The Angel Maker offers an interesting premise and I think mostly hits the marks. While it is mostly predictable, there are some clever parts I did not see coming that elevate it slightly above the average thriller. I did enjoy the relationship that Katie and Chris have because, like real life, it is more complicated than some idyllic bond often portrayed in media. The philosophy angle was a neat hook, but ultimately I felt that the vagueness surrounding the original crimes led to it falling a bit flat at the end.

Happy Pub Day to #TheAngelMaker !! Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Buckle up for this read, bc it sure is a bumpy ride!! If you like a story told from multiple POVs, coming together at the end, then this is exactly the book for you! It was hard to keep track of who was who at times, but for the most part it wasn’t too bad! One of the main character’s names was Katie, and there’s something extra scary reading a thriller when a character has the same name as you!

There are also multiple time jumps in the book, but they are needed to piece the story together. If you’re a scaredy-cat like me, I don’t recommend reading this one at night😂While this was a slow burn (pun intended) there were still MANY chilling scenes! This was my first Alex North book, and I will definitely be reading more from him - during the day time😂

“And what did that mean? Something terrible and incomprehensible. Something that had always been coming for you, but which you wouldn’t even see until it swerved in out of nowhere and changed your world forever.”

The Angel Maker - Alex North

A modern thriller reminiscent of Jack the Ripper meets Da Vinci Code.

Teenager Katie Shaw lives a perfect life in a small English Country Town when her younger brother Chris is horrifically attacked. Now, as an adult and mother herself, she must work to locate her brother who has mysteriously disappeared.

Detective Laurence Page is working to solve a particularly gruesome crime - an elderly professor has been murdered and the case somehow keeps coming back to Christopher Shaw.

I don’t read thrillers very often but I did enjoy this one. I liked how there were multiple story lines, timelines and perspectives to follow that eventually all came together.

I did find some of the plot unclear at times but altogether this was a quick, intriguing read with fast-pacing at the end and I couldn’t put it down.

I’d recommend this if you enjoy creepy, fantastical crime thrillers and family sagas

⭐⭐⭐⭐3.5 rounded to 4. I had a lot more hope for this book by horror novelist Alex North, who I do enjoy as an author. It's no Whisper Man however. Katie Shaw was a bit difficult to bond with, and I'm not a fan of far too many characters and timelines to follow, as it was easy to become confused. With this tightened up of the characters, this book could be fabulous and has a great premise.
Goodreads description as follows: "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.
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."
Thank you NetGalley, Alex North and Celadon Books for this ARC. #horrorbooks #thrillerbooks #bookstagram #booktok #bookstagrammer

This one got a bit confusing for me. There were a lot of characters that were hard to keep straight and differentiate. Each character had their own backstory and plot and it was also hard to keep those straight, especially once they started weaving together. I've read a lot of books with multiple points of view and multiple timelines and this one just wasn't executed smoothly.

I also felt like even with the multiple plotlines, the story was still slow moving. For a thriller, I expected a faster pace. Overall, this was a difficult to follow and get invested in.

My first Alex North book and I am FLOORED I loved it. Read it in literally less than a day, I could not stop. You are constantly being put on the edge of your seat with the twists and turns and I was so wrapped up in the story because it requires you to be that way to be able to follow it or else you'll miss something you don't want to miss. So good. 4.25/5 stars

I am admittedly the unluckiest person alive, so to say I was SHOCKED when I won an arc of this is an understatement! The Angel maker is an atmospheric story about unrivaled sibling loyalty, a serial killer who can predict the future and a detective determined to put the pieces together.

In total transparency, I did enjoy North’s The Whisper Man and The Shadows a bit more than this one, but that’s not to say this isn’t an amazing story that ABSOLUTELY gripped me! Highly recommend if you’ve liked his other works and enjoy reading thrillers that include multiple perspectives and jump scares.

Well, what can I say about this book; after LOVING 'The Whisper Man' by the same author, I was so excited to get to read this before it coming out this last January. I started physically reading it at my Doctor's office and not being able to get into the characters in this one. So I tried again 2 days later......and i ended up DNF'ing (did not finishing) this at almost 40%. Sorry this one did not have the horror aspects or the writing i was expected to see from Alex North.
1.5 stars of what I read.

I was highly anticipating any new book from Alex North as I have enjoyed his previous books. This book was no exception. The story is well paced and engaging with plenty of twists and turns. Unfortunately, I read this intermixed with other genre-books (typical for me) and I found that to be the wrong way to engage with this story. Let me say that I still found it well done and a great plot. My negative take is really due to how I read it because there are multiple characters and different POVs and timelines that would likely be much easier to follow if you read this in a couple of sittings, without other content interspersed. I felt like I was missing key things due to this that I would normally piece together easily. Overall, the story was absorbing and the interplay of the POVs and timelines was an engaging tactic.
So, if you want a thriller with a plot that has you guessing throughout, then give this a try.
Definitely recommend.

#TheAngelMaker #NetGalley #CeledonBooks

This story is about siblings Katie and Christopher Shaw and how they get tangled up with a murder that has dangerous consequences for them both.

Christopher was brutally attacked as a young boy and has never fully recovered and turned into a troubled young adult. Katie lives an idyllic life putting the past behind her. But when her brother goes missing and her daughter is being stalked, Katie is determined to go to any lengths to protect those she lives. What Katie doesn’t know is how her family ties in to the recent murder of Professor Hobbes and his fascination with a serial killer who was thought to see the future.

This one took me some time to get into. There were several storylines that later converged together but there were a lot of characters to keep track of. I started with the audio version but had to return to the ebook to help me manage the characters. The story was an interesting one and not as scary as the horror I was expecting. Fans of Alex North will surely enjoy his newest novel.

