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A Quiet Belief In Angels

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 2,124 ratings · 340 reviews

Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1950s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. Despite banding...more

Paperback, 403 pages

Published December 27th 2007 by Orion (first published 2007)

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Sep 17, 2009 Linda Parks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: absolute-favorites

How exactly does a person move beyond a childhood filled with death? Death that seems to take form and follow... yet stay in front all the while, taunting with it's ability to control the very life one tries to escape?
This story begins in early 1900's with the death of a young boy's father - and what follows is a not so sweet serial killer mystery in surrounding Georgia country where everyone is suspect and one boy is destined to be haunted - if not hunted - forever.
I'll admit, I do like for s...more

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Mar 28, 2008 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great big 5 STARS! Was blown away by this book, more by the style of writing than the story. Loved it!

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Jan 23, 2011 My Inner Shelf rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporains, polar-thriller

J’avais adoré Les Anonymes en octobre dernier, mais là c’est un cran au-dessus !
Encore plus sombre, Seul le silence est un roman avant tout psychologique, un genre de thriller sans réel suspens ni enquête. L’enquête menée pas Joseph Vaughan est principalement intérieure. Traumatisé par la Mort en général et celle de son père et des premières victimes en particulier, Joseph restera lié à une fatalité qui le hante depuis l’enfance. On est fasciné par l’enchainement des événements, on assiste au dé...more

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Apr 29, 2008 Carrie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Eveyone who loves a thriller

Recommended to Carrie by: Roger Ellory

When I first started reading R.J.Ellory’s, A Quiet Belief in Angels, I thought,

"This is a con.....this can't be right.....this is a joke!"

I was convinced I was reading the works of the Master, Steinbeck.

Right from the opening lines, Ellory had me drawn in, taken under the influence of, and then totally intoxicated by his verbal skills and mastery over phrase, paragraph and perfect prose.

‘Sat at my window, chin almost touching the sill, and looked out into the night. Sky as hard as flint, the scu...more

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Feb 18, 2009 Joni rated it 5 of 5 stars

Finally! I have finished this book. I thought I never would. It's SOOO slow-moving, but the prose is just brilliant. It reads like an enchanting, on-going poem. Don't read it for the story, read it for the words, because the latter far surpasses the former.
However it is a good story as well, slightly marred by the fact that there was no mystery in it for me as two of my relatives let slip the murderer's name in front of me before I started reading. People like that should be hanged.
But even th...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Ron added it

I rarely read crime stories and most of the time I enjoyed this book, not to discover who was the serial killer [far too many novels about serial killers!] but in order to discover more about James Vaughan, the main character. I wanted to know if he was able to lay his own ghosts to rest, if he became a successful writer, if he found peace and contentment in his own relationships, whether he settled in Georgia or NYC, etc. I enjoyed much of this aspect of the novel and actually felt the search f...more

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May 10, 2011 Darklady rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

É um livro interessante e com uma excelente narrativa, no entanto, creio que promete demais como thriller/policial e no fim não se aproxima disso. Breves descrições das meninas assassinadas e quase no final um momento ou outro que nos prende mas pouco mais que isso.
A história de vida da personagem principal é realmente surpreendente.

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Mar 12, 2013 Blablabla Aleatório rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nubia

“Rumores, boatos, folclore. Fosse qual fosse a forma como uma pluma branca pousasse ou descansasse, diziam que indicava a visita de um anjo. Na manhã de quarta-feira, 12 de julho de 1939, eu vi uma. [...]”

Naquele dia, a morte viera pela High Road e levara o pai de Joseph Vaugham, então com 12 anos. Foi a primeira visita dela à Augusta Falls na Geórgia, que Joseph se lembrava, porém não seria a última. Durante muitos anos ela viria pela High Road e levaria um anjo, uma menininha, e isso acarretar...more “Rumores, boatos, folclore. Fosse qual fosse a forma como uma pluma branca pousasse ou descansasse, diziam que indicava a visita de um anjo. Na manhã de quarta-feira, 12 de julho de 1939, eu vi uma. [...]”

Naquele dia, a morte viera pela High Road e levara o pai de Joseph Vaugham, então com 12 anos. Foi a primeira visita dela à Augusta Falls na Geórgia, que Joseph se lembrava, porém não seria a última. Durante muitos anos ela viria pela High Road e levaria um anjo, uma menininha, e isso acarretaria mudanças na vida de Joseph, esses eventos marcariam para sempre sua alma e seguiriam com ele por toda a sua vida.

