Sins of the Angel by Wayne J Harris
| Sins of the Angel by Wayne J Harris | |
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| Category: Fantasy | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: An angel in a dead man's body, a demon persuading a monk to torture and kill, and a twisting plot make this a satisfying page-turner to read. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 308 | Date: July 2009 |
| Publisher: AuthorHouse | |
| ISBN: 978-1438994697 | |
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Dr Gideon Matthews, a shouty hellfire and damnation preacher, has just delivered a sermon all about the evils of women being allowed into the church hierarchy and, on his way home afterwards, he is murdered. The following day however he wakes up in hospital or, actually, an angel called Gabriel finds himself inside Dr Matthews' body, able to recall Dr Matthews' memories and thoughts and feelings but acting now as himself. Gabriel goes a little bit wild, finding himself overwhelmed by the new feelings and desires he experiences in this body, sinning left, right and centre and causing scandal at his every move. He is also wondering for what purpose he has been brought into this body and finds that he is dreaming about a demon, someone who is persuading an unknown monk to commit murders in God's name and who seems to be getting closer and closer to Dr Matthews in order to kill him too...
This book had a real readability factor. Although Dr Matthews is initially such a hateful character once Gabriel, the angel, is 'inside' him, or living his life, then I found myself caught up in his story, wondering what would happen. There are some good moments of humour, mostly relating to Gabriel fighting against his base desires for sex and for food. He gets himself into some scrapes by eating far too much cheese and cavorting with prostitutes, and of course because to everyone else he is still seemingly Dr Gideon Matthews he keeps ending up in the newspapers for his hypocritical behaviour. There are quieter, more subtle moments too, with Dr Matthews' frigid wife and the hidden, unspoken truth about their relationship. At the same time the book is a sort of fantasy thriller, for as Gabriel dreams about a demon who is telling a monk to torture and murder people there is lots of intrigue as to who is responsible, who is under the demon's influence, whether Gabriel is telling the truth or if he is, perhaps, just going insane...
Some of the torture scenes with the demon and monk might be a bit disturbing for those of a sensitive disposition, and there is some sexual content you might want to be aware of, in case you don't like that sort of thing in your bedtime book, but I found it to be a good, and unusual, page-turner. It occasionally felt a little bit heavy on the bible quotes, though they are mostly well placed and cleverly used. There's obviously a lot of research that's gone into the story and there were some good characterisations in there. I was a bit confused in the scenes with the demon as to who was who, but this confusion did serve to increase the intrigue as to what was going on so perhaps it was intentional. I certainly didn't manage to figure out what was going on beforehand, so I had that nice feeling you get when a mystery unravels in an unexpected way.
So, if you're looking for a pacey read about angels and demons, sin and judgment, death and redemption then this is would be a good purchase to make!
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
When you're finished with the angels and demons you might like to try a vampire or two... or other supernatural characters... or The Seventh Simian by Gary Kurylo.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Sins of the Angel by Wayne J Harris at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Sins of the Angel by Wayne J Harris at Amazon.com.
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