Angel Face

by Davide Bertolini

In 2021 a monster solar flare caused a gigantic geomagnetic storm that shut all satellites down. Internet and everything related to it goes down too for the following four days. Due to energy overload, power grids and phone lines stopped working in most areas. Companies kept their gates closed, banks put their shutters down and supermarkets were overrun by people. Airborne traffic was blocked and public transports suspended. Traffic lights shutting down caused incidents and distress worldwide. Casualties were reported everywhere. It took a few months, but everything went back the way it was. But not for everyone. Many lost their loved ones and their faith in technology together with them that fateful day. Crypto values and all virtual-related goods lost all their worth. Several companies failed to keep their investors and went bankrupt. The entire world economy suffered a heavy blow. Closing the stock market did not prevent a the second world economic crisis of the new millennium from happening. From that moment on, the incident has been recalled as The Big Flare. A social movement called No-Tech was born from the malcontent of the masses. Gaining followers all around the globe, it preached for a world without technology. An isolated part of the movement went even further, targeting companies and electronic stores with acts of vandalism, violence and sometimes outright terrorism. Alongside the birth of the movement, one company rose from the ashes of the incident: Vespertech. They provided a safer, securer, more reliable internet system than ever before. It soon became one of the richest companies in the world. Fourteen years later, in a small town pub, Detective John Collins is drinking a pint of his favorite beer. He gets a call from the station. Mr Ramos Fizz has been found dead in his house. From the very beginning, it is clear to John that this is not a common case. Little he knows he will soon get involved into something much greater than himself. With the help of a young intern, John has to overcome his rejection towards technology in order to try solving the case. Politics, virtual reality and investigation collide into a structured plot full of unexpected events and complex characters.

394 pages, Paperback

Published June 13, 2019

Reviews

[Yagori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book in a post from the author in social media, and the beautiful cover drew my attention. Reading the synopsis convinced me to give it a try.

Bertolini’s novel is really an unpolished gem. The novel’s forte is its exciting and imaginative story. Set on an almost post-apocalyptic future, the plot swerves around a mysterious murder and a dangerous anti-technology group. The reader learns about the lifestyle and technology of this time through the eyes of John Collins, an old-fashioned detective who finds himself in the middle of a digital puzzle.

Spoilers ahead.

After analyzing the story, one has to ask him/herself what is really John’s role in it. My impression is that the protagonist is not much more than an information deliverer. John learns a clue or a name from someone and then delivers it to another person. Yes, I agree, this is what detectives do. But I had the feeling that John does not actively make investigations (except probably the scene with Rudy at the beginning), but rather bumps into pieces of information and then the story can continue. What is more, John seems to be a source of trouble and obstacle for the investigation, since many situations worsen due to his lack of knowledge in technology or his ill temperament.

Harvey and Jade (probably Jade to a greater extent), on the other hand, are the real heroes of the story. Harvey actively gets the answers and knows Jade, who is key for saving everyone’s a*s in the digital world.

The dialogues help making the story exciting. They are frenetic and realistic, spiced with a vocabulary made up by the author, which includes gender-neutral articles and expressions. However, I noticed that the dialogues contain a lot of unnecessary clarifications and repetitions which I would’ve omitted in benefit of the story’s path. Also, I found the language sometimes unnecessarily vulgar, especially during conversations between John and Jade. There are even times when the narrator itself is vulgar, e.g “there was a shitload of...”.

Finally, I would recommend the author to go through the grammar mistakes, which were few but hurting.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about Angel Face. This is why I’m giving it 3 stars.

[Ingrid A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angel Face is one of those books where you think you’ll “just read one chapter before going to sleep”, and suddenly it’s 1am and you find yourself still immersed in a neon-lit techno-future. The book is a real page-turner, with lots of creative twists and snappy dialogue. Sometimes I thought I knew where the story was going, only to be stopped in my tracks and be “warped” to another world again. The story follows a brusque detective and an intelligent intern, tasked with investigating a highly unusual murder – likely linked to a powerful tech-company. Without giving anything away, the story might be set a decade or so in the future, but the questions it centres on are very much relevant today: What are we willing to give up for technological progress, for entertainment, and convenience? Can we think of technology as “good” or “bad”, or something to be controlled? Most of all, this is a story of human (and machinic) relationships, and of coming to terms with difficult truths about our (or their/zer) existence. The Italian Davide Bertolini has added a unique take on all of these big questions, and the story charges forward through fast-paced dialogues, funny and quirky worlds, and even an appreciation of good food! A highly recommended, entertaining read.

[Southern Legends · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple yet satisfying reading. Romantic line was dropped though((