Publishers Weekly
★ 10/30/2023
In this inventive offering from Hallett (The Appeal), true crime author Amanda Bailey investigates the Alperton Angels, a cult that carried out a mass suicide after one of its members—a teenager whom the cult was convinced had given birth to the anti-Christ—alerted the police to its criminal activities. Eighteen years have passed since the Angels’ death ritual, and no one has been able to track down the mother or her child since. Planning to write a book about the incident, Bailey searches for the missing Alperton baby, now presumably a young adult. There’s only one problem: rival author Oliver Menzies, with whom Bailey shares a checkered history, is on the same trail. As in The Twyford Code and The Appeal, Hallett isn’t afraid to make demands of her readers: she pieces most of the novel together via a series of WhatsApp messages and discarded drafts of Bailey and Menzies’ work. The twists never let up as Hallett barrels toward the finish, frequently undermining reader expectations along the way while staying firmly in the realm of fair play. Hallett’s fans and newcomers alike will relish this brilliantly constructed and eminently satisfying mystery. Agent: Markus Hoffman, Regal Hoffman & Assoc. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
"[A] highly entertaining tale."
—The New York Times
"Hallett masterfully tells her intricate story through emails, What’s App messages, screenplays and manuscripts designed to both entertain and deliberately confuse the reader.”
—The Washington Post
“[M]any-layered, highly complex, and imaginative... Hallett shocks readers with satisfying twists and a dark, unpredictable ending... True crime tackles angels and demons in this devilishly good tale.”
—Kirkus Reviews
FEBRUARY 2024 - AudioFile
This marvelous audiobook unfolds through a series of emails complete with verbal emojis--a narrator's challenge. Kristin Atherton gives a knockout performance as journalist Amanda Bailey, who is investigating the malevolent cult of the Alperton Angels. Years ago they attempted to persuade a teenage mother to sacrifice her baby--but then the infant disappeared. Sid Sagar portrays Amanda's journalist friend who wants to help her in hopes of horning in on her success. There is an overabundance of graphic violence tied to the cult, and suspense builds as the two reporters don't see the danger. Nneka Okoye as Amanda's street-smart assistant, Gareth Armstrong as the cult leader, and Annie Aldington as the murder club president provide plot twists and turns. All involved create a superbly choreographed performance. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-10-21
Angels walk among us in this epistolary thriller.
Like Hallett’s The Appeal (2022), this many-layered, highly complex, and imaginative novel rolls out its storyline in a non-traditional format. Taking its cue from modern communication methods, it’s told mostly through the emails, texts, and WhatsApp messages of Amanda Bailey, its main character. Amanda is an ambitious journalist and true-crime aficionado who garners a book deal to tell the story of the Alperton Angels, a cult whose members allegedly committed suicide in London in 2003. Meanwhile, Oliver Menzies, an equally aggressive journalist, is writing a similar book. Whose volume will be more successful depends on which of them is able to locate and interview the person who was at the center of the cult’s biggest mystery: the unnamed baby the misguided cult members believed to be the Antichrist, whom they planned to kill in order to save the world. The baby was somehow spared and nearly two decades later has yet to be identified. As Amanda and Oliver search for the teen, it becomes clear that no one’s recollections of the cult, its members, or their deaths are anywhere near the same. Are witnesses lying, or is a greater force at work—and why are potential witnesses turning up dead? The middle of this novel lags as the investigation trudges slowly forward, but once the truth is revealed, Hallett shocks readers with satisfying twists and a dark, unpredictable ending. Though the novel is a deep dive into how journalists work in the age of social media and how manipulators can pull vulnerable people into their orbits, it’s a mostly heavenly read.
True crime tackles angels and demons in this devilishly good tale.
