The Angel Maker by Alex North
Publisher: Celadon
Pub Date: 2/28/2023

Thank you to Celadon for the free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

GoodReads Synopsis: Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.

Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.

Review: The Angel Maker is a horror/thriller that dives into a serial killer who supposedly knows the future, strained family relationships, fate, borderlines to paranormal, and dives into philosophy. The beginning of this book is extremely slow burn. There’s a ton of information thrown at the reader that can be confusing, but stick with it and everything will make sense in the end. There were a couple of portions that I had to reread or go back a chapter to make sure I was on track with what was going on in the storyline. Towards the middle of the book, things start to pick up and I couldn’t put the book down. I didn’t anticipate the twists and turns. I really loved everyone’s perspective except Katie’s. I understood the purpose of Katie’s perspective, but I found her character to be a bit drab. Overall, this was 3.5 stars for me, but rounded to 4 on GoodReads. If you’re a fan of Alex North’s other work, then The Angel Maker may interest you.