A review by stephen_sylvestris
Angel of Darkness by Charles de Lint
2.0
This was a decent Horror/Mystery/Fantasy novel written by Charles de Lint, under the penname of Samuel M. Key - to denote that it is 'darker' than his usual novels.
There were many great ideas, and overall, I enjoyed this quick read. This was mostly for the unique vision de Lint has of fantasy worlds and creatures, and his descriptions of these. I did have issues with the book, though.
The tone of the book, though not jovial in the least, is not serious enough for the material covered (physical abuse of women and children, mostly). There was no attempt by de Lint to trivialize these subjects, he just doesn't have the writing "weight" to handle them (From 1990, this was one of his earlier novels). The charaters are too lightly drawn, and I couldn't get a deep connection with any of them. I also didn't feel any of the intensity or "roller-coaster ride" excitement that I have gotten from other graphic mystery or horror novels. The suspense wasn't played out well enough, and the mystery was given up too easily. It almost seems as if de Lint thought that describing gory details and having a creepy setting was enough to 'move' readers. I recommend the similarly named, but infinitely better, The Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr (though suggest to read The Alienist first).
I own the other two "Samuel M. Key" novels, and will probably read them at some point.
There were many great ideas, and overall, I enjoyed this quick read. This was mostly for the unique vision de Lint has of fantasy worlds and creatures, and his descriptions of these. I did have issues with the book, though.
The tone of the book, though not jovial in the least, is not serious enough for the material covered (physical abuse of women and children, mostly). There was no attempt by de Lint to trivialize these subjects, he just doesn't have the writing "weight" to handle them (From 1990, this was one of his earlier novels). The charaters are too lightly drawn, and I couldn't get a deep connection with any of them. I also didn't feel any of the intensity or "roller-coaster ride" excitement that I have gotten from other graphic mystery or horror novels. The suspense wasn't played out well enough, and the mystery was given up too easily. It almost seems as if de Lint thought that describing gory details and having a creepy setting was enough to 'move' readers. I recommend the similarly named, but infinitely better, The Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr (though suggest to read The Alienist first).
I own the other two "Samuel M. Key" novels, and will probably read them at some point.