A primeira delas foi Alice no dia 03 de novembro de 1939, a menina de onze anos, que sentava atrás de Joseph na escola, fora estuprada, espancada e esganada. Nove meses depois foi a vez de Laverna, em julho de 41 Ellen Mary é encontrada morta e em março de 42 Joseph encontra o corpo de Catherine. Quatro meninas, quatro anjos, quatro recortes de jornais que Joseph vai guardando com as notícias dos assassinatos. Sempre ali, lembrando-lhe que não fora capaz de evitar que aquelas meninas fossem mortas com tal crueldade, mas como poderia um garoto de quinze anos lutar contra alguém tão vil? Junto com outros amigos eles formam um grupo denominado “Os Guardiões” para vigiar e proteger as garotas de Augusta Falls, o que claramente prova-se inviável quando a quinta menina é encontrada morta.

Em meio a isso tudo, Joseph descobre o dom da escrita, sua tábua de salvação e provavelmente uma das poucas coisas que o mantem são e confiante de que as coisas podem melhorar. Mas, a morte não se contentou com apenas 5 anjos, continuou a fazer vítimas e tentando escapar disso tudo ele deixa Augusta Falls, parte em busca de algo maior, de uma chance de um recomeço, o que também lhe é negado. Joseph parece destinado a sofrer eternamente, muitos em seu lugar já teriam entregado os pontos, mas, o material de que ele é feito é de fibra e tem força de vontade. Ellory construiu um protagonista crível, forte ao demonstrar sua fraqueza, com uma força enorme para encarar e tentar superar seus problemas e passível de uma empatia sem tamanho, talvez ajudada pelo fato de acompanharmos o crescimento do personagem ao longo da história, literalmente.

Continue lendo em: http://blablablaaleatorio.com/2011/10...(less)

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Jan 17, 2013 Philip rated it 2 of 5 stars

I’ve been too busy to review the last few books I’ve read, but I want to make the effort and start again.

OK, so I picked this off the shelf mostly because of the title. It’s a nice, lyrical title and the backcopy said it was about a young group of boys who band together to discover who is killing little girls in their home town.

Sounds exciting, right?

I’m really torn about this book. On the one hand I think it’s really well written, even if the prose does get a little purple and overly descriptiv...more I’ve been too busy to review the last few books I’ve read, but I want to make the effort and start again.

OK, so I picked this off the shelf mostly because of the title. It’s a nice, lyrical title and the backcopy said it was about a young group of boys who band together to discover who is killing little girls in their home town.

Sounds exciting, right?

I’m really torn about this book. On the one hand I think it’s really well written, even if the prose does get a little purple and overly descriptive at times – that’s just my personal taste, but the real failing is the plotting and storyline.

Contrary to what the backcopy says, this book is NOT about a bunch of young boys trying to track a killer Famous Five style. The Guardians, as these boys call themselves, only meet twice and are caught and bawled out the second time by the local Sherriff, so they never meet again. That’s it. That’s the end of that storyline. What the backcopy would lead you to believe is the whole theme of the book is actually begun and ended in a few pages.

So what happens the rest of the time? Well, that I think is the book’s biggest problem, our hero, Joseph Vaughan, for ninety-five percent of this book doesn’t do anything. He gets on with his life and has the same trials and tribulations (though a few more tragedies) as anyone while these murders continue in the background. He feels bad, but he doesn’t go out and seek the killer. He doesn’t do anything about it.

**SPOILERS**

There are also some huge plot holes in this book. Joseph is obsessed with these killings, but when his mother – who has had a breakdown – offers to tell him who did it, he walks out. I think he does that twice. Surely you would want to hear every theory, not matter who it came from. This seemed really stupid and out of character.

Another thing that annoyed me is after a certain death in the book, there are only two people who could be the killer! And no one figures this out. It’s obvious!

Joseph goes to jail at one point and I have many problems with this. Firstly, there are so many holes in the case it could strain vegetables. People must have been very unaware of their rights in the 50s because even I, with no legal training, could have got this case dismissed. As it is, Joseph is sent to jail for ten years, which I think only takes a chapter to get through and this does somewhat undermine just how long he is falsely imprisoned, until his case is reheard by the Supreme Court and his conviction overturned. I must also mention his idiot lawyer, who I would have fired ten minutes after meeting him. Again, were people really so unaware of their rights that they just took the first schmuck lawyer they were given?

