The Angel Suicides - Murphy

The Angel Suicides

Angels walk among us. But they are not as you think. They are not the radiant, virtuous figures of lore but sad, sorry failures. The damned servants of an uncaring God, condemned to do His bidding having rejected Him by taking their own lives.

And they have their opposites. Agents of pure evil, human and otherwise, whose aim is to sow despair. On Good Friday of this year they will commit an act of unparalleled barbarity - a Slaughter of the Innocents.

Seven people.

One story.

Can YOU solve the mystery of The Angel Suicides?

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How to review a book when the novel you read will almost certainly be a version unique to you? The seven accounts which make up The Angel Suicides are published - and are intended to be read - in no particular order. The result of this is not only an intriguing mystery (and there are several mysteries here) but, due to the permutations this allows, the possibility of over 5,000 readers reading their own version of events. Coming to - and hopefully solving - those mysteries quite literally 'in their own time'.

None of this would matter if the writing wasn't first rate. The author is clearly Irish, but think John Connolly rather than Emma Donoghue. There are sections too which reminded me of Ross O'Carroll Kelly in their irreverent humour, or Beckett at his most blackly comic. Whichever way you approach the novel, you are quickly plunged into a thrilling setup, centered around whichever character's account you first read. Will Murphy get there in time to stop Martyr from an horrific mass killing of the elderly people in his charge? Will Byrne make good on his promise to commit suicide in the most public of places, and ways?

At the back of all is a fascinating idea: that Angels are the returned souls of those who commit suicide, forced to do God's bidding as penance for taking their lives. Will his efforts bring Murphy peace, or ever allow him to make contact with his lost wife and children? The answers to all of these questions will reveal themselves to you in a manner and at a time distinct from another reader of The Angel Suicides - but hopefully it will delight and intrigue you, as it did this reader.

7 Books of the Angel Suicides, in Alphabetical order only [see above]:
The Angel Suicides - Black
The Angel Suicides - Byrne
The Angel Suicides - Doyle
The Angel Suicides - Keane
The Angel Suicides - Knott
The Angel Suicides - Martyr
The Angel Suicides - Murphy

Editorial Review

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Angels; Mystery and suspense; John Connolly; Ross O'Carroll Kelly; Dublin; Irish fiction; Angels versus devils; angels versus demons; fallen angels; supernatural thriller; afterlife; after suicide; suicide mystery; supernatural fantasy; life after death; miscarriage; gay angel; celtic; celtic tiger; Christian fiction; humanist; myth and legend; elder abuse; elderly; millennium series; world war 1; the great war; contemporary fiction; modern; new releases; marriage; violent crimes; domestic violence; infidelity; bored housewife; cruelty; crime fiction; crime thriller; stephen king; filmmaking; literary fiction; literature; literature and fiction; Ireland; gay mystery; Joe Hill; Dean Koontz; Horns; Second Chance; Medium series; Eli Stone; Flann O'Brien; Samuel Beckett;