Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

It was just okay. I liked the characters and their dynamics, I appreciated that it was fast paced, there were really good twists and moments of suspense BUT there was a lot of jumping around and it got confusing and I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted.

I was very excited for this thriller by Alex North yet I caution the reader that the plot line jumps around A LOT. With the time shifts, numerous characters and view points it took me time to wrap my head around where I was in the plot and distracted me from enjoying the great thriller this could have been.
I enjoyed the philosophical aspects woven in, and while all the pieces characters links eventually reveal themselves it was just too difficult to get to the big conclusion.
I thank Netgalley and Celdaon Books for giving me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

The Angel Maker was an entertaining read. It held mystery and suspense, as well as the stress of family dynamics. The plot was fast paced and I enjoyed the books and the characters. The ending, though satisfying, was a bit abrupt. Overall this was a good read.

Unfortunately this really missed the mark for me. The characters were very underdeveloped, the storylines were incredibly confusing and hard to follow, and overall I just felt lost the majority of the time.

There were so many alternating plot lines and various characters. As soon as I felt hooked by one character’s storyline it would switch to someone else, losing me entirely. Also the constant changes of using a characters full name to just their first name to then sometimes just their last name was impossible to follow.

There was a lot of potential with this one but it just wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed this! I was intrigued from the beginning and couldn’t figure out how everything was going to come together. I felt like one plot point was a unnecessary and kinda pointless but otherwise it was great!

I'm usually pretty good at remembering who the characters are and following the plot, but with this one for some reason it felt difficult to me. Overall it was interesting but there was a lot going on.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I started reading The Angel Maker at night, and that was a mistake. This book is full of chilling moments that will have you looking over your shoulder, and what a read it was!

The plot is quite complex, and to say much in a synopsis would give away important plot points. It is imaginative, dark, and very character driven. There are a ton of characters, to the point where I really wasn’t sure how everything would connect in the end. They did feel fleshed out, particularly the main characters whose motivations we needed to understand. The connections between the characters in the end was described masterfully, leaving the reader shocked and also chilled to the bone.

Multiple time jumps occur in this book, and it is not always clear when we are back in the present vs 5, 15, or even 30 years in the past. Something saying ‘10 years ago,’ or something similar, may have been nice at times!

The book leans heavily into philosophical topics like whether we have any choice in our lives or if things are destined to happen. I’ve never been a student of philosophy, but found the discussions in the book thought provoking and interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Rating: 4 Stars
I had to take notes while reading this. Im probably missing some characters, but I counted 21. Yes, 21 characters, possibly more. It wasn't a fun time. However, the plot....LOVED IT.
Listen, I'm not saying it wasn't a good book; just be prepared.

What a mess. I went back to my Good Reads profile to ensure that I did indeed enjoy Alex North's two previous novels. There are too many points of view and poorly fleshed-out characters. I could not keep track of who was who and found myself wishing for an org chart. There are also time jumps, which didn't bother me as much as other things. The reader is left with many unanswered questions and trying to make tenuous connections about who did what and why. I can't be certain, but it seems like North caught Bill Paxton's excellent film Frailty and decided that a twist on that story would be a good idea for a book. He's not wrong, but this isn't that book.

If you're an Alex North fan, pick this up now! If you haven't read any of his books, read them all! North never disappoints. This one will take a little bit of patience, there are a lot of details that don't click in the beginning. By the end of the book, everything falls together. Katie Shaw hasn't spoken to her little brother, Chris, in two years. He's a drug addict living on the street somewhere. One night out of the blue, Katie's mother calls and Chris is missing. Chris has had contact with his mother for the past few months but did not want contact with Katie. Katie goes to Chris' apartment, her mother has a spare key, to look for clues. It looks like someone cleared out of the apartment very quickly! Where could Chris be? Could this have anything to do with Chris almost being murdered as a teen? Can Katie follow the clues and save her brother?

I was very excited to read this because whisper man was one of my favorite books last year, but this was a major let down.

I could not understand what was going on. I don’t know if it was the plot or the organization that bothered me, but I cannot tell you what I just read.

I really wanted to love this one. I have enjoyed the previous two books, but his one just does not compare. There were far too many characters to keep track of to the point that I literally created a list of characters to refer back to. This is probably one of the only times I have thought this, but The Angel Maker easily could have been another 100 pages to expand on characters and make the reader connect with them better. The storyline is definitely there, it was just so hard to follow with all the characters with varying timelines. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. 3 stars

Omg, this book, was just so wonderful. Let me tell you, if you’re a fan of crime thrillers, you must read this book. I couldn’t put this book down. You will need to pay attention to the characters very closely.
I had a nightmare after reading some of this writers, words. And believe me I read some very strange murder stuff. A true crime junkie, yes, that’s me.
If I could I would give this book more than 5 stars. I now need to see what this author wrote, under another name.
Thank you for giving me a chance to read this book.

Ever read a book and wonder most of the way through how anyone can possibly concoct such a complex story? Well, this is one of those - and well, it's maybe a little TOO complex. Put another way, this isn't an easy read, in large part because there are many characters and timelines to keep straight.

But it IS worth it - at least for those who have any interest in the pros and cons of what we old-time Presbyterians would call "predestination" (a topic of heated debate back in the 1960s, when I was a Sunday School teacher). In its simplest form, if you believe in it, you believe that every single thing we do has been pre-ordained. Needless to say, it's often discredited simply because that would mean everything is inevitable (so why try to be "good?") This story doesn't really resolve that debate, but it does showcase the downside of believing that what people say and do are guided by a higher power who knows what's going to happen before it does - and that they have a responsibility to carry out that inevitability.