And finally the ending, which also seems rushed and gives no real explanation of why the killer did these unspeakable things to young girls. Who the killer is seems to be just put in for twist value and doesn’t really make any sense.

A promising beginning, but an unsatisfactory middle and ending.
(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 aBeiLLe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

J’ai lu ce roman d’une traite, en deux jours. C’est vrai que j’avais seulement que ça à faire… Et je dois avouer qu’avec le temps, il ne m’en restera pas grand-chose. Je l’ai lu depuis au moins 2 semaines et je dois avouer que déjà j’en ai perdu des bouts! Peut-être est-ce que c’est le contexte dans lequel je l’ai lu, va savoir…

Ce que je me rappelle par contre c’est l’émotion que j’ai ressenti durant ma lecture. Un mélange de compassion, de tristesse et de mélancolie. C’est rare un polar qui me...more

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Apr 01, 2012 John Herbert rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, ten-out-of-ten

Read it and WEEP!!!!!!!!
Maybe or maybe not physically, but sure enough you'll weep inside at Joseph Vaughan's life in Augusta Falls and beyond.

Such a damaging life, as fear and outrageous violence takes away a normal upbringing, surrounding him with the ghosts of lost children, forever haunting his nightmares, as this beautifully crafted novel progresses.

You find yourself not so much identifying with the various characters in Augusta Falls, as becoming one of the townsfolk yourself, sharing thei...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Ian Mapp rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After four disappointments, my faith in literatrure is fully restored.

This is an incredible story. Before reviewing - who have to read the bio of the author on his web site, where his sense of humour and world weariness is explained - never knew his father, mother died when he was young, grandparents died, jailed for scrumping (is this true).

The book is written by a brummie and set in america in the late 30s to 60s... telling Joseph Vaughn's story.

The style is my favorite - a couple of pages at...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Morticia Adams rated it 2 of 5 stars

This wouldn’t have been a bad crime thriller, had it not been ruined by the author’s apparent belief that he’s a much better writer than he actually is. He aims for the lyrical and poetic and falls flat because he doesn’t apparently understand the value of restraint or economy, and that constant repetition of an idea will diminish its impact.

I suspect that many editors today aren’t ruthless enough, and are too ready to swallow their authors’ self-hyping. A good editor might have suggested that...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's been awhile since I've encountered a narrator as tightly controlled by his author as Joseph Vaughan is in R.J. Ellory's "A Quiet Belief in Angels." There's a part of Joseph we can't quite get to, hidden by the cloak of enigma or numbness, and Ellory holds the reins relentlessly. But it's no wonder. In his story, spanning decades, Joseph is haunted by the brutal deaths of young girls in his small Georgia town. As the bodies of murdered and mutilated girls pile up in Augusta Falls and in surr...more It's been awhile since I've encountered a narrator as tightly controlled by his author as Joseph Vaughan is in R.J. Ellory's "A Quiet Belief in Angels." There's a part of Joseph we can't quite get to, hidden by the cloak of enigma or numbness, and Ellory holds the reins relentlessly. But it's no wonder. In his story, spanning decades, Joseph is haunted by the brutal deaths of young girls in his small Georgia town. As the bodies of murdered and mutilated girls pile up in Augusta Falls and in surrounding counties, starting before the Second World War, Joseph organizes The Guardians, a band of his buddies determined to protect the town's young girls.

Of course they fail. Joseph finds one of the girls, in pieces, himself. Already haunted by death — his father is gone — Joseph has a lifelong obsession with finding the murderer and with his own failings, through his mid-teen years doted on by his teacher, through his expanding relationship with her, through the apparent resolution of the culprit's identity and his mother's slipping mental grip.

The book's back-cover description gives the impression that The Guardians play a huge role in the novel, like a gathering of Stephen King kids banding together against evil. But that element is not very prominent in "A Quiet Belief in Angels." It's a mystery story, a character study, a decades-spanning tale of Joseph's obsession. The book's opening has Joseph, as a middle-aged man, in a room with a dead man he has shot, a man he believes to be the one responsible for all the murders. Joseph's here-and-now musings keep recurring even as he details his life from boyhood to manhood and recounts the tragedies he keeps seeing/experiencing.

