I really REALLY enjoyed Alex North's first two books immensely, so when I saw he had a new one coming I knew I had to read it! It definitely did not disappoint!!
Katie Shaw lived an idyllic life with her parents and younger brother in the English Countryside. Until one day out of nowhere a stranger shatters that life. Years later she still can't shake the guilt of that day, even though she has her own little girl now to protect. So when her mother calls saying Chris seemingly disappeared, she struggles whether to help her brother.

The Angel Maker was a terrific read! Throw in a few supernatural elements and you have one heck of an edge of your seat ride!

🔥Book Review🔥
The Angel Maker🎧
Publish Date: February 28, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my first book by Alex North and I plan to read more! I wouldn’t call this a thriller so much as a mystery/crime type book. It was throughly enjoyable, as North is a master storyteller. Family, philosophy, horrific crimes, and the red car. I appreciate all of the details and how things and characters are entwined. It was a slower paced story to me, but I’m glad I went on this journey and just had to find out what happened.

Thank you to @netgalley @Macmillan.Audio and @writernorth for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

💭Thoughts:
This was my first book by Alex North. I’ve heard great things about his previous books, so I was excited to listen to The Angel Maker. The story is interesting, but I found it very difficult to follow everything that was going on. The narrator did a great job bringing the characters to life and setting the atmosphere, but I honestly think this would be a better book to read instead of listen to. There is just so much going on and listening to the audio makes it difficult to go back and “re-read” something that was missed. North introduces the reader to many different characters and several different timelines.

The first 50% is a bit tedious to get through, as it is a lot of plot building and character development. As the story continues it starts to get more engaging. North does a great job bringing all the characters and timelines together in the end. It wasn’t my favorite thriller, but I’d still recommend it to people who like a good mystery!

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

I was provided an audio ARC via Netgalley and Macmillan Audio, all opinions are my own. This book will be published February 28, 2023 in print and audio.

This was an interesting thriller. I'm not sure if listening to the audiobook is the way to go with this one because there is so much going on with the plot. The narrator did a fine job with the narration, but there are so many threads to keep track of I found myself wishing I could go back and reference things from previous chapters because I was confused. There are a lot of characters and timelines to keep track of, which I find doesn't always work on audio regardless of how good the narrator is.

This follow Katie Shaw, who's life was forever changed when a stranger attacked her brother Chris. Chris survived the attack, but his life was also forever changed. Guilty for not being there for him that day, Katie has always tried to make up for the sins of that day and she is being called to help her brother years later. Chris has gone missing and Katie discovers that he may be mixed up in something dangerous. Chris doesn't have a very good track record as he's been mixed up in substance abuse after recovering from the brutal attack in his teens, but Katie discovers that he appears to have cleaned up his life and she is trying to piece together the mystery of the man her brother is today.

As I mentioned earlier, this has alot of characters to keep track of. I kept losing track of who was who and what their role was in the plot. Katie was always at the forefront and everything eventually ties back to her and her family. This also has alot of twists and turns to keep you from figuring out what is happening, but in the end it left me with more questions than answers. I felt more confused than thrilled as I was reading. Katie was driven to find her brother but some of her decisions and actions seemed a little too impulsive and irrational to me. This book requires an open mind and some suspension of belief for it all to work.

Overall this was a decent slow burn mystery. There are some gory parts, but it isn't extreme. I'd check out trigger warnings before reading this if you are squeamish. It is a bit chaotic for my tastes, but it does keep you guessing. If you are looking for a domestic thriller with a bit of a religious/philosophical vibe this is a good one to check out.

This was a great audiobook and the narrator was very easy to listen to. The plot and twists kept you wanting to,keep,reading. This was a very enjoyable audiobook.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this arc!
4 ⭐ read for me!
Katie was living an every day life until her brother was attacked when she didnt walk him home from school. She still feels guilt followjbg the attack. Worried that something can happen again. Years later her mother calls and says that her brother Chris is missing. She must keep her daughter safe all the while finding her brother.

Very twisty and turny! A fun ride to the very end!

TITLE: THE ANGEL MAKER
NARRATOR: Rosalie Craig
LENGTH: 10h 30m
AUTHOR: Alex North
PUB DATE: 02.27.2023 Preorder Now

Terrifying
Thrilling
Tense

I really enjoyed The Angel Maker, and found myself reading and listening to this book in a couple of sittings - and that is a good sign. This may be my favorite Alex North book.

