Angels Unaware
First Published: 2008
Published By: Allison and Busby
Angel Number: 15
Personal Favourite: 4
Quotable Quote: If you want to find something out, ask a man in a pub.
The Backstory
Life should be extended paternity leave and nappies for Angel. Unfortunately, fate conspires to send him on another job, another missing person's case.
After a call from an old acquaintance, Angel attends the funeral of the missing scriptwriter's mother, and what should be a straightforward case to blag becomes a many layered family affair, which gets more and more strange as he removes each wrapping.
Calling on the help of Huddersfield's 007, Angel yet again finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the affair until an inevitable violent showdown.
And just why is his mother outstaying her welcome?
The Webmaster's Take
So here we have the l-, the l-, the l-...no it's no good, I can't say it. Maybe I don't want to believe it, maybe all good things have to come to an end, but just maybe the books are good enough for a farewell tour, or two.
I have read the book twice already. Before you say, that's pretty impressive speed reading Fi and ring the Guinness Book of Records, can I just very quickly say I was privileged enough to get a sneak read before the book was published and got hold of a copy before officially distributed. What can I say? I have friends in high places.
As does Angel, if not in high places, in all the right places. I have to say, without spoiling it too much for you if you haven't read it yet, certain aspects of his life and relationships are consolidated in this book, with the (permanent) loss of a character. Oh yes, it's a double hankie book.
Now, for those that have seen my tribute in Getting Away With Murder, you may have read that I believed many of the previous Angel books were referred to in some way in Unawares. I was wrong. Actually, all of them have. Yes I found them all. Some of them directly referred to, some of them abstract; I missed a few first time round. So shoot me. Yes, especially for being an Angel maniac who should get a life. In defence of missing them, I read Unawares in about five hours (nearly non stop) suffering from a bad bout of flu. Even the non-Angel book, Double Take is mentioned...yes, the bit that makes everybody wince.
The story begins in The Gun, where it all began with Just Another Angel twenty years before, although Angel has not aged that much, like James Bond; oops, it's that name again, he has remained rather firmly in his thirties. Angel himself, now at last a daddy, is in full nostalgic mode, talking about the ever changing skyline, changes in tastes and fashion, right wing to slightly left of right wing politics, without ever really mentioning the fact that his own life has changed beyond even his own imagination over the last few years. Old friends are remembered or even re-encountered. New friends are someone to have a drink with or to do your dirty work for you. As always.
Pondering on Ripley's subject matter for Angel in the novels, he has picked subjects that are light-hearted, or just, as they would say, "asking for it", or occasionally around a subject that has been a big news item that everyone has talked about, or read about in the paper at some time or another. Some of them have more brevity with specific areas of society, all have been dealt with fairly, in my opinion; keeping it serious and level headed when required; pricking pompous balloons when appropriate, along with the satisfying bang. So, we have in order, (and rather briefly) gangland villainy; the Stock Exchange; animal rights; Ecstasy ; homelessness ; religious cults ; marijuana ; Nazis and racial tension ; smuggling ; counterfeiting ; GM crops ; gun cloning ; Botox ; long lost love ; sex slavery....Woah, Nellie. Yes, you read right. But this isn't the hanky-panky that goes on behind closed doors or in Madonna videos. This is the hard hitting, rather distressing stuff you read in the news after the the purps have been found out and the victims have gone into rehab or counselling or both.
There are a few dead bodies in this one too. Angel has seen more dead bodies than probably most of the Met. Let's count them up. There are no less than 24 deaths in all the Angel books (plus two skeletons), that's an average of 1 and two thirds a novel, (the two thirds presumably being mostly dead). Of those, he had been in contact, been an acquaintance of, or otherwise been connected with 21. He was present, or in the very near vicinity of 14 at the time of death. 14 are described in death (and not necessarily the ones where he was present), the remainder only being known as dead. He was either directly or indirectly responsible for 7 of the deaths. Um. Forget the fact that the Avenging Angel will kill or be killed (oh no, another JB reference), I have one question: why is Angel still so squeamish? And one of the dead bodies happens to be - .....
No. Read the book, and wonder whether there will be more. I secretly hope so.
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