In many ways, Ellory's book is a wonder, his powers of description occasionally superb. Still, there are slow spots in the tale, even if seemingly dull scenes turn out to have meaning. I found the killer's ability to commit atrocities in many communities over many years, completely unseen, to be a bit of a stretch. The story's impact lessened a bit for me as Joseph grew from boyhood, but Ellory kept satisfying twists and turns coming, and the tale did stay with me. Three stars, then, but on the very high side. I confess to not having heard of Ellory before, but he may be one who bears watching, and a look back at his earlier books may be in order. (less)

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Jun 26, 2011 Lisa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ellory captures the human experience in wonderfully poignant prose, as he details the events in the life of young Joseph Vaughn in rural Georgia; including the complete life altering affect a series of brutal murders had on his life and on the community.

More compelling, however, was the intertwining story line of the tragedy experienced by the losses to his immediate family. "Death came that day. Workmanlike, methodical, indifferent to fashion and favor, disrespecful of Passover, Christmas, all...more

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Sep 06, 2010 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction

A book with a lot of promise that fails miserably. What captured my attention in the beginning was the prose style...it was very evocative but then it came to drown in its over reliance on similes...that repeat themselves over and over and over.
The story itself started good but became unendingly episodic and cliche. The serial killer narrative and coming of age narratives never gelled. Characterizations were a little interesting but this was lost in a story that went nowhere, I stopped reading w...more

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Jul 21, 2010 Belle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The book centres around the key life events of Joseph Vaughan. Starting with his fathers death when he was just 11 years old, and continuing through his mothers downfall, the courtships and subsequent deaths of the two great loves of his life, the significant friendships, a great miscarriage of justice, his writing successes, and ultimately the series of deaths that seem to haunt him and contaminate every part of his life- so much so that he begins to believe that Death itself stalks him.

Due to...more

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Feb 05, 2010 John Kues rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The beginning of this story had me laughing out loud, and the dialog reminded me of "To Kill a Mockingbird". Remember the laxative Serutan, Natures spelled backwards was the ad? I do. He throws a little story about a man that liked the taste of Serutan and drank it all the time.

The author imagines the dead girls singing - "Two-six-nine...the goose drank wine..the monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line...the line got broke...the mon-key choked...they all went to Heaven in a little rowboat......more

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Jan 16, 2010 Mavis H rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 30, 2009 Manda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008

Precis: A man's life is overshadowed by a brutal serial killer.

One of a chunk of books bought from The Book People that had all been included in Richard and Judy's 2008 Book Club. This is my personal favourite of the books included in the pack.

I really enjoy books that transport you to a different environment, and this book took me to middle America in the 40s. I enjoy a romance, as long as there is a tale behind it, and it is not too overblown, and the romances in this book were just down my s...more

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Nov 26, 2009 Tony rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-crime-detection

Ellory, R. J. A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS. (2009). *****. I believe that this is one of the best-written books I have read in years. Although it is a crime novel, it reads as much like a family saga as anything else. It is set in a small town in Georgia, where a young boy, Joseph Vaughan, grows up as most other boys in such a setting, until a tragedy strikes and a young girl is found murdered and violated on the outskirts of town. The townspeople are aghast at such an event, and begin to look at ea...more Ellory, R. J. A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS. (2009). *****. I believe that this is one of the best-written books I have read in years. Although it is a crime novel, it reads as much like a family saga as anything else. It is set in a small town in Georgia, where a young boy, Joseph Vaughan, grows up as most other boys in such a setting, until a tragedy strikes and a young girl is found murdered and violated on the outskirts of town. The townspeople are aghast at such an event, and begin to look at each other in a different way. The war is beginning in Europe and people are rethinking their attitudes about foreigners in their midst. A German family comes under suspicion and suffers the effects of their neighbors bias. Then, another young girl is found; this time, not only murdered, but mutilated. Joseph Vaughan and his young male friends decide that they have to do something to help. They form a club whose purpose is to watch over the young girls of the area to see that they are kept safe. In spite of their avowed efforts, additional girls turn up dead over the years. The police from several counties don’t have a clue as to the killer’s identity. One day, Joseph finds another body and is traumatized by his discovery. He vows that he will dedicate his life to determining who the killer was and bringing him to justice. In the midst of all thin, Joseph goes on with his life. He wants to be a writer and is encouraged in this by his young teacher. Later, when Joseph is 18-years old, he and the teacher have an affair which turns into a full-blown love relationship. Joseph is dogged, however, by some evil force that thwarts him at every turn, and not only turns this relationship into a tragedy, but lays the groundworks for similar negative events for the rest of his life. There is a surprise ending, but you had the same clues as Joseph did throughout the book. They were subtle clues, but they were there. This is one of those books that you will pick up and read again in the years to come. It is that good. Highly recommended.(less)

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Nov 09, 2009 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't read out and out mysteries very often and this book was a random grab at BEA. I just went, "free book!" *yoink* Thankfully it sounded interesting enough and it's set during a time period I normally like so what the hell, right?

