3/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Let me first start by saying that I read The Whisper Man and absolutely loved it. However, this one just feel a little bit flat for me and was a bit of a disappointment. I’m not sure if it was because I was listening to it on audio, but I found it so difficult to keep track of what all was going on and kept getting confused while listening to the book. This might have been better if you are reading the book physically, but I’m not sure. This book was just so slow to get through and I found myself just wanting it to be over at times. I’m still going to give his books another shot because like I said I really enjoyed The Whisper Man, but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me.

Ｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 by Alex North
Published: February 28, 2023
Reviewed by: Mel
Format: Audiobook ALC

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you so much to @netgalley @celadonbooks and @writernorth for both the eBook ARC as well as the audiobook ALC! It was #gifted in exchange for an honest review. I ended up solely listening to the audio.

First off, I just want to say that I was a huge fan of North’s writing in The Whisper Man, and maybe my review is somewhat skewed by my 5-star review of that previous work? Either way, I agree with other reviews that I have read that reading…shouldn’t be this hard.

Let me explain. The plot is incredibly twisty, turny, and very intricate. There are a lot of characters and it’s very difficult, especially listening to audio [when you can’t flip around to remind yourself of a character or their connection] to keep the characters straight and know how they fit into the storyline.

By the end, I could tell most of the reveals were the shocking connections between characters — but the shock was lost on me because I couldn’t remember who anyone was. The character that stood out the most to me was Kate, and I understood that I should have been shocked to find out that her brother was adopted — but I couldn’t quite focus enough to figure out how that all fit into the larger plot line.

I could tell the writing was tense and captivating — I just wish the plot was more clear and direct, and the character connections were either more obvious or less confusing.

I was bummed that this didn’t live up to my expectations, but it won’t prevent me from reading anything else from North already on my TBR.

Dnf at 50%

Confusing and uninteresting so I’m throwing in the towel. I gave it a fair chance but it’s not for me

The predestination theory and supernatural elements leave me cold, so I am not the right reader from this book.

I would definitely recommend physically reading this book instead of listening to it on audio. I found it hard to track and I kept confusing the last names Hyde and Hobbs. This book is told from multiple POV which I liked but that was hard to follow via audio.

This book is a twisty one! It hops around a lot and has a lot of different storylines that all tie together. Overall, I liked it but didn't love it. I really think my opinion would have changed if I didn't listen to it.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book!

I was thrilled to get an advanced audio copy of this book having read and enjoyed North's former books. The Angel Maker was another spinetingling mystery that kept me riveted. There were several perspectives involved, which made the start of the book a little slow and confusing. As the story picked up and came together, it pulled me in. Like this author’s firmer books, there were some sprinkles of supernatural aura, which I personally loved. Creepy, intriguing and worth the read if you’re looking for a mystery thriller bordering on horror.

Thank you to #Netgalley for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve tried to listen to this several times now. North is one of my favorite thriller authors, but I can’t get into the audio version. The narrator accent is distracting to me.

I will give it 3 stars for a neutral rating, but will have to wait to have a physical copy for a proper review.

This was a good story, full of twists and dark discoveries. It has some supernatural elements but is more of a mystery. There are a lot of solid components in this book—a serial killer, strength of family, and the question of fate and free will. There is a lot to unpack and I felt overwhelmed and lost in the story at times. There were a few unanswered questions at the end.

It was a compelling story but felt a little chaotic and hard to follow at times.

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

Thank you to Celadon for sending me the audio and ebook of The Angel Maker. I used them both and I love when I can do that! This one publishes 2/28.

This book was entertaining but also it was super confusing. There were so many characters and so many plot lines it made my heat hurt. If you're planning to pick this one up, get yourself a notebook to keep tabs of all the storylines and the characters and let me know how that goes, because I wish I had done that. The premise was super intriguing but this one fell flat for me due to how complicated it was.

This was my first Alex North and I didn't have the same high expectations everyone else had about this one. I think it ended up working to my advantage, because I ended up really liking this twisted story! I thought the concepts of fate and destiny was woven into the story in a really great way. While I think that it's a complicated one with a few name changes, multiple POVs and timelines etc. it's quite a smart story too. Seeing that not everyone is thrilled with this one compared to his previous work, I'm very excited to get to North's backlog. I thought the narration was great on this and captured the essence well. This one is definitely an audiobook you want to pay close attention to though!

Thank you so much Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one.

I love Alex North's writing and The Angel Maker was no exception. The concept here - that fate is preordained and nothing we do is ever not already planned - was fascinating and really well executed. The philosophy was fairly complicated, but I love the way it was presented and how it all fit together.

This is a dark book and the alternating time periods and narrators helped keep any one part too intense. It also help build suspense, make me question everything, and constantly wonder how each piece fit in the whole.

