The Angel's Game (Hardcover)

“Very rarely are readers allowed to discover greatness on their own, to get caught up in the story at a visceral level, immersed in a fictional world, and eventually to emerge blinking wide-eyed into the ‘real’ world, putting the book down, sated and energized, surprised to find that they have read something, unknowingly, that can hold its own with the classics…. [The Angel’s Game] is this sort of rarity, a book that is utterly new, defiantly, nay, irresistibly readable, yet possessing the sense of depth and significance one usually finds only in the vaunted, self-consciously ‘great’ novels, past and present…. It belongs to no genre, while seeming to ruthlessly pilfer from many of them. It’s part mystery, part ghost story, part bildungsroman, part romance, part tragedy, part blood-soaked noir…. It constantly surprises, at a narrative level, and provides the sort of breakneck, can't-put-it-down reading experience that one usually finds only in genre writing.”
— The Globe and Mail

“A hypnotically chilling gothic thriller…. Tightly wound in an aura of mystery…. The great strength of Zafón’s writing, as with Poe or Roland Topor … is in his ability to weave a mood of foreboding around his plot…. A book that is so beautifully constructed and, finally, memorable.”
— The Gazette (Montreal)

“In The Angel’s Game, as in his previous novel, The Shadow of the Wind, [Zafón] spins a fantastically elaborate plot from a slender, whimsical idea. Here it’s the notion that a writer might, on a bad day, succumb to a sense of futility about the value of his calling, might begin to believe that the act of telling a story isn’t just vain, but positively diabolical…. The pleasures of The Angel’s Game are guilty ones. As he did in The Shadow of the Wind, Ruiz Zafón provides, along with sex and death, a nice slide show of old Barcelona, a handful of affectionate riffs on favorite books (among them that other, very different mysterious-benefactor tale Great Expectations) and a pervasive sense of the childish joy of credulity – of surrendering to a story and letting it take you where it will, whatever the consequences.”
— The New York Times

“Zafón’s novel is detailed and vivid, and David’s narration is charming and funny, but suspect. Villain or victim, he is the hero of and the guide to this dark labyrinth that, by masterful design, remains thrilling and bewildering.”
— Publishers Weekly

“[A] gothic tale about the magic of books and the darkest corners of the human soul.”
— The Independent (Ireland)

“Zafón thrillingly tiptoes along the fine line between paranormal events and psychological delusion that modern pioneers of the uncanny … had trod.”
— The Independent

“Scintillating… A heady brew of detective thriller, supernatural horror tale, magical realist fable and heartbreaking love story. It explores life, death, religious belief and — more than anything — the lonely, bitter-sweet self-torture that it is to be a writer, and the central role of books, especially fiction, in our understanding of the human condition.”
— Daily Mail

“The breeze from Charles Dickens and his Great Expectations blows through this novel from the start…. Zafón constantly invites us to see Barcelona, his ‘city of the damned,’ from above. He takes us into sinful corners, indulging fantasies that are erotic, magical or violent. In the end Zafón is the tempter. Many will fall for his vigorous and exhaustingly relentless story-telling.”
— The Guardian (UK)

“Often novelist heroes grate, but The Angel’s Game makes the most of the choice, playfully invoking a range of authorial gripes [and] taking a gleeful dig at the capriciousness of critics.”
— Lionel Shriver, The Daily Telegraph

“If you’ve been doubting Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s ability to produce an entire quartet of books about books, don’t. It’s my guess that he has acres upon acres of tales still to tell.”
— Irish Times

“Carlos Ruiz Zafón writes like an angel in The Angel’s Game.”
— USA Today

“A masterfully written love affair with books and words as well as an obsessive tribute to passionate love…. Eerie, gothic … A multi-layered confection that combines undying love, magical realism, meditations on religion, the importance of books and a love affair with the vibrant city of Barcelona. Zafón hits the reset button on what it means to be a great writer. His visionary storytelling prowess is a genre unto itself.”
— USA Today

“Zafón has a gift for setting the writing life … against a tapestry of political events…. It is … a reader’s considerable pleasure to roam the streets of Barcelona once again and hear their whispered stories.”
— New Orleans Books News and Reviews

“You are in exceptionally good hands the whole way. Zafón can write up a storm. In fact, he can write up all sorts of storms: rain, ice, fire. It’s hard, really, to find anything missing from his arsenal: zesty atmosphere, crackling dialogue, arresting epigrams.”
— The Washington Post

“Zafón is a master of the atmospheric…. Its faith in the power of fiction is endearing, and addictive.”
— Financial Times

“Zafón seals the deal with a wickedly clever tale that turns readers into accomplices of his obsession with books, the quixotic characters who pen and peddle them and mystical Barcelona…. Vivid … The city makes the writer, and Zafón once more creates a tale — a Harry Potter for grown-ups, a mammoth parable, and operative morality play — worthy of Barcelona.”
— Miami Herald

“In Zafón’s imagination, the city, where fading grandeur coexists with Gaudi’s strange and surreal constructions, takes on as much character and menace as Dickens’ London.… Zafón’s fascination with the nature of faith and storytelling … can’t help but engage anyone who believes that life can be shaped by books…. The Angel’s Game draws with relish on all the conventions beloved of Wilkie Collins, Dickens and even the penny dreadfuls that David despises, then weaves them into something entirely original and surprisingly moving that holds the reader’s expectation until the final twist.”
— The Observer

“Pulpy, melodramatic and compulsively readable.”
— Time

“Moody, seductive … Zafón provides, along with sex and death, a nice slide show of old Barcelona, a handful of affectionate riffs on favourite books — and a pervasive sense of the childish joy of credulity — of surrendering to a story and letting it take you where it will.”
— The Times

“Zafón is expert at introducing twists to his story; his dialogue sparkles; and he knows how to string together emotional and narrative incident.”
— Times Literary Supplement

“It’s safe to say The Angel’s Game won’t be forgotten anytime soon.”
— The Washington Post Book World

“If you're waiting for Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, then Zafón offers the best way to bide your time until its release. He offers not only plenty of plot intricacies and mystery but also a lyrical, melancholic style of writing. The Angel's Game is a strange creature, a literary centaur in which a meditation on the craft of writing is combined with a thriller about David Martin, a master of pulp and Grand Guignol.”
— Los Angeles Times

“The Angel’s Game will keep you glued to your deck chair. It may give you nightmares, but if this book was meant to be a testament to how a book can engage the imagination like nothing else, Zafón’s mission can be truly called accomplished.”
— Seattle Times

“Spanish novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafón has followed up his masterly debut, The Shadow Of The Wind, with a work of no less brilliance. The setting is Barcelona in the Twenties, the main character a writer of crime novels whose own life takes a spooky turn. There are nods in the direction of Dickens, Dumas and Edgar Allan Poe; but don't get the idea that this is one of those bookish, dry-as-dust yarns fit only for academics. It has wit, style, great sex and a hugely entertaining plot.”
— The Mail on Sunday (UK)

From master storyteller Carlos Ruiz Zafon, author of the international phenomenon The Shadow of the Wind, comes The Angel’s Game — a dazzling new page-turner about the perilous nature of obsession, in literature and in love.


The whole of Barcelona stretched out at my feet and I wanted to believe that when I opened those windows — my new windows — each evening its streets would whisper stories to me, secrets in my ear, that I could catch on paper and narrate to whomever cared to listen…

In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed — a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.

Once again, Zafon takes us into a dark, gothic universe first seen in The Shadow of the Wind and creates a breathtaking adventure of intrigue, romance, and tragedy. Through a dizzyingly constructed labyrinth of secrets, the magic of books, passion, and friendship blend into a masterful story.