It took a little bit to get into and the voice is a retroactive one - the grown up Joseph Vaughan telling the story as he grew up so it's a little strange to read a kid having such high end thoughts. But you get used to it. The only thing I found really annoying wa...more I don't read out and out mysteries very often and this book was a random grab at BEA. I just went, "free book!" *yoink* Thankfully it sounded interesting enough and it's set during a time period I normally like so what the hell, right?

It took a little bit to get into and the voice is a retroactive one - the grown up Joseph Vaughan telling the story as he grew up so it's a little strange to read a kid having such high end thoughts. But you get used to it. The only thing I found really annoying was how the MC kept dropping all of his I's. The sentences would often start with the next word in the sentence. I think the author was trying to go for a particular kind of voice but I couldn't help but think, all the way through, that it was just a means to have a first person story not be littered with I's. Kind of weak but there you go.

Joseph is actually an amazingly fleshed out character. Him and his mother. You can't help but not connect with both of them, especially since, for most of the story, Joseph's still pretty young (24 before the shit really hits the fan). You can't help but feel so bad for him, and for everyone in the town, for the murders that keep happening. And when Joseph discovers one of the bodies when he was 11 or 12, it'll take your breath away.

I ended up steam-rolling right through this book because it was basically one tragedy right after the next and I'm sick and interested like that. This kid, let me tell you, had a shitty hand dealt to him over and over and over again and it makes for an immensely compelling story, as demented as that is. It's sad what happens to his mom but in the end you have to question whether it was justified or not. That kind of questioning is all over the story and it was one of the reasons why I liked it like I did.

While the murder mystery is working it's way out in real time, there's a shorter part scattered throughout the book with Joseph talking to a corpse and you can only assume it's the murderer. So when twists and herrings get thrown in, you know it's not the end, it's not it because that part that you keep reading, with the dead body, didn't happen yet. So while you read, and while pieces are thrown at you, you're trying to figure out who's the guilty party.

But the thing with mysteries is, the end is the be all end all of the book. If the ending sucks, it'll destroy the rest of it. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I don't want to give it away but I will say it felt like I was driving 70 miles an hour, slammed on the brakes and threw my car into reverse. I was in such a WTF? World when the murderer came out that I didn't know what to do with myself. It's not revealed until the very last page of the book who it is so I went from going, "Yay!" to "Huh?" in a matter of one sentence to another, it was so sudden.

And usually, with hindsight and the knowledge of who did it, you can do back through the book and pick out all the clues that would lead to that person. I couldn't do that with this one. To me those clues just weren't there and the murderer might as well been chosen out of a hat for all it was worth.

The ending totally destroyed the book for me because I felt the conclusion was so random and so out of whack with the rest of the story that I just couldn't get over it. Maybe I missed something. Something big. But even with my sieve of a memory, I would still be able to pick out instances that would give it all away. Not here. I'm telling you, totally random.

Maybe someone else, someone that's better at reading mysteries and subtleties than I am, would do better with it. It's a pretty damn good book. The end just FUBARed it for me, though, unfortunately.(less)

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Oct 23, 2009 Jaime rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, general_fiction

This book was a wonderful surprise. It had me from the open:

"Rumor, hearsay, folklore. Whichever way it laid down to rest or came up for air, rumor had it that a white feather indicated the visitation of an angel.

On the morning of Wednesday, July twelfth, 1939, I saw one, long and slender and unlike any kind of feather I’d seen before. It skirted the edge of the door as I opened it, almost as if it had waited patiently to enter, and the draft from the hallway carried it into my room."

And kept me...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Marlène rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: british-literature, cult-classic, crime-thriller-suspense, georgia

What a disappointment.
Neither a thriller nor a crime novel, this was actually a very long, very slow, very self-centered piece of a pompous best seller... I still give 2 stars to the book because the man can show a gift with words (and I can't, ha!). Which I felt was showing off.

This is the second book I read by Mr Ellory and just the same as when I read A Simple Act of Violence, I was less than convinced by the knowledge this gentleman exhibits about what and who he is writing (apart from the...more What a disappointment.
Neither a thriller nor a crime novel, this was actually a very long, very slow, very self-centered piece of a pompous best seller... I still give 2 stars to the book because the man can show a gift with words (and I can't, ha!). Which I felt was showing off.