Anyway, Katie Shaw is all grown up and married with a young daughter, but she's never shaken the notion that she's responsible for the attack on her brother Chris back in their growing-up years. Since then, the disfigured young man has struggled with addiction and basically disappeared from his parents and Katie. Now, it appears he needs her help - but no one seems to know where he is. Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page and his partner, Caroline Pettifer, are investigating the murder of wealthy but dying Alan Hobbes, whose only child died in a house fire years ago. Video footage shows Chris in the man's home while he was still alive, thus making him a suspect.

Cut to Edward Leland, Alan Hobbes's older brother, who used to help his father "make angels" as, his father says, "God has written." In the center of it all is an old book written long ago by one of the predestination believers; how it ties in with all the characters - including a big secret known only to Katie's mother - consumes most of the story from that point on. All told, it's quite an adventure - one I recommend to those who don't mind expending a little more effort than usual to get through. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy. Well done!

This book leans heavily on the philosophical. If the nature of knowledge, of reality, and of all existence is not something you have ever considered or studied then you might not enjoy this story too much. I found it fascinating and stopped several times to contemplate the very nature of being. There are a lot of characters that could get confusing but I managed to keep them all straight so good job by the author in writing everything just right. That said, this is a highly electric story with many unexpected twists and turns throughout. Creepy, thought provoking, and entertaining.

What if there was no freewill and everything was predestined? What would you do?

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of The Angel Maker by Alex North. So, I have been in a slight reading slump lately and then I received this ARC and now I’m back. I have read The Whisper Man and The Shadows, I still believe the Whisper Man is my favorite Alex North book but The Angel Maker is a close second.
The story follows several people that are interconnected by a single belief of determinism. That there is no freewill and everything is predestined, no matter what you do it’s been figured into your future.
It was amazing how North was able to pull all the characters together and wrap it up so neatly. I did figure out some of the ending beforehand but this was a unique story and I really enjoyed it. I would give this 4.25 stars!!!

I was approved for both the book and the audiobook. I could not get into either one. It was difficult to keep up with so many characters.

The Angel Maker (ARC)
Alex North
5⭐️
Pub Date: 2/28/2023

Katie lived an amazing life. But there's one thing that she cannot forgive herself for-- a violent crime on her precious brother that changed her family's lives forever. A few years later, the fear from that incident still creeps up on her and now that she has a child of her own, the fear and threats of a cruel world seems to intensify. Meanwhile, Detective Page investigates the death of a prestigious professor. But his clues all lead back to the brutal attack on a teenager, and a serial killer who claims he can see the future. "Everything is connected below the surface."

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK!

I was so confused, yet captivated, by this story. There were so many questions, so many characters with name changes, secret identities, and plenty of word clues that gave me NO definite answers until the very end! The whole plot is a big fat web of mysteries. There are multiple storyline that I initially thought, had no real or obvious connections. Like, why are we even talking about this? Ofcourse, based from my rating, we all know that it all ties together beautifully. This book gives a *horrible* insight to a psychopath's mind and musings. As someone interested in psychology/psychiatry, I found this facinating but disturbing. It also shows how big environmental , familial, religious and social upbringing affects our growth as a person. I had so many *gasps* and "what the heck" moments for this book. There's one major character in the book that I'm still kind of feeling gray with. I'm not entirely sure of what his significance to the grand scheme of things. Like he is a nice addition to it but this is the one loose knot in the plot. But overall, I enjoyed this book tremendously!

First, let me start off with the fact that I’m definitely in the minority on how I felt about this book. However, if you’re a huge fan of philosophy and love plots with multiple characters and timelines then I’m sure you’ll really enjoy this one 📖

It started off great and I was hooked within the first few chapters, but then I just got confused. Now this could totally just be a me thing but I couldn’t keep track of the multiple characters from different timelines for the life of me. I found myself having to flip back a few pages each chapter and be like, oh yeah Edward and Leland are the same guy (I think hahaha).

ALSO so many questions, like why did Hyde have all those photos in his house of Sam, Katie and their daughter? Was she ever charged with injuring him? Why did Hyde even do that crime and how did he really connect to the end? Was Lock even a necessary component to the story? I feel like I could have read an entire story just about the boys upbringing with their dad.

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon books for the opportunity to read this in advance of its publication date on Feb 28!

I want to thank Celadon books and Netgalley for an early release copy of this book.

I was approved for both the book and the audiobook, and I have to say that the book was much easier to handle.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, however, it was sometimes difficult to read with the vast array of characters. I am not going to attempt a synopsis, because it is too twisty to try to explain. Essentially, it is based around the ideas of a famous serial killer who believed he could "see" the future (more so that he cracked the code of the future of everything being pre-determined, so there was nothing you can do to change it).

As with North's other books, you need to slow down and really focus on this one, because things are developing so quickly, you may miss an important point, if you are zoning out.

The only thing I didn't love were the number of characters that you had to keep track of. I kept finding myself confused as to who was related to who and in what way. I almost needed to make a flow chart.

Overall, if you like dark thrillers, that are a little more difficult to read, I recommend this book. If you are only interested in popcorn thrillers, it probably isn't for you.