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Jump to navigationJump to searchAngelmaker by Nick Harkaway (view source)
Revision as of 13:22, 31 January 2012
, 13:22, 31 January 2012no edit summary
Nick Harkaway’s skill doesn’t end there: the characters and vignettes are as delicious and unexpected as a box of chocolates once the box’s contents guide has gone missing. One minute the reader is trying to escape from a moving train with the younger Edie, the next minute the reader is being educated in the customs and expectations of the undertakers’ brotherhood, or marvelling at the palace of a middle-eastern potentate with a particularly gruesome method of disposing of priests. (There is occasional gore in the book, but it’s heralded enough for the squeamish to avert their gaze in time.) Even some of the characters’ names roll around on the tongue, begging to be repeated at inappropriate moments of the day... Arvin Cummerbund... Rodney Titwhistle... It’s not just me is it? Also, watch out for the most logical defence of first date sex you’ll ever read. You may not agree with it, but the logic is marvellous.
You know, when you come across a character giving a tangential monologue or faced with long descriptions, sometimes it’s easier to skim? (You would not believe how quickly I can ‘read’ Dickens!) This book has as many tangential speeches and descriptive passages as there are twists, but I didn’t want to miss a morsel. Nick Harkaway’s mind is such an interesting, diverse place I wanted to savour every syllable. My only criticism was that ‘’Angelmaker’’ ''Angelmaker'' ended long before my appetite for it had so, please Mr Harkaway, may we have some more?
I would like to thank William Heinemann for giving thebookbag.co.uk a copy of this book for review.
If you’ve enjoyed this and would like another crime adventure with a built in smile, try [[Maxwell's Mask by M J Trow]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0434020958}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=8253515 (For hardback, paperback code not on site)}}
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