This is the second book I read by Mr Ellory and just the same as when I read A Simple Act of Violence, I was less than convinced by the knowledge this gentleman exhibits about what and who he is writing (apart from the writer, as he is one, and it would be very scary if he has actually based the character on himself: such ego proportions are not flattering). I have read other British authors whose books were set in the USA and none of them had Ellory's trouble with UK English vs. US English (please note, English is not my first language and even I picked up on that! There are copy writers who specialize in translating UK English into US English...). Or language anachronisms. I also doubt his "insight" in historical/social/war concerns of the isolated small town in the late 1930s or the 1940s, whether it is in the States or elsewhere in the world.

The places in the book, when described, have the flatness and unnatural tints of outdated package holiday brochures. There is one character only, who is so egotistical and absorbed in his own misery and unfounded greatness that he eclipses all possible interest in the rest of the story. Which is quite lucky in a way, because he seems to be the only aspect of the story that has been developed.
There is no reason and no explanation at all for the murders, the main character's obsession with said murders (come on, a child's promise is not an explanation), non-useful or awkwardly threaded historical information into the plot, no communication at all of the effect of those horrible murders on a small town community, predictable drama, a murderer dumped on the reader at the end and a "hero" who suddenly realizes that some details in his life were not mere coincidences (they were actually insignificant and inconsistent details in the long quest for an escape from self-pity).

I am, once again (and I should know better!), a victim of my own curiosity: I have read so many exceptional reviews of this book that I had to give in and read it. This has happened before and it will happen again. But I don't think I will read another book by R.J. Ellory.(less)

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Apr 28, 2011 Kristina rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Quiet Belief in Angels was my introduction to RJ Ellory and my first impressions were certainly good. Now I'm not the most 'on the ball' when it comes to deducing who done it but in this case I got it right. This may suggest that the twist was too obvious but I really enjoyed the journey of getting there and for me the journey's what it's all about.

So the plot we have our leading man, actually we have our leading boy growing up in Georgia, dealing with the death of his father when a series of...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Yas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: average-nothing-special, i-own, crime-fiction, british, reviewed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 23, 2012 Ubik 2.0 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-e-book

Angeli Custodi e Angeli della Morte

Un libro indefinibile, un po' romanzo di formazione, un po' thriller, un po' storia degli USA visti e vissuti dalla profonda provincia del sud (Georgia) nell'arco di un trentennio dalla fine degli anni '30 in poi. Tutto questo (troppo, secondo alcuni) in una storia dall'andamento imprevedibile e proprio per questo avvincente, in cui si alternano soluzioni possibili e scenari appena abbozzati e subito superati dagli eventi.

Avevo da poco dichiarato la mia avvers...more Angeli Custodi e Angeli della Morte

Un libro indefinibile, un po' romanzo di formazione, un po' thriller, un po' storia degli USA visti e vissuti dalla profonda provincia del sud (Georgia) nell'arco di un trentennio dalla fine degli anni '30 in poi. Tutto questo (troppo, secondo alcuni) in una storia dall'andamento imprevedibile e proprio per questo avvincente, in cui si alternano soluzioni possibili e scenari appena abbozzati e subito superati dagli eventi.

Avevo da poco dichiarato la mia avversione e saturazione per i racconti articolati attorno alle gesta di un serial killer, ma se, come in questo caso, la vicenda pur straziante, viene incastonata in una storia ben strutturata, senza concessioni ad autopsie, omicidi rituali, investigatori psicologi e mostri dall'infanzia infelice, cioè tutto l'armamentario ormai inscindibile dall'esausto "sottogenere serial thriller", allora si può ancora costruire una storia avvincente ed originale ed Ellory ha il talento necessario per sostenerla pur fra qualche caduta di ritmo, inevitabile in un romanzo di questa portata.

"Portata" non per il numero di pagine, ma nel senso che è davvero tanto il materiale narrativo che l'autore gestisce nel corso del racconto con sezioni/capitoli che si avvicendano introducendo nuovi personaggi, sempre molto ben strutturati, e sviluppando in modo realistico e convincente quelli che impariamo a conoscere dalle prime pagine. Ciò non esclude che l'autore non si dimostri abile anche a governare gli stilemi del thriller, sostenendo senza forzature il dubbio sull'identità del colpevole fino alla fine.

