually just go and start the whole book again... Such brilliant writing... I hope Janice Hallett continues to publish more and more books as I'm becoming an avid fan

❓Q. Are you squeamish when it comes to blood and guts!!??

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.'Thank you to the Author @janice.hallett
@viper.books
@netgalley
@serpentstail
@profile.books

EXCERPT: You have a key that opens a safe deposit box.

Inside is a bundle of documents, archived research material for a book that has just been published.

You must read it all and make a decision.
EITHER:
Replace the documents and the box, then throw the key where it will never be found . . .
OR: Take everything to the police.

ABOUT 'THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ALPERTON ANGELS': Open the safe deposit box. Inside you will find research material for a true crime book. You must read the documents, then make a decision. Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police?

Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult-like group who were convinced one of their member's babies was the anti-Christ, and they had a divine mission to kill it - until the baby's mother, Holly, came to her senses and called the police. The Angels committed suicide rather than go to prison, and Holly - and the baby - disappeared into the care system.

Nearly two decades later, true-crime author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the Angels. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen and can finally be interviewed - if Amanda can find them, it will be the true-crime scoop of the year, and will save her flagging career. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and is also on the baby's trail.

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that what everyone thinks they know about the Angels is wrong, and the truth is something much darker and stranger than they'd ever imagined.

This story is far from over - and it won't have a happy ending.

MY THOUGHTS: DNF @ 53%

I began intrigued by the opening page. Early on I expressed my doubts about the format of the book which is told entirely in transcripts of interviews, phone conversations, WhatsApp, emails and various other documents.

Because of the format used, it's very drawn out, there's no clear storyline and a confusing multitude of characters, and I use this word loosely as we never actually meet any of them, who may or may not reappear later in the book.

By the time I abandoned this read I had no idea what was going on and really didn't care.

This book may well appeal to true crime readers.

⭐

#TheMysteriousCaseoftheAlpertonAngels #NetGalley.

I: @janice.hallett @serpentstail

T: @JaniceHallett @ViperBooks

#contemporaryfiction #crime #cultfiction #historicalfiction #murdermystery #mystery

THE AUTHOR: Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Serpent's Tail/Viper/Profile Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

A very intriguing story with lots of twists and turns. Unfortunately the epistolary writing style is not my cup of tea. The book for most part consists of e-mails, transcipts and texts and that made it hard for me to focus on the plot and to connect with the characters. Nevertheless an entertaining read.

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book I have read by this author, and again I love her signature format style. This time it is in the format of transcribed notes, texts, emails & WhatsApp messages. They are all woven together in an intricate place which moves backwards and forwards in time focusing on a cult - the Alperton Angels and their mysterious deaths.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would recommend it.
Thanks to netgalley for this advance read.

Another example to Janice halletts unique, clever and witty writing. This book is darker that halletts others but just as clever. Reading through this I was confused and questioning everything but as with the others everything came together brilliantly at the end and it all made sense.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett
Publisher - Viper Books
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thanks to @netgalley for the arc.

‘The Case of the Alperton Angels’ is a book which has stayed with me since reading it. Whenever I think about the book a sense of overwhelming uncomfortableness comes over me and I feel quite royally freaked out! This is nearly four weeks after I read the book and I am still feeling this way and it's also why I have found this review so hard to write! But this can only be a good thing as it means the author has done their job and that this is a brilliant book.

Once again, Hallett has used a variety of techniques to showcase the story - diary entries of both journalists, notes between them, emails between characters etc etc. When ‘The Appeal’ was released many found it to be a very unique way to tell a story and in this case it has once again proved to be an effective way to progress the narrative! This time the premise is that you have taken possession of a safety deposit box which is full of all these sources and documents about a true crime. You could either lock it away again or take all the items to the police.

The true crime is the case of the Alperton Angels cult which was led by a man called Gabriel, who is now is prison. He was planning on killing a baby he and his followers believed was the Anti-Christ. The mother of the baby flees with him and the remaining cult members killed themselves rather than face prison. Amanda Bailey is a true crime writer and is hoping that this book about the cult will help to boost her waning career. She is wanting to local the baby as they would now be 18 years old and she wants to tell their story. She is also competing with another writer, Oliver who Amanda used to work with at the start of her career at a local newspaper.

This is a book which you need to pay attention to as you read it, otherwise, you might miss important clues and reveals! But this is a fun way to tell a story and all the different strands coming together is part of the experience. I devoured this book in a couple of sittings as once you start to uncover this story it becomes all-consuming and addictive. Then when the reveals begin to appear you honestly can not stop reading until the very end.

