Angel Hunt
First Published: 1989
Published By: Collins
Angel Number: 3
Personal Favourite: 13
Quotable Quote: I remember thinking that there seemed to be one hell of a lot of buttons on the average Mother Christmas costume.
The Backstory
After an old acquaintance drops in on Angel, literally, he finds himself embroiled in the goings on in a groups of animal activists. As the acquaintance is dead, he can give no clues as to who caused his death, why, and what were his cell planning?
In his investigation, he has to help sabotage a fox hunt, run a teenage disco and help the police with their enquiries, as Angel is not the only one who hates surprises.
It's clear that the group have more than mere fox hunt sabotage in their plans, and its up to Angel to unravel their plot.
The Webmaster's Take
Come here a minute. No, its okay, just wanna ask you something. It won't hurt, promise. But it's something I've been bursting to know for years.
Whatever happened to Bill, John, Jane and Susan? Before you say, I don't know any Bills, Johns, Janes or Susans, I'll say exactly. What happened to ordinary names? Because new mums and dads think that their little darlings are going to grow in a class full of Bills, Johns etc, they need a name that makes them individual and spare the thought that the attention they are going to get is mostly unwanted, and frequently, could embarrass the parents rather than the child. ("What an unusual name, who gave you that?" "Dunno, but my gran said my mum should have laid off the drugs when pregnant") Another thing the parents don't take into account is that others are going to feeling exactly the same way and you get classes full of Raziels, Azairahs, Jessamines and Brantlys, without a Bill, John etc in sight.
Actually, Fitzroy Maclean Angel taking the mick out of anyone's name, is frankly, a bit out of order. But I suppose he does have a point with a name like Manderley.
Anyway. Here we have the book that won the Angel award for fiction, which was presented in the Angel hotel. I actually believe that, a story so far-fetched has to be true, and is rather neat, face it. Hunt was also supposed to be the book when "the jokes ran out", but writers with a good idea just have to keep on writing. And jolly good too, else I would never have started all this in the first place. Some might have some opinions on that. Whatever. Hey, I'm proudly sponsored by nobody.
Unlike Just Another and Touch, there is a surprising lack of guilt where Hunt has ended up on the list. I am not superstitious in any way, but with a black cat on the cover, where else could it land? Liked more than Touch and ever so slightly less than Just Another, the placing is perfect.
I love the characterisation in this one; forget the fact that most of these mad characters you would never meet on the street, by this time I was well used to, and loving, the stereotypes that most writers are frightened of using. You even get an idea of the personality of the unfortunate Billy, who drops in on Angel at a most inopportune moment, but being dead is no handicap to Angel getting embroiled in the rather nasty shenanigans he was up to.
It isn't totally clear from the novel what side of the debate that Angel is on; it is probable he is against unnecessary cruelty, particularly against him, and he gets plenty of that in this tale, but on the other hand appreciates the lush hospitality of the other side and is exasperated by the techniques of the antagonists. If that wasn't enough to cope with, he seems to be getting aggro from the owner of the place that he was "house-sitting" (disturbingly) and too much attention from his landlord (worryingly) and the girl he was seeing has disappeared (perhaps unsurprisingly).
Even I couldn't miss the nicking of the best line from Princess Bride, and timed beautifully.
The fur flies in this one (sometimes literally).
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