E' comunque il contrasto apparente fra l'incalzare degli eventi in una storia che ne è fittamente popolata ed il ritmo della narrazione, non adrenalinico, non sincopato, più vicino alla narrativa "mainstream" che a quella di genere, che costituisce la cifra stilistica di "La voce degli angeli", un romanzo a tutto tondo che induce ad affrontare, non senza curiosità, le altre opere finora tradotte di questo promettente inglese (ebbene sì, nonostante la capacità di ambientare la sua storia in un paesaggio, naturale, storico e sociale, tipicamente americano, Ellory è nato e cresciuto in Inghilterra. (less)

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Jan 29, 2013 Mike Van Barneveld rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Soms komen er boeken op je pad, waarvan je achteraf heel erg blij bent dat je ze gelezen hebt. Een stil geloof in Engelen van R.J. Ellory is er zo een. Wat een prachtig boek is dit. Het is wellicht een boek dat ik op basis van de voorkant niet zelf uitgezocht zou hebben, maar dat zou reuze zonde zijn geweest.

Ellory heeft in iets meer dan 400 pagina's een prachtig verhaal neergezet dat je van begin tot het einde in zijn greep houdt. Het heeft kenmerken van een goeie thriller maar ook van een nie...more Soms komen er boeken op je pad, waarvan je achteraf heel erg blij bent dat je ze gelezen hebt. Een stil geloof in Engelen van R.J. Ellory is er zo een. Wat een prachtig boek is dit. Het is wellicht een boek dat ik op basis van de voorkant niet zelf uitgezocht zou hebben, maar dat zou reuze zonde zijn geweest.

Ellory heeft in iets meer dan 400 pagina's een prachtig verhaal neergezet dat je van begin tot het einde in zijn greep houdt. Het heeft kenmerken van een goeie thriller maar ook van een niet weg te leggen roman in zich. Naast spannende en huiveringwekkende stukken, zit je ook geregeld met een brok in je keel.

Het verhaal speelt zich af in de jaren '40 en vertelt het grootste deel van het leven van Joseph Vaughan. Als Joseph nog een tiener is, worden er in het dorp waar hij woont verschrikkelijke moorden gepleegd. De slachtoffertjes zijn telkens jonge meisjes in de leeftijdscategorie van 9 tot 12. De verdachtmakingen gaan al snel de ronde en als stoere jonge knul besluit hij met zijn vrienden The Guardians op te richten en te waken over hun dorpje. Helaas blijven de moorden elkaar in rap tempo opvolgen. De tijd verstrijkt en Joseph besluit op een gegevens moment naar New York te verhuizen. Weg van alle herinneringen, denkt hij. Als hij daar zijn leven weer enigszins op de rails heeft, blijken de moorden niet gestopt. Zijn vriendin wordt dood aangetroffen op hun kamer. Joseph is verdachte nummer 1 en wordt veroordeeld tot een levenslange gevangenisstraf wegens moord. Eigenlijk begint het verhaal hier pas echt.

Het is moeilijk niet het hele verhaal weg te geven nu ik het boek met zoveel enthousiasme gelezen heb, maar ik raad een ieder dit boek aan. Geweldig echt! Wat mij betreft verdient dit boek een 10 met een griffel. Vandaar 5 sterren.

Plot: 5 sterren
Spanning: 4 sterren
Leesplezier: 5 sterren
Schrijfstijl: 5 sterren
Originaliteit: 5 sterren
Psychologie: 5 sterren

***

Een prachtig mooi begin. Een verhaal waarvan het begin zich afspeelt in 1938. Een jonge man komt te overlijden en zijn zoontje denkt dat hij in een engel is veranderd. De engelen hadden zijn dood namelijk al aangekondigd door een veer af te geven. Dat de veer uit een kussen afkomstig blijkt te komen, doet de jongen geloven dat engelen in zijn kussen wonen. Prachtig toch! Ben erg benieuwd hoe dit verder zal gaan. (less)

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May 01, 2012 Geraldine O'Hagan rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have no idea why everyone likes this book so much, as it's clearly crap. Not only that, but it takes an unnecessarily long time about being crap.

...more I have no idea why everyone likes this book so much, as it's clearly crap. Not only that, but it takes an unnecessarily long time about being crap.