Let me know if you read this one!

On the one hand this novel is epistolary greatness, with the plot unfolding through WhatsApp's/emails and transcriptions of conversations. But in the other hand the plot is a complicated and full of red herrings which makes it difficult to follow.

A journalist investigates an old story about a baby abducted by a cult, culminating in a ritualistic killing in a disused warehouse.

What emerges is a true mystery where recollections vary, and an unreliable narrator.

All in all a twisty mystery that is worth sticking with once you get used to the writing style.

Thank you for Netgalley and the publisher for an advance ARC which I have reviewed honestly.

My thanks to Serpent's Tail Viper for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels’ by Janice Hallett.

This is Hallett’s third novel and once again her unusual approach to storytelling has produced an original mystery.

At the opening the reader is addressed directly and told that they are now in possession of a key to a safety deposit box that contains a bundle of documents. After reading there is the choice of returning the documents to the box and losing the key or turning them over to the police.

The documents relate to research undertaken in 2021 by true crime author Amanda Bailey into the case of the Alperton Angels, an end-of-days cult whose members believed themselves to be angels in human form. It ended in tragedy eighteen years ago and has since attracted a fair amount of interest from true crime enthusiasts.

Amanda is seeking a new angle on the case as the focus for a new book. She isn’t pleased when she discovers that Oliver Menzies, a rival author, is working on his own book on the Angels. They reluctantly agree to work together. No further details to avoid spoilers.

The narrative is made up of emails, instant messages, transcripts of meetings, post-it-notes, newspaper clippings, and other archive material.

What great fun this was, with plenty of twists. I combined reading with its unabridged audiobook edition, which proved a great way to approach the novel.

Highly recommended.

I love a mystery and this one did not disappoint. I did not see the twists and turns within the book and the how the story unfolded was unpredictable and surprising.

Will definitely read more but the author.

I loved The Appeal and didn’t care much for The Twyford Code, so Hallett’s books have been very hit or miss for me. I’m a massive fan of the format for her books, though, which is why I was keen to give The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels a go.

Not only is it written in mixed media format, it also follows a true crime writer. I have an interest in true crime myself (not in a weird way, I promise) so that was a major draw for me.

I don’t read many books about cults but the ones I have read have been a little unsatisfactory. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels does feature a cult, but the main focus of the book was the true crime writer’s research. Thankfully. I think this worked well.

I always love how confusing Hallett’s books are in the beginning. Not in a bad way. It makes me feel like I’ve really earnt it as I unpack and discover more information.

Amanda was an interesting main character whose backstory is very, well, mysterious. You learn some of it from context, but a lot of it isn’t revealed until the end. I also loved her banter with Ellie, her audio typist. It was so fun, and it added some much needed humour and chemistry to the book.

I enjoyed The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels a lot more than The Twyford Code, and I’m so relieved! It took a little while to get going as Hallett put the pieces into place, but I ended up being hooked.

Janice Hallett is such a unique author and I can’t wait to see what she brings out next.

Okay, wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW!

I absolutely loved this, proven by the fact I finished this book in less than two days.

The plot and writing style is so unique, I loved every single second of, not only reading, but fully embracing the interactive element to pretend like I was actively in Amanda shoes.

This is the first book I've read from Janice (although Appeal is on my shelf) and the great things I have heard about didn't do her justice. Janice has quickly become one of my all-time favourite authors, so much so I'll be buying a physical copy of this book to read over and over!

Thank you again NetGalley, Janice Hallett and Viper for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review also posted to Goodreads.

4.8
A crime writer is researching her next book on the mysterious case of a cult lead by Gabriel, who conned people making them believe they were. angels,

It seems there are people who don’t want this story to come out, as Amanda proceeds with her investigation and interviews, she received threats.

What a book! So many twists and turns, and brilliant storytelling.

I had really enjoyed Janice Hallett’s previous books so was so excited to read her latest work. Cults and murder are not one of my go-to reading themes but I absolutely loved the Mysterious Case of Heathrow Alperton Angels! The writing format was very fun with the text messages, emails and interviews rather than standard prose. The characters were well written and there were plenty of twists and turns. Would definitely recommend for crime fiction and murder mystery fans.

Janice Hallett's signature style continues in this novel, which is presented in the form of notes, email and text message exchanges, and transcribed recorded conversations, as two competing journalists set out to uncover the mystery surrounding a cult who all died in an apparent suicide pact 18 years ago.

