If Angels Burn [Mass Market Paperback]

Dr. Alexandra Keller is a renowned surgeon with the fastest hands of any known surgeon. She is kidnapped to New Orleans to operate on Michael Cyprien, a Darkyn (read: Vampire) who was tortured gruesomely by the Brethren, a secret sect of the Catholic Church whose sole purpose is to destroy the Darkyn. His injuries are to the point that he has no face. Yet his healing abilities are such that Alex can sculpt his face back to what it should be. Unfortunately, Dr. Keller is accidentally turned and, although human generally die if exposed to the rapture and thrall (author's terms for ... something), Alex survives. She comes to the attention of the Brethren, who is recruiting her brother, a Catholic priest, to their order.

As a fantasy, If Angels Burn works very well. It's multi-layered, damaged characters kept me intrigued and wanting more. The multiple storylines were fascinating, and I just waited for the story to unfold, to see what happened next. Viehl's writing style flowed well, although the constant use of specialized terms could be jarring at times (some aren't defined, others are). The bad guys were truly bad - resorting to hideously gruesome torture and rape on their victims. I felt like I was watching the Spanish Inquisition all over again, and indeed, Viehl's characters compare the torture to that.

As a romance.... Well. By the last 10 pages of the book, I was still looking for the romance. Alex, the heroine, spends a lot of time - most of the book - hating Michael and staying away. While this happens in romances, I got the sense that Alex really truly hated Michael. At one point, she refuses to come to New Orleans because, as she says, she swore she'd only return to kill him. There were a few misses in their sexual interludes, and, IMO, the culmination of the sexual tension was rather forced. I don't feel like Alex truly loved or wanted Michael, nor him her. She saw him as the cause of her problems, and he saw her as a possession, something he owned because he made her. Throwing out the words "I love you" in a moment of panic does not make the characters love each other.

OTOH, I did like the heroine, even if she appeared too violent for my tastes. She's intelligent, strong and independent - maybe too much. Not exactly a "soft" female. And definitely not a moron. She has her own mind, but she spent too much of the book being resentful and hateful. OTOH, if I had a hero like Michael Cyprien, who is domineering and controlling (because he can be), I'd be resentful, hateful, and I'd probably haul back and punch him a few times myself.

The book is described as erotic, but I didn't get much of that from this. Maybe if you're heavily into violent BDSM, it would work for you. A male character is raped while drugged, and also rapes in return. The heroine has to be tied down to have sex willingly, and a nurse is raped by another character. Oh yes, the heroine is also strangled and, from my point of view, mind-raped by the hero.

I'm torn about this book, truly. As Fantasy, it works for me. As Romance, it didn't. If the book had been marketed as Fantasy, it would have gotten 5 stars from me. I like it enough that I'll continue to read the series (and hope that I can find the romance in the next book!). But because I can't find a romance to save my life in this book, I'm giving it 3 stars

Dr. Alexandra Keller, a brilliant reconstructive plastic surgeon, with a private practice in Chicago, is a dedicated doctor and frequently does pro bono work for the poor. Her extremely busy schedule barely allows time for a social life. When Alexandra receives a mysterious offer to perform extensive reconstructive surgery on an unknown patient in New Orleans for a $4 million dollar fee, she smells something fishy. She is told that the prospective patient, one M. Cyprien, is unable to travel and that she will only be required to spend a few days in Louisiana. Obviously, her persistent refusals are ignored, as are her professional commitments. M. Cyprien arranges to have her kidnapped and forcefully brought to his mansion, La Fontaine, in the heart of the New Orleans' Garden District.

After recovering from a knock-out dose of ether, a lengthy sleep, nausea and a terrible headache, Alexandra is taken to meet Michael Cyprien, a man without a face - literally. Obviously, he had been horribly injured. Her job would be to construct an entire face, and the underlying structure, from scratch, using just an old portrait to go by. Cyprien presents an unusual challenge as he has a strange disease which causes him to heal almost immediately after any cut or incision is made on his flesh. The primary reason he insisted on Dr. Keller performing the surgery, is because an article written about her in Time Magazine called her the "fastest scalpel in the world." She is able to perform accurate surgical procedures very quickly. And a fast scalpel is just what M. Cyprien needs.

Fortunately for Cyprien, the miraculous operation succeeds with almost perfect results. Unfortunately for Dr. Alexandra Keller she is given more than money in payment for her services and winds up back in Chicago - in the hospital with almost all the blood drained from her body. Her reclusive former patient is a member of an immortal species called the Darkyn. They have been ruthlessly hunted and destroyed, since they began rising from the dead in the 14th century, by a Vatican-sponsored order of soldier monks dedicated to their annihilation. Alexandra's brother, a priest, has just been recruited by this group of holy Brethren.

I am a major fan of good vampire fiction. Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series is my absolute favorite. I also really enjoy Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series, Poppy Brite's novels, as well as many of Anne Rice's books. Therefore, when a friend recommended Lynn Viehl's "If Angels Burn: A Novel of the Darkyn," I couldn't wait to pick the book up. I am extremely disappointed. The characters are not well developed at all, not are they compelling. There is little chemistry between Alexandra and Michael. I cannot understand why not, for the life of me. All the components are there, except the sizzle. And I am shocked that any author would have a professional, a doctor and romantic protagonist say, "Bite my a*s!" How terribly unsexy!!

There are many possibilities for this series to improve with future novels. The author's premise is a good one. I like the attempt at plot complexity - but please not at the expense of character complexity. I will rate this as average - barely, because it is not boring and does have the potential to be much more. I keep my fingers crossed and look forward to the author's next effort, due out in the autumn, I believe.
JANA

Even though four million dollars would go a long way in her charitable medical practice, Dr. Alexandra Keller (Alex), turns it down; the reclusive millionaire who repeatedly ups his offers of recompense for her services sets off her internal alarms. Since Michael Cyprien is not used to taking "no" for an answer, he doesn't, having her kidnapped and brought to him to perform an impossible, for multiple reasons surgery. Then, when she has saved his life, he takes hers. Oh, he does not exactly kill her, but turns her into what he is, a Darkynn, a vampire. Instantly, she becomes her priestly brother's enemy, though John Keller does not know this immediately. The young minister, long tortured by his own id, has recently been recruited into the service of a secret Catholic order, to fight what his sister has become. Both siblings are now unwilling participants in an ancient war against the forces of a Hell only one of them believes in.

** In saying this is a very dark book, I am not being deliberately ironic or making a bad pun. The tone is dark, gritty, and for the most part, hopeless. Alex's noble intentions and spunk are negated by the bitterness that spreads through her life. Whatever intrigue this book might hold is killed by its total lack of joy and overly gritty descriptions of things that for the most part do not need to be described. **

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