Death Angel: A Novel

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.

I must say that Death Angel is a major pass for me. I was able to finish reading in less than a day and afterwards I felt empty. I was close to making this a DNF (Do Not Finish), but because of my loyalty to Linda, I finished. Death Angel has an interesting set up, about a mistress of a high powered mobster, and the assassin he hires. The mistress and the assassin end up having a one night stand together. The first chapter grabs you in a way that no other book I have read in recent memory has done. Basically Drea Rousseau has been offered by her mobster boyfriend, Rafael Salinas, as payment to the mysterious assassin he has on his payroll. The assassin wants a few hours with Drea in return for a job well done. Rafael gives his permission and leaves his girlfriend of two years with the cold blooded killer. Drea has no choice but to do what the killer wants, and expects the worst. But Drea is a survivor and will get through this. Expecting the killer to be rough, and the sex painful, he surprises her by being very gentle and gives her the best four hours of intense loving she has ever had. After it is over, he leaves her and Drea is changed forever.

Incredible how great sex can change your outlook on life.

For the next few chapters, we see Drea forming a plan where she will leave Rafael and hit him where it hurts, his bank account. She will steal two million dollars and hide it in her own secret account. Since he thinks she is an airhead, he has no clue how smart Drea really is, because her persona is all an act. Plus, she is a very angry woman who wants Rafael to pay for giving her to another man. She also feels angry at herself, because her four hour lover made her come alive for the first time in her life. She will no longer be anyone's plaything and make a better life for herself.

Up to this point I was very intrigued and couldn't wait to see if Drea would get away and if the mysterious assassin would make an appearance again. Drea is able to escape from under Rafael's nose and with the money. But not before too long, Rafael finds out and wants her dead. He hires the same assassin to kill her. And this is where the story becomes a bit confusing.

It seems to me that Linda had began writing Death Angel one way and then a quarter of the way through, decided to change the plot. What I assumed would be a woman on the run, and the man who must find her, essentially coming to fall in love with her and protect her, becomes a bit of a paranormal in a way. Drea ends up having a car accident where she dies. She sees the white light and is given a second chance. When she comes down to Earth, she is remorseful and has a change of heart. And oh yeah, she now can sense a person's future. She has the "sight". If she comes in contact with someone, she warns them or gives them advice on their future. Why and how does this suddenly happen? Well, Drea, really named Andie, has seen the light, literally and figuratively.

Also at this time, the assassin, who we come to know as Simon, also has a sudden change of heart. He watched Andie die and now that he knows she has lived, he will watch over her and make sure she is safe. He becomes her angel in a way, her guardian. But he still has his day job as a ruthless killer, even though he takes some time off to make sure Andie doesn't continue to go on the run or is found alive by Rafael.

Death Angel quickly lost momentum. I am all for an amoral character who changes his stripes, and I guess Simon is the hero, but he is written in such am ambiguous way that as the reader I can't find myself to like him. Drea/Andie has a bit more merit because her thoughts and actions are more pronounced. I wanted to really like her, but again the way Linda writes Andie's life change took away from my overall enjoyment of the novel. I even found the sex scenes stale and lacking, perhaps because I couldn't find any emotional attachment to these two characters who I can barely like? Perhaps I just don't understand a romance between a hit man and a woman who has risen from the grave, so the speak.

Katiebabs

This was a very disappointing book. More so because the first half of the book is great. It had a good plot, was tautly written, the characters came across strong and I was dying to see how the heroine, Drea, managed to thwart her drug running lover. Then we get to the second half and it's like I'm reading a completely different book. Two self-centered people, one a sociopath, all of a sudden become entirely different people. The plot, the excellent writing is gone, the strong characters are gone and the end is so simplistic and silly that I was having trouble believing this was written by the same author. If you are looking for a great thriller, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a great love story, you will be disappointed.

Linda Howard has been one of my favorite authors for years. But her last few books have lacked the excitement and pizazz of her earlier books. Except for the rarely occurring sex scenes, I thought Death Angel was very unexciting, and the ending just seemed anticlimactic. And why introduce a psychic aspect at all when it really had no function with the story? I wasn't even going to bother writing a review, but when I saw how many people just loved this book, I had to write one with an opposite view. Yes, it was fast reading, but at the end, my thought was, "Okay, so what?"

i'm glad i didn't waste my money on this. i rented the cd from the library and didn't get past half the first cd. omg i can't believe how horrible this is. rape is not how i like to start a book.anyway i am totaly dissapointed with linda howard.