Death Angel: A Novel
Ballantine Books - Ballantine Books
Release date: 2008-07-01
Hardcover
Author: Linda Howard
American Light Romantic Fiction, American Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Fiction, Fiction - Romance, Fiction / General, Romance - Suspense, Assassins, Informers, Young women
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Death Angel: A Novel
Date undefinedI really enjoyed this book as it was so different than the typical romance stories. Drea and Simon are not good people by any stretch and have led pretty grim, empty and pathetic lives. Drea lives with a huge drug leader and Simon is a hitman. Neither character seem to have had any type of loving relationships in their past and really don't seem to care. They pretty much just live their lives and seem to have no goals at all.
I wish we would have had more insight into Simon, but, he's a very guarded person with almost no emotion what-so-ever. Drea, had a tramatic experience in her teenage years and ends up burying her emotions and almost doesn't notice them as a result. She's very passive, non-confrontational and pretends to be someone she's not to keep her drug leader boyfriend happy.
A pretty hot encounter at the beggining of the story that made them take notice of eachother, but it's a "death" experience that alters each of them forever and connects them in an interesting way.
Two people miserable, tortured souls crossing paths and seeing life through a different lens. Sounds a little silly, but the story worked for me. Based on the mixed reviews, I am sure that it doesn't work for everyone.
I found this one hard to put down once I started it. I listened to the audio version, and as always, Joyce Bean does a fabulous job telling the story.
Death Angel: A Novel
Date undefined2.5 stars, I think.
I should preface this review with two qualifiers. First, I'm not a diehard Linda Howard fan nor hater. I have no expectations, good or bad, when I see a book by her. I look at the synopsis, if I'm interested I read. If I'm not, I don't.
Second, I like flawed, less-than-perfect characters. Those who inhabit a world of grey rather than black or white and right or wrong. Some are considered anti-heroes. Others are sociopaths. Some are both. On occasion, even outright pure evil can can be appealing. So I had no problem with the protagonists being a killer and a, well, bimbo.
I think I've read a total of six of Howard novels, including this one. Two I've loved. One, I thought was just okay. Two others, I couldn't get into enough to finish. DEATH ANGEL falls somewhere in between the latter two categories.
It was pretty good up to the point where Drea "died", even though it got bogged down with way too much information about moving money. After this point, I was so not interested I basically skimmed the remainder of the book. Things picked up some when "Simon" revealed himself, but Howard had lost me with the near death experience and redemption theme. (What was so wrong with them before?)
But DEATH ANGEL has a bigger problems than a flawed theme - lack of character development and what there is makes little sense.
Why Drea flips out at being "given away" makes no sense. Yeah, being upset, makes sense. Getting so angry and wanting such great revenge doesn't. She was in the relationship with Salinas for what she could get. From her own thoughts, she made no pretense of being in love with him. She didn't even seem to like him much. She knew he didn't think much of her. That was her "plan", play dumb. She was arm candy just like she intended. He "gave her away", so what? They were both just playing their self-imposed roles. Feelings of humiliation and anger, I understand. So angry, she needed to "hit him where it hurts." Why? He ultimately owed her nothing just as she owed him nothing. She got the shopping and living in the lap of luxury, he got arm candy and laid. Payment for services rendered had been exchanged.
Drea's sudden change of heart after 4 hours of sex, even great sex, made even less sense. Fifteen years of clawing her way to something better was suddenly tossed out the window after a few orgasms? Huh? I get great chemistry and the desire to connect on a deeper level with a man, but "the assassin" was that man? The assassin, whom she liked even less than Salinas? That made no sense for such a "street smart" and calculating woman. Drea, if nothing else, was a realist, except when it came to this plot point. So it felt contrived.
An even greater tragedy was Howard's extreme lack of development of "Simon". He was half the story, yet we got absolutely no glimpse into what made him tick except a couple of sentences on the last few pages. No feeling as to why such a careful, calculating, practically-self-admitted sociopath would be capable of turning his life upside down for this woman. Sorry, "skin chemistry", as he called just didn't cut it. Simon could be a stick figure (one into tantric sex) for all the depth he had. (Oh yeah, four hours of sex and his final "release" was depicted like an after thought. Kind of a let down, no pun intended.)
It's unfortunate. This novel could have been some much better if it had been more about the characters involved.
Death Angel: A Novel
Date undefinedWhen I look at Amazon.com reviews, a part of my personal process is to look at the spelling and grammar of the reviewers, to determine if they have the education to understand the material in depth. Usually, if reviewers with good writing abilities have reviewed a book highly, and those with less than optimal abilities review it badly, the book is worth reading.
Not so in this case!
I cannot determine the target audience of this novel. A part of the problem with this book is with the writing. I understand that sometimes thinking processes need to included, and in rare cases, explained in detail. However, not four times! If you removed the repetitive sections of this book, you may cut it down to between one-third to half its original size.
Quite frankly, it feels like Linda Howard's gender has changed within the last 5 years. This book feels like it was written by a male, who doesn't really understand the female psyche.
The overall feel of this book was cold; there was very little connection between characters. One round of impersonal sex (and since there was no communication between the characters, how could it be anything else?) does not create the relationship between the characters. Not that I am convinced that these characters could have a decent relationship with anyone; they are self-centered and self-obsessed.
The surreality of the death of the heroine half-way through the book was disruptive. The 'grip' of the story was lost, and didn't really return.
In the end, it came across as a half-Mary Sue from perhaps a new author, which is unexpected from a name like Linda Howard.