There are multiple story lines that converge together. There are siblings Katie and Chris Shaw whose lives have changed after a brutal attack on Chris by a violent stranger. Then there are siblings Alan and Edward, raised by a religious serial killer who believes fate is destined. Detective Laurence Page and his partner in the meantime is investigating a strange death of a professor that is linked to Chris Shaw.

The writing goes back and forth in time, and yet converges together through an invisible string that linked these stories together into a chilling and thrilling conclusion as relationships are revealed. The story is suspenseful and with the addition of characters that are truly evil, gave me the creeps and the chills.

Audio Review:
Rosalie Craig did an awesome job - I really enjoyed the narration - that captured the tense and horrifying scenes, as well as distinct characters voices.

I really enjoyed The Angel Maker by Alex North. This is my 3rd from this author and he's turning into a personal favorite for sure. It was a slow start but once the plot started moving, I was hooked. I would have loved more storyline around the Angel Maker himself, or even Edward because there was more intrigue there, for me, than for Katie or Chris. The narrator was SO good and she kept me coming back for more.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to be accepted to review this audiobook as I was anticipating it’s 2023 release .
The Angel Maker introduces a very interesting topic , would we want to see the future if it was a possibility? I was intrigued by the premise however when I listened to the audiobook narrated by Rosalie Craig, I found myself disinterested but not by the story line but rather the cadence of the narrator. There are many intricacies and complex elements in the story line that were difficult to follow via the narration.

Overall, I think the concept of the book was good but I did not enjoy the execution of the narration.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sharing this audiobook with me. In exchange for an honest unbiased review Your generosity is much appreciated..

Slow burn crime thriller with an added serial killer element. The story was a little too disjointed to ever keep me fully immersed and wrapped up WAY too quickly given the intricacies of the plot. Will I forget nearly everything about this book in a few months? Most likely, but sometimes you just need a twisted mystery to occupy the ol’ noggin for a few hours, and this got the job done!

3.5 stars. Intricately plotted and well-written, as always. Hard to follow for me personally, at times. So many names! Some components more interesting than others, but I can always appreciate the eerie thriller tied with just a hint of magic that North always manages to create. The Angel Maker is no different!

Thank you to MacMillan audiobook for the review copy of Angel Maker by Alex North. I think this might be a book that is better for me as a reader in physical form as compared to an audiobook; the production and voice acting are fine but it's just a confusing plot with a lot of timeline issues/characters to track and this is a kind of book that rarely works for me as an audiobook. So take my review for what it is, a comment on a story that might be great but might not be the best for audiobook.

what worked: an interesting plot for fans, like me, of the serial killer genre and general suspense fans. I admit I wouldn't say this is a thriller per se, a bit too slow burn for me to say it has a steady thriller suspense vibe, but it did make me wonder what was going on/how the story would resolve.
Themes on philosophy/fate and family bonds and connections are also welcome and well developed so this is a book that could foster some interesting discussions!

rating: 3 star audiobook, 4 star narration/acting style, 4 star plot potential.

A serial killer who claims to see the future. A brutal attack on a young boy. A woman who will stop at nothing to keep her family safe. Seemingly unrelated but intricately connected.

Alex North is an automatic read for me. His books are the perfect combo of mystery/thriller and creepy horror. This one is no exception. Alex weaves a complicated story with several POVs and time hops but it didn’t keep me from being engaged. I had to know how it all came together. I did have to rewind and relisten to a few parts bc I got distracted. So be prepared to focus and think hard to get all the “bread crumbs” Alex is leaving.

Add to your TBR if you are into
-dark thrillers
-fate vs free will
-protective big sister vibes
-complex character connections

Pub date: February 28
Narrators: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧/5
Spice: none

Thanks @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for this audiobook ARC.

Thank you Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for an audio-listening copy of The Angel Maker by Alex North. The Whisper Man was one of my favorite audiobooks of 2022, so I absolutely couldn’t wait to get my hands (and ears) on this one.

This book intertwines two storylines, the first being Katie Shaw’s. As an adult, she’s still struggling with guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, when they were younger. She also has her own child to protect now. She gets a phone call that Chris has gone missing and needs help - And she must decide who to put first.

At the same time, Detective Laurence Page is dealing with the gruesome brutal murder of a professor just hours after firing all of his staff. It’s almost as if he knew he was about to be murdered…but how? All leads for the case lead back to the attach on Chris as a teenager, and the crimes of a notorious serial killer who is said to have been able to see into the future.