Thank you so very much to @netgalley and @celadonbooks for an early review copy and early listening copy!

I had to quit 25% in. I liked Katie’s storyline but everything else got very confusing. Other reviews indicated the same confusion. There are too many books out there to read a confusing one.

I’m so conflicted about this book! The first half I was thinking it was for sure not my jam. Firstly, the subject material—philosophy; determinism; physics; religious zealotry; murderabilia. Hard pass. Secondly, the confusing web of characters and backstories. Brothers go by Edward and Alan in the past, get adopted by separate people, and go by their adopted last names, Hobbes and Leland, in the future. 😵‍💫 Plus we have two cops; a brother and sister; a woman and her husband and daughter; a criminal on parole. It’s a lot to get a grasp on.
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I was all set for this to be a 2-3 star book, but about 60% through things started to become clearer. The pace picked up and I began to see how the stories intersected. There was one amazing twist! I ended up really enjoying it, although I don’t think this book will be for everyone.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an e-arc!

I've attempted multiple times to finish this book. I find that I am unable to stay engaged with the storylines. They are many! The characters are appropriately fleshed out, but their motives are unclear even though I have read about half of this book. The process of weaving together and ultimately, coming to a denoument seems laborious. I may try to finish it another time, but I will be shelving it for now.

This is not a quick thriller read - there is a lot going on and I had to reread cause I kept thinking I was missing things. This bordered on too philosophical for me. It may be a better slow read book.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was beyond thrilled to receive my ARC copy from Netgalley, however, I didn’t quite feel the book lived up to the hype for me. After reading The Whisper Man, I was HOOKED on Alex North. The Angel Maker, while still a very good read, just didn’t measure up.

For one, the plot is INTRICATE. I thoroughly enjoyed all the twists and turns when I could keep up, but between the multiple POVs and the multiple timelines, I found myself lost frequently.

The characters themselves I found very intriguing, and I can genuinely say I did NOT see the connections coming. I thought the character webs were woven brilliantly.

The book also had a very slow start. Now, to be fair, it built up to some AMAZING plot twists. It just took a very long time to get to them.

Overall, I can say I enjoyed it, but it certainly took more concentration and effort than I had anticipated.

When I saw Alex North was releasing a new book I could hardly contain my excitement. I LOVED The Shadows and The Whisper Man. North has a way of adding supernatural elements that feel like they could really happen in real life. The storyline requires a good deal of concentration, especially through the initial character development in the beginning. The Angel Maker was definitely intriguing and dark. It's more of a dark crime/detective story than a thriller. It wasn't my favorite out of the 3 I have read by North, but it was a great read overall.

The book begins with introducing Katy Shaw and her younger brother Christopher Shaw who is brutally attacked as a child by a deranged man named Michael Hyde. Decades later Katy and her brother Chris are estranged and Katy still suffers from the knowledge that she could have prevented her brothers attack. When Katy learns that Chris is missing she begins looking into his disappearance. Meanwhile detectives are dealing with the murder of a Philosophy Professor and believe Chris to be responsible. The author seamlessly weaves storylines about Katy, Chris, The Philosophy Professor and a serial killer who was believed to be able to see the future. In the end he melds those stories together into one beautiful and dark big picture.

A special thank you to the author, Celadon Books and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is my second read by Alex North. I loved The Whisper Man so I was excited when I got the chance to read this book. This book was a lot slower for me and I had a hard time following along. So even though this was a little harder to read I would still recommend this book. I'm excited to read The Shadows next and then patiently wait for his next book.

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for my gifted digital advance reader copy!

Katie Shaw has everything going for her: she’s about to graduate and go to college, she’s in love with her high school boyfriend, Sam, and she has a loving and supportive family. All of that changes when her brother is brutally attacked in broad daylight. Now, almost two decades later, Katie has a daughter and life of her own but is still plagued by guilt about what happened to her brother. Meanwhile, a philosophy professor in town has been found murdered in his bed, but it seems he knew it was coming.

I really enjoyed Alex North’s latest crime thriller! There were a lot of elements that contributed to this story, but they all worked well together and drew me into the plot. Perhaps because there was so much going on, I started to get a nagging feeling that something was missing, especially toward the end. Without giving anything away, I did have a few unanswered questions, and I wish there were things we got more answers about.

I liked the two detectives’ dynamic with one another, but didn’t feel as connected to Katie or her family. Still, I was so invested in puzzling out the mystery that I kept turning pages.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads

In this book, we are introduced to two separate mysteries that eventually come together – the disappearance of Chris Shaw, and the murder of Alan Hobbs.

Growing up 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 Chris who she fiercely protected. The book opens a few years in the past years in the past with Katie telling her brother to walk home by himself so she could hang out with her boyfriend. When she gets home, her brother has been attacked. Katie and her brother have had a strained relationship ever since the brutal attack and changed their lives forever. Years later Katie gets a phone call that Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

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.

I enjoyed this one but not quite as much as The Whisper Man.

This was a 3.5 star read for me!

It took me longer than anticipated to get through this book, seeing as I loved The Whisper Man so much. I enjoyed TAM as well, but felt I had trouble following the storyline for awhile. With the adoption/name changes of the two antagonists (?), I was having difficulty tracking each character and how they related to one another. This feels semi-typical of a thriller but it was just driving me nuts that I couldn't always follow it.

Despite that complaint, I did fully enjoy this novel, especially after the 50% mark. Once I reached that, I think I read the book essentially in one sitting. It kept me guessing and though I was able to guess a few of the surprises, some of them were still a fun reveal and I wouldn't have guessed!

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.