I really enjoyed Hallett's first two novels and I suppose that it was inevitable that eventually one of her books would not live up to the absolute amazing standard of her other books. Although I still really enjoyed this book, it didn't grip me quite as much as the previous two. There was still a lot to like about it, but I found it quite complicated to follow (deliberately so, I think, but it meant I felt lost for much of it.) It's a very clever book, with several big surprises, and I still recommend it highly. I just didn't love it as much as the other two - on its own, it's still a very good book.

This is another fun read by Janice Hallett, and the style felt more like The Appeal than her second book, The Twyford Code. As a reader I felt more involved in the story and the investigation; trying to put all the pieces together to solve the mystery along with the investigator.

In this book we're following an old murder mystery known as 'The Alperton Angels' - a cult who tried to kill one of their member's babies believing it to be the anti-christ. We get access to crime writer Amanda's research, notes and communications as she was trying to solve the mystery once and for all.

I found the book really fun however a big drawback for me was that I struggled with the huge number of characters. If the book had a character list to refer to that would really help. I did find myself frustrated and confused at times. However the story itself is solid and this will surely be another success.

Janice Hallett’s sparkling debut “The Appeal” ended up at number 4 in my current Books Of The Year. I rarely go so overboard for a crime novel but I so loved its quirkiness, its characterisation and its mis-directions which had me making the wrong assumptions all over the place within a work which felt both fresh and classic. At the time I did wonder if the author would be able to achieve this again with a second novel which had a similar unusual narrative style. “The Twyford Code” featured potential secret messages from an Enid Blytonesque writer which gave it great heart and although I felt it lacked a little bit in readability compared to the previous work, the cleverness of mis-directions led to a highly satisfactory reading experience and a four star rating. But would she pull it off a third time. I really hoped so.
“The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels” consists of research material for a true crime novel which is located in a safe. The author Amanda Bailey was commissioned to write a new slant on a case of eighteen years previous of a cult ritual suicide/murder which almost led to a baby being sacrificed. At the same time her one-time colleague and rival Oliver Menzies is commissioned to explore the same case for another publishing company. Here we get their e-mails, research, found materials including associated fiction and transcripts of interviews around the case. This is darker territory than the previous novels and I do like dark but I became less convinced as the book progressed that the theme suited this format as well as in the previous books.
The first half I was loving but then it felt like it was getting bogged down with too much material and I could feel my enthusiasm waning and the author’s extrication from this did not feel as impressive as it was in “The Twyford Code”. I wasn’t surprised to read that one of the acknowledged inspirations was Michelle McNamara’s “I’ll Be Gone In The Dark” a true account of how an American true crime writer became obsessed with her work and there were references to other UK crimes and real life figures which I actually felt a little unsettling on this occasion.
There is still humour and great relish in the writing but this is undeniably darker and I must admit to missing the effervescent feeling I got from “The Appeal”.
Janice Hallett is a clever crime writer and has been a real find for me and does deserve Richard Osman comparable sales with her cunning quirky take on British crime, but didn’t quite hit home with this book in the way I was hoping she would. I’d be interested to see if she deviates from her format with her next book, I must admit to being a little nervous here about diminishing returns.
The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels was published by Viper Books on 19th January 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I thought this was a better, more realistic and therefore easier to follow story than the Twyford Code. I’m not a huge fan of the epistolary format but the many strands and characters were believable and worked well. The final conclusion is brilliant!

I was a huge fan of Janice Hallett's previous novels, but I have to say that Alperton Angels is by far my favourite! There is something about this style of epistolary thriller that just works so well with her storylines, and combining this with both true crime and cult elements meant that I didn't stand a chance - I was hooked before I turned the first page! A collection of texts, emails, transcripts and various other forms of communication are used to pull together all of the different strands of the story but at the same time this keeps you slightly in the dark. You can only gain so much information from a trail of texts so your mind starts racing, trying to fill in the gaps - the result is that as the reader. you end up playing detective alongside the main character, which is always a lot of fun.

What I love the most about this book is that it is so clever - the book within a book trope is used not just once, but multiple times. The main character, Amanda Bailey, is trying to find answers in a selection of books previously written about the Alperton Angels case, and these range from non-fiction and fiction to YA fantasy. The way Amanda uses her knowledge of the case to pick out truth from these reimagined versions of the case is just brilliant.

I loved everything about this book. It might only be January, but The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is already a serious contender for my top reads of 2023!