This isn’t an audiobook that you can put on while doing other activities. I found myself having to rewind quite a few times as there are multiple timelines and points of view. There’s detail in EVERYTHING, so pay close attention. Because of this, one may decide that book format is easier to follow. This one requires you to suspend disbelief quite a bit, at least in my opinion. It’s a fast-paced read, but not my favorite of this author’s. Regardless I can’t wait to see what else he comes up with in the future.

Ok. This was one that you have to devote your whole attention to and pay close attention. There are a lot of timeline switches and POVs. This was hard to listen to on audiobook simply because of that. The POVs often ended abruptly and I had to rewind and listen again to catch everything. And that was after I slowed it down in the beginning to try and catch every detail! Rosalie Craig did a wonderful job narrating, but it was just the way that the book was written that made it hard to follow in audio form.

I did love the storyline. It gave me major Frailty vibes (you know, the Matthew McConaughey movie from 2001? I feel like I just aged myself there) I was a little worried that it would rip that off but Alex North took the premise and put his own spin on it.

Katie Shaw knows what a dangerous world this is. When she was in high school, she went home with her boyfriend and made her (also in high school age) brother walk home by himself. The one time she didn’t do as she was told and there was a tragedy. Now there are too many dangerous coincidences happening and her husband doesn’t believe her 😒 and then her mom calls gasping something about her brother. Try to piece together the clues of this complex puzzle, and trace all of the strings of the spider’s web to the center to try and figure out what is going on.

This is my second Alex North book and I find his writing to not be my favorite style. It is hard for me to get into and even harder to track what is going on. Especially with the audio book I had to go back and re-listen to chapters. it was 4 separate pov's with others sprinkled in and a lot of then/now stuff which is a lot to keep straight. For me it's reminiscent of the Angels and Demons type books/movies.

For all that complex and winding plot, I feel like the characters are kind of thrown around and not super well developed so plot points like the way Katie's husband treats her and the way the police both care deeply and don't care at all depending on the instance of plot convenience needed. It's a book that needed a little more connection to the characters and at a fairly short 8 hour run time there was room for it in my opinion.

That all said I flew through it because I did want to know how it all wrapped up and even though I am pretty sure I missed some stuff and had a few questions left over, I think it was wrapped up pretty well and the twists were good. North's books have a certain feel and this one definitely captured the same feeling as The Whisper Man so if you loved that one, I think you will like this one too. Great plot, pretty good execution, character development leaves a bit to be desired but kept me enthralled the whole time. I could see this as a movie and I think add that visual element would help this all go together.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of the audiobook!

This was a fast-paced why done it thriller. We know from the beginning who the “bad” guys are, but their exact relationships and motivations are revealed bit by bit as the book progresses. There was a bit more supernatural elements included than I usually like. This is fine (not my cuppa but I understand that others like this), but the listed genres and blurb don’t really indicate this which left me coming away with an unsettled feeling. Is this a paranormal thriller? A police procedural? A psych thriller? I’m still not sure. I also felt there were a few loose ends left untied. As an audiobook, I found the beginning a little confusing for several reasons. 1. There were a lot of names and then same characters who changed their names and the author wasn’t consistent with what he called them.
2. The time jumps were a little too much, too often, and keeping track of when things were happening was a bit hard without having the dates in front of me to go back and reference. I get that this was deliberate (one of the characters has some philosophical or maybe paranormal theories about time where these jumps make some sense).
I loved the banter/relationship between the two cops. That was great! The narrator of this audiobook was good although many of the male voices sounded the same. This doesn’t bother me though. I did also like how most of the plot points were interwoven and connected.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for providing this ARC copy to read and review. All the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading the book.

The story was decent, but it didn't keep my interest all the way through. Maybe I should have read it instead of listening to it because I found myself zoning out of the story a few times.

If you liked North's previous two novels, The Whisper Man and The Shadows, then you will definitely enjoy his latest, The Angel Maker. Told from a few timelines and by various narrators, so I found it somewhat confusing, especially listening to it as an audiobook. This story has so much going on, I would recommend reading vs. listening to this one! Katie Shaw's younger brother Chris is attacked when they were teenagers, and the guilt of it has never left Katie. Even years later, she is married and has a daughter of her own to protect. The attack on Christopher Shaw seems to be somehow connected to a current crime that Detective Laurence Page is assigned, the death of a professor who teachers free will vs. fate. All of the characters and this intricate plot do weave together, but it's definitely a thriller you need to focus on! Overall, it was enjoyable and as always Alex North does a great job delivering originality to his thrillers!