Montanari chiller leaves me cold
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First I should put my hands up, as it were, and say I don't usually read police procedural novels. I expect fans of the genre will prefer to get recommendations from people who get off on the same thing they do, but here goes. The narrative of Broken Angels is pacey with enough interest in the plot to keep the pages turning and the pathology of the serial killer (a macabre link with fairy stories) is weird and macabre enough, if a bit silly. There is also an interesting theme about civilians and then cops taking the law into their own hands which ties the different narrative threads together pretty well.
On the whole though this strikes me as efficient but routine and probably more conservative than some other work in this genre - the police break the rules but their characters are fundamentally never less than upstanding and in any case barely individualised. The serial killer is out of central casting and we get the usual cosy reassurance that the psycho is apart from the rest of the human race.
The emotional temperature barely rises above the level of the frozen Philadephia winter setting - but plot is what counts in books like this. Aficionados who read these books with a chess playing mentality will probably guess who the killer is. My view is the best plots use emotional slight of hand to throw the reader off the scent, rather than cold-blooded plotting.
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Brilliant
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This is the first of this author's books that I have read so cannot compare to the previous two, although I have since bought them on the strength of this one.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is one of the best crime novels I have read in a while, it was one of those that I didn't want to put down. The writing style is easy going and very readable, one of those books where you just keep reading another chapter because you don't want to put it down and they're fairly short anyway. And then you just read another. And another. And so on, it didn't take me long to read at all.
The story is gripping, and interesting, and I can't wait to get started on the earlier ones.
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A quick but gripping read
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Due to the pace of the story it's a book that you find hard to put down, I found this to be a very enjoyable read my first of this author, I shall be looking forward to reading more by this author.
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Enjoyable
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This is the third book of his I've read, and actually for me the one I enjoyed the most. I've found The Rosary Girls and The Skin Gods a little too simplistic and obvious for my liking, although I couldn't put them down. To me, this book differs in that, although formulaic stuff, it is formulaic stuff that works better. Although this book is never going to win any prizes for literature it's a more intelligent read than the previous two. And wins extra bonus points for not being so damned obvious - at least this time the author throws in a good selection of random people that could possibly be the killer, rather than the single- mentioned character that 'lo and behold' commits the crime.
If you're planning a holiday and need something to read on the plane, beach, train etc then this is a good choice.
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Evil Stalks the Streets!!
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Richard Montanari was born in Cleveland, Ohio. As a young man Richard travelled Europe extensively and lived for a time in London, before returning to work in the family construction business. Five years and a few damaged thumbs later, he decided that writing may be a less painful occupation. He has now written several very successful suspense novels.
I enjoyed Skin Gods, one of the author's previous books immensely, but of course it does not always follow that subsequent books live up to the same expectations and some of the reviews when the hardback version came out were less than complimentary. This is fact just goes to show that one man's meat is another man's poison etc. etc. because I enjoyed the book very much. It also shows how difficult it is to give a balanced review.
There can be no doubt that Richard Montanari writes very well. His characters are not only believable but in certain cases likeable as well. The author also knows how to add the chill factor to his novels and to build up the suspense until it is difficult for the reader to put the book down at any given point.
The book is a vehicle for the reintroduction of Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano, detectives from the Philadelphia homicide department.. They are called to a body on the riverbank. A body that has not only been strangled but also mutilated. At first this is thought to be a case of random violence, the sort that happens in any major city. But then it happens again . . . and again . . . and again.
What at first appeared to be random attacks, soon become something far more sinister and it rapidly becomes apparent that there is method in the killer's madness. The killer obviously has some kind of perverted plan in their unstable mind, but will Byrne and Balzano be able to catch them before the killer spirals out of control.
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