I always enjoy a book with a good investigation and North definitely delivered. That the investigation spanned past and present and held so many different moving parts was just a bonus.

The character development was also really great. There were unreliable narrators and many red herrings that kept me guessing.

I listened to this novel on audio and thought the narrators were good. The accents were a bit thick so I had to slow some parts down and I may have missed some bits here and there, but ultimately, this one worked great for audio.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio, Celadon Books, and NetGalley for the copy.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and Celadon Books for the ebook and audiobook ARCS of this book.

THE ANGEL MAKER will be out on February 28, 2023.

I think I might be an outlier on this one. I'm not sure if it's a case of the right book at the wrong time, or if I should have read the book instead of listened to the audio...I really don't know, but this one just didn't work for me. I was never really engaged in the story or the characters, I was confused about what was going on for a lot of the book. Very bummed that this was my experience, as I really enjoyed both THE WHISPER MAN and THE SHADOWS. If you're interested in this one, don't let my review dissuade you from checking it out as a lot of other people have enjoyed it.

3.75⭐

Featuring ~ multiple 3rd person POV, 4 part story, dual timeline ~ present & 1956, serial killer

Kate is one of our main characters who's brother, Chris, has gone missing. But that's news to her since she already thought he was missing since she hasn't seen him in 2 years due to a falling out. Then we have the detectives trying to solve the murder of a professor, Alan Hobbes. And finally, we're swept back to 1956 during the time of the serial killer, The Angel Maker.

I wasn't a super big fan of North's first two books, but I am happy to say I enjoyed this one a smidge more than those. You can't multitask while listening to this one though because there are quite a few characters and timelines to keep track of, so you need to pay attention.

Narrated by Rosalie Craig for 8 hours and 1 minute. She did a fine job and the sweet spot was 2.5x on this one.

Overall, a fine thriller with a touch of horror that did not keep me up at night (maybe because I was multitasking, so I missed the super scariness?).

This was just okay. I think my expectations listening to this one was for it to be more creepy and suspenseful. Which I didn't think that it was. It was an interesting story but there was time where I found myself losing interest a bit. I enjoyed the narrator.

4.5 stars. This is probably the best Alex North novel to date! They just get better and better!
There are many threads skillfully woven together to create this amazing story. It may be easier to read than listen, even though listening is an exciting experience.
Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. 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 murder. A distinguished professor of fate 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.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

Alex North has been a go-to thriller author for me since I read The Whisper Man. Yet, The Ángel Maker missed the mark for me. It was definitely twisty but I felt lost most of the time. The introduction of characters and the bouncing back and forth between time was not smooth for me. Sigh. I really wanted to like this one. It was ok at best.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my advanced copy for review.
Unfortunately, this is the second book by this author I did not enjoy. I tried, but his style just doesn't work for me. The thing that didn't help was the audio version. I was confused for most of the book, and to be honest I'm still not too sure what happened in this book. Out of curiosity I might grab a physical copy from the library at some point in the future. But that will be solely if I manage to fit it in my busy schedule.

A mystery that has twists and turns. It kept me guessing up until the end.
I enjoyed the audio book version, this was the first book of this author that I've read.
I will definitely try more of Alex Norths books in the future.

Listen if you like:
🔪 Thrillers
🙏🏼 Religious Crimes
🤷🏼‍♀️ Lots if Characters
⏳ Multiple Timelines

I absolutely loved The Whisper Man when I read it last year and thought this one would be a slam dunk for me too but unfortunately there was just too much going on in the number of characters, the timelines, and movement of the story that made it hard to follow.

My biggest pet peeve with this one was that there should have been multiple narrators as with a single narrator and the way the book was written it was way too hard to follow and understand who/what was being shared.

This one features topics of religion within the beliefs of a serial killer, collection things from and admiration of serial killers, and attacks on children.

Once things start to weave together it makes a lot more sense, but readers should be warned to pay close attention to details and characters for risk of getting confused and lacking enjoyment of this one.

Thank you to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

This audiobook is perfectly narrated and I absolutely LOVED this book! I’ve been a fan of Alex North ever since reading THE WHISPER MAN, but I think that THE ANGEL MAKER is my favorite book of his to date!

The story is so atmospheric and I loved all the layers of the mystery that spanned decades. There were so many good twists and turns that kept me devouring this story until the very end, and woven throughout the book is North’s trademark exploration into familial relationships that add a powerful layer to an already gripping story.

Fate. Is it predestined? Or are our choices shaping it one moment at a time? This story weaves together several storylines that, honestly, left me very confused. I would get moments of recognition and start to get a thrill. Then, suddenly, things shift and I don’t know where I am in the timeline. I wanted to connect with the sister, but also tried to understand the detectives. All while getting bits and pieces of philosophical thought from someone… Overall, North is never truly a full disappointment. But this is my least favorite of the books thus far.