Angel On The Inside
First Published: 2003
Published By: Constable & Robinson Ltd
Angel Number: 12
Personal Favourite: 8
Quotable Quote: "Vengeance is mine sayeth the cat."
The Backstory
When the ex-husband of your current partner appears waving a gun at you, you're bound to be curious: but Amy is not talking, especially to Angel.
Angel is forced to get radical when he finds that he isn't the only one interested in the ex-husband, and not only visit a prison, but also Wales.
He also has to sort out the small matter of the attack on his fearsome flat mate Springsteen, and avenge him come what may.
The Webmaster's Take
Now just why do the English pick on the Welsh?
It could be that age old rivalry, you know, the fact that the Celts etc are our original ancestors until we forced most of the heavy guys into the sea around Anglesea, built castles just to prove how hard we are, and waved around our hassocks or whatever it was we waved in those days, in a menacing manner. I heard say that the Romans found the Welsh difficult to conquer as they had an annoying landscape phenomenon called hills, and chariots don't do well on slopes, at least not going up them.
Course, I could have got this all wrong, but although memories are long, I doubt that they're that long. Anyway, I have a much simpler theory.
Everybody else hates us and we have to take out our frustrations somewhere. Preferably where it is impossible from which to impose sanctions of the economic or even violent kind. We got bored with the French - they eat better, drink better, talk better, and most crucially, have lower tax on their alcohol and tobacco. Everyone loves the Irish. The Scots are too scary, and keep shouting 1707 in a threatening manner. The Welsh fit the bill perfectly, unfortunately.
Anyway, Inside isn't like that. No, not at all. I think Hackney, solicitors and dolphin tattoos get the worst press in this one. We have Welsh gangsters with a penchant for doing their heavy stuff in full view of the population of London, and one particular Cardiff heavy who likes to decorate his enemies' abodes with creosote.
It took me a while to warm to the book, and I keep meaning to re-write my review on Amazon. It doesn't quite reflect my attitude towards it anymore, and it isn't because I moved to Wales.
I have read a small amount of detective fiction that was part of a series, and with very few exceptions, they relied too heavily on you reading the previous ones in the series. One (the name escapes me, shame because then I would know what to avoid in future) had a life changing incident in the book prior and it was plot crucial to the one I was reading. No I wasn't curious enough to read the previous one, it just made it far too boring. Inside was the second Angel book I had read, and although it is not crucial to read Underground first, I had, and thought that maybe the series ran on similar lines. In fact, despite Underground being the 11th in the series, it is the first book from which incidents in Angel's life follow through into the next, but importantly, none of it is crucial to basic enjoyment of the books, but they definitely enhance. (Look to Bootlegged doesn't really count - you'll understand if you read the books. Yes, go read them.) Oh me of little faith. Nevertheless, Inside has moved around in my personal list to settle where it is now.
It was Inside that got my imagination and curiosity flowing; am I the only one that thinks that David Jason would make a terrific 'Spider'? Or Alexei Sayle as Len Turner? Thus, it was when I started trying to find out if anyone had even considered Angel for TV, and found that they had, at least twice, but something always got in the way. Their loss.
Amongst the brilliant characterisations in the book, my favourite part is still where Angel avenges Springsteen. The whole build up and execution is just excellent comic timing. And this one has not one, but two, hair-raising endings. Three, if you count the extra secret that Amy has been hiding.
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