Kirsten Reviews: Angel City by Jon Steele

Angel City by Jon Steele

The Angelus Trilogy #2

It’s been almost three years since we left Detective Jay Harper and high-priced escort Katherine Taylor on the esplanade of Lausanne Cathedral, bruised and battered from a biblical showdown with the Nephilim. Katherine has retreated to small-town life in the woods of Washington State with her son, Max—and a close protection detail of heavily-armed, elite members of the Swiss Guard. Harper is living in Paris, haunted by voices in his head and bone-tired after what turns out to be two and a half million years on Earth.

Though Katherine and Harper have been prevented from remembering each other , baby Max has unwittingly stirred the interest of vengeful spirits—and only a worldwide (and cosmic) effort to save his life will bring Harper and Katherine together again. Meanwhile, from the shadows steps a defrocked priest named Astruc, whose face looks as if it has been clawed by some terrible beast and who hides his eyes behind blue lenses. He and his brilliant young ward, Goose, have discovered something unfathomable in the Catacombs under Paris, something that will confirm that "the time of the prophecy” is at hand. . . .

Electrifying from its explosive first scene to its unexpected and shocking conclusion, Angel City reunites the unforgettable characters from The Watchers to reveal more of the earthly—and otherworldy—mysteries of the Angelus trilogy.

Angel City by Jon Steele is part 2 in The Angelus Trilogy, and takes up the story where the first book left off. The book deals with history, faith, and attempts to juggle a multi-layered plot with varying degrees of success.

The book includes Harper and Katherine, who are having something of a break following the events of the first book. That being said, for Harper, a ‘break’ means he’s working on something that’s not apocalyptic in scale. He has to foil an attack in Paris within the opening pages. Meanwhile, Katherine is raising her son, Max, and running a candle making business.

However, there is soon no peace for either of them, with the prophecy about “a child of light.” Of course, readers know better than to trust the motives of anybody who goes around talking about ‘destiny and prophecy’ without some good reasons, and the defrocked priest isn’t any kind of benign authority at this point.

The first book in the series did a lot of the background work, and built the world, letting the author jump right into the story without pausing for explanations. At some times this works better than others.

Harper is prone to throwing himself into situations without looking, while Katherine is more cautious, having a son to think of, and the shorthand on their characterization feels too standard to be truly enjoyable. Had there been a reversal in roles, or some more development or other quirks, this aspect of the book would have been less predictable and tiresome at times.

Overall, the book is much stronger than The Watchers, with a lot of action scenes, delving more into the world’s mythology and darkness, and setting the stage for the final book in the series.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

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Other Reviews:
     Tome Tender
     For Winter Nights
     The Eloquent Page

Previous Books:
     1. The Watchers


   

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Kirsten Reviews: The Watchers by Jon Steele

The Watchers by Jon Steele

 

Meet Marc Rochat, a man-child who has devoted his life to being the bell ringer at the Gothic Lausanne Cathedral, one of the greatest architectural structures in the world. Eerie things have been going on in and around his church, including tremblings in the underground crypt and a variety of gruesomely murdered bodies showing up in nearby streets. Across the square from the cathedral lives Katherine Taylor, a beautiful young American woman who is making phenomenal money as one of the highest-priced call girls in Switzerland; she's a bit too introspective for her own good and, unfortunately, much too observant of her clients' peccadilloes. Rochat's and Taylor's lives collide with Jay Harper, a British private eye who has been sent to investigate the killings and other strange doings; alas, he has no memory of who hired him or precisely why he was chosen for the job. And now all the clues are pointing skyward, where fallen angels are said to haunt Lausanne.

The Watchers, a genre-straddling debut from Jon Steele has a taste of different genres that will work for almost everyone. The question becomes: is there too much going on?

In Switzerland, Marc Rochat, a boy with a limp, lives in a cathedral, and is waiting for an angel. For anyone who thought that this sounds a great deal like Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, you'd be correct. Of course, Marc, unlike Quasimodo isn't waiting for the 'standard heroine,' if there is such a thing.

No, he thinks that his mother told him to save an angel, and that he's found her in Katherine Taylor, an escort who's having a rude awakening about her life. Lastly is Jay Harper, an amnesiac who takes on security work for the IOC (International Olympics Committee), who is attempting to track down a former hockey star. The three of them cross paths, and that's where the work begins. I say 'work,' because The Watchers is divided up into four ‘books,’ and is the first book in a trilogy.

It jumps through time, from 1917 to Marc’s story in modern Switzerland, with a story being built on strong characterization and detailed description, which makes the story easy to follow. However, when the supernatural aspects of the story are revealed, it is harder to sustain the suspense and mystery. The writing remains rich, and Steele has a terrific grasp on his characters, especially Marc, who talks to ghosts, and his cat, and makes clever observations about people. This is where the magical realism is centered, as well as in the story of Katherine, and their lives seem full of interesting things that may or may not be real.

On the other hand, Harper’s story is grounded in reality that has a bit of a noir flavor. This complements the detail that seems to prevent the tale from being very action-packed. However, the characters are interesting enough that it doesn’t feel that the book needs to be that kind of story, the people are what propels it forward.

The majority of the mystery of the book is explored through the perspective of Harper, which works well, because he doesn’t remember who he is, and so as he finds things out, so does the audience. There is a bit of The Bourne Identity aspect to his story, as well as a subplot having to do with the Book of Enoch adds a grander scheme to the entire story.

Some of the time, it feels like the book tries to take on too much, and once it’s clear that the supernatural elements are on a cosmic scale, Nephilim, fallen angels, and so on, the last third of book almost feels as if it should have been given a sequel simply for that aspect of the plot. Fortunately, this is the first volume in a trilogy, and hopefully these beings and the impact they have on the characters will be dealt with in the detail that Steele manages so well in other parts of the book.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

Rating:

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Other Reviews:

• More Than a Reading Journal 
• Maya Panika 
• Drey's Library

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