The protagonist, Joseph Vaughan, appears to be suffering from some type of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Or at least that's the only explanation I can come up with for his turgid prose, literary pretensions and ability to focus the story resolutely on himself for a full 400 pages. The reader is told of roughly 30 murders (it's hard to be precise, as the uniformity of victim and circumstance leaves little material with which to differentiate them), a series of tragic deaths, a false imprisonment, the destruction of at least two families and the tale of Joseph's mother's descent into madness. All of this is related exclusively and entirely as it directly personally affects Joseph. All the most memorable facts from a child's history of Early-Mid 20th Century USA are trotted out as a backdrop to the fascinating life and terrible suffering of our hero. Civil Rights protests and a Holocaust of which the characters are oddly well-informed at a very early stage serve as stage-dressing to Joseph's single-minded obsession with catching the man apparently responsible for the death of every female he has ever met. A constant stream of girls and women enter his life as combination muse/breeding instrument, and are summarily dispatched for increasingly spurious reasons. At no time do we get any inkling of what any of these characters think or feel. They are essentially just extra building-blocks in the ever-growing and incredibly boring wall of pain and suffering that makes up Joseph's life.

To compound the all-round awfulness Joseph is that most horrifying of creatures, the protagonist-author. We are forced at regular intervals to read extracts of his turgid prose, as well as to hear the encouragements of all his friends, family and acquaintances as they eagerly await his production of the next Great American Novel. This confluence of the author’s and his protagonist’s narcissism results in several instances of such epic self-regard that I began to feel quite embarrassed to be privy to Ellory’s private ego-stroking.

Meanwhile the story drags on, its twee faux-American language and bloated self-love dragging it down at every turn. Finally the author, having obviously decided that the length and pomposity of his work has now reached a sufficient level for it to be declared classic, hurriedly bashes out a nonsensical dénouement, before concluding with a pathetically self-regarding ending in which Joseph is lauded as a Great American writer, presumably meaning that all those women and girls didn’t suffer in vain, as they are immortalised as weeping ciphers whose cries of pain provided the chorus in the operatic melodrama that was the life of Joseph Vaughan. The end.

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Aug 08, 2011 Eek-louisville rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About R.J. Ellory

Roger began his first novel on November 4th, 1987 and did not stop, except for three days when he was going through a divorce from his first wife, until July of 1993. During this time he completed twenty-two novels, most of them in longhand, and accumulated several hundred polite and complimentary rejection letters from many different and varied publishers.

He stopped writing out of sheer frustrat...more Roger began his first novel on November 4th, 1987 and did not stop, except for three days when he was going through a divorce from his first wife, until July of 1993. During this time he completed twenty-two novels, most of them in longhand, and accumulated several hundred polite and complimentary rejection letters from many different and varied publishers.

He stopped writing out of sheer frustration and did not start again for eight years.

In the early part of September 2001 he decided to start writing again. This decision was based on the realization that it was the only thing he had ever really wanted to do.

Between August 2001 and January 2002 he wrote three books, the second of which was called ‘Candlemoth’. This was purchased by Orion and published in 2003. ‘Candlemoth’ was translated into German, Dutch and Italian, and has now also been purchased for translation in numerous other languages. The book also secured a nomination on the shortlist for the Crime Writers’ Association Steel Dagger for Best Thriller 2003. His second book, ‘Ghostheart’, was released in 2004, and his third book, ‘A Quiet Vendetta’, was released in August 2005. In 2006 he published ‘City of Lies’, and once again secured a nomination for the CWA Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of that year. His fifth book – ‘A Quiet Belief In Angels’ - was published in August 2006, and in the latter part of the year it was selected for the phenomenally successful British TV equivalent of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, the Richard and Judy Book Club.

‘A Quiet Belief In Angels’ went on to be shortlisted for the Barry Award for Best British Crime Fiction, the 813 Trophy, the Quebec Booksellers’ Prize, The Europeen Du Point Crime Fiction Prize, and was winner of the Inaugural Prix Roman Noir Nouvel Observateur. It has since been voted Best Thriller of 2009 in The Strand Magazine. The book was also optioned for film, and Roger has recently completed the screenplay for Oscar-winning French director, Olivier Dahan.

Following on from ‘A Quiet Belief In Angels’, Roger released ‘A Simple Act of Violence’, again securing a nomination for Best British Crime Fiction of 2008. In late 2009 he released ‘The Anniversary Man’ to rave reviews.
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“Let the past be what it was, the present what it is, the future the best it can be.” — 17 people liked it

“Love was the breaking and healing of hearts. Love was the misunderstood. Love was faith; love was the promise of now that became hope for the future. Love was a rhythm, a resonance, a reverberation. Love was awkward and foolish, it was aggressive and simple, possessed of so many indefinable qualities that it could never be conveyed in language. Love was being.” — 10 people liked it

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