Death Angel
by Linda Howard
Published by Ballantine Books
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Diane Keyes
(Also in audio)
Frankly, I’m not much of a fan of suspense novels. Death Angel was sent to me for review by mistake. So when I couldn’t sleep the night after I received it, I thought it might be a good sleeping aid. However, Death Angel, by Linda Howard, is quite the opposite. Like a menu from the finest restaurant, this book has it all. It serves up everything, from sex to special agents, from crime lords to hired assassins, from romance to roadside mayhem.
Linda Howard is skillful indeed. I wouldn’t have thought it possible that a bought-and-paid-for mistress and a killer so detached, so cool, that even a handshake could leave you frostbitten, would make such a compelling couple. Victim and villain, Drea and Simon are fire and ice, and so is their lovemaking. The love scenes remind me of a line from an old Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn movie. “There’s not much (of her) but what there is, is choice.” You might want to use oven mitts to hold the book!
And the rest of the book is pretty darn good too. The plot is grippingly crafted, with as many twists and turns as a bowl of rotini pasta. And Death Angel is a veritable psychologist’s playground, as the author explores the breadth of human emotions from abandonment and betrayal through fear, forgiveness and acceptance.
More like an extra strength dose of No-Doz than a sleeping aid, Death Angel is wonderfully entertaining, if not wonderfully restful. So if you’re looking for a good night’s sleep, you better look elsewhere.
Happily, in an election year, sleep aids are everywhere: CNN, the biography section of any Borders or Barnes and Noble, and of course, the ever-present campaign ads, interrupted only occasionally by actual programming. Good night and good luck!
Armchair Interviews says: Linda Howard writes with such impact you’ll be up all night reading her.