Book number 4 - a quiet belief in angels by R.J. Ellory and published by Orion Books
available from amazon in paperback and hardback
I decided when I started writing my reviews I decided I would be honest about a book even if I didn't like it or I had a problem with it, as long as I said why I didn't like something.
Unfortunately I just couldn't get on with a quiet belief in angels, I didn't mind the writing style or the premise of the story, for me it was the constant and off putting descriptiveness of the author, I'm sure some people love that style of book, I'm just not one of them which is a shame as when I decided to buy it, the reviews I read about it and the synopsis on the back of the book sounded great, which in between in descriptions its was. When I got to the end of the book normally theres a tinge of sadness that something I've enjoyed reading has come to an end, For me that wasn't the case with a quiet belief in angels. It may be just down to the fact I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped that I felt like you could see what was coming a mile off,
The book follows the life of Joseph Vaughan, it starts off with him as a child, living with his mother after losing his father. His mother does the best she can with the pittance they have, until it is all revealed about her affair, or rather prostituting herself out to the German neighbour who pays her $7 a week.
Set at the end of world war II and the neighbour being a German immigrant and ethnic stereotyping in full swing, gets the blame when dismembered bodies of little girls start showing up. Culminating in his house being burned down. Later Joseph Vaughan's mother claims she was responsible for the fire but being in a sanatorium she's not taken seriously.
As a child Joseph and a group of his friends had made a promised to each other to protect everyone else by forming a gang they call the "guardians" in an effort to stop the killer. The premise of the book was great, I don't think you can generally go far wrong with a murder mystery, and story wise it doesn't go far wrong, Even if it was overly described, and a little too "thick" not page wise but slow and plodding rather than a story that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and throws you through chapter after chapter, like Linwood Barclay's No Time For Goodbye. I know that there are people out there that have really enjoyed this book, sadly I'm not one of them, Personally I'd feel bad if I didn't recommend it as its me that didn't enjoy it. theres nothing fundamentally wrong with the book. Maybe I was expecting too much, and that's not really the book or the author's fault, It's a shame really as I wanted to enjoy this book.
