Falling Angel: Amazon.ca: William Hjortsberg: Books

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in 1978, Hjortsberg's debut mystery was the basis for the film Angel Heart.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Terrific...One of a kind...I've never read anything remotely like it." --Stephen King

"A near-perfect book...Not since Psycho changed the bathing habits of thousands has a novelist so completely turned preconceptions inside out." --Los Angeles Times

"A compelling, page-turning story in the best private-eye tradition, with brilliantly nightmarish scenes of black magic and voodoo." --Washington Post

"A tight, suspenseful story...Not for the timid." --Miami Herald

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
It was Friday the thirteenth and yesterday's snowstorm lingered in the streets like a leftover curse. Read the first page

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Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

28 Reviews

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars not for publication, Jan 29 2004

By A Customer

Please please remove Jack Felson's review of Falling Angel from your site. It gives away the ending! (And it has no merit as a review.)

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5.0 out of 5 stars No wings for this angel... - a vertiginous book, Oct 15 2003

By	Jack Felson (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

After some short science-fiction texts (like "Gray Matters"), William Hjortsberg kept some after effects from them because he put some elements in his first detective attempt. Here, a detective sweetly named Harry Angel is hired by a weird, disturbing character named Louis Cyphre to refind Johnny Favorite, a crooner who vanished before he could respect a contract. His investigation will soon take him down to the depths of black magic and vaudou, and... But I won't give you the whole plot. Just read this and you'll see. You'll be stunned. It's amazing. All I can tell you is that Angel isn't really an angel, and that his soul won't go up to heaven.

The cinema world couldn't not matter about this vertiginous story: it's finally British filmmaker Alan Parker who took it on the screen, with Robert de Niro and Mickey Rourke, and directed his only detective movie so far (along with his next release, "Mississippi Burning"). Despite its gloomy and (too?) bloody atmosphere, the film is far from worthing this incredible, abnormal novel, which doesn't respect any of the conventions because it's the only one, I think, where... but I won't give you the ending. Just read it and you'll see. It's astounding. Stephen King was himself terrified, and that means everything. A very special novel, one of the best detective stories ever written, a jewel not to be missed!

Paradoxically William Hjortsberg is less known as a screenwriter: "Legend", a fairy-tale filmed by Ridley Scott (1985), starring Tim Curry as... the Devil (here called Darkness) and Tom Cruise.

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4.0 out of 5 stars I saw the movie first but I still loved the novel, Sep 20 2003

By	Alexanderplatz (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This is a hard book to review without giving too much away. Like many people I saw the film "Angel Heart" first and then read the book, so I knew the ending. But nonetheless I loved this book and in fact I could hardly put it down. I'd get home from work and the first thing on my mind was getting back to "Falling Angel."

If it were not for its macabre and graphic content this book might make excellent classroom reading for high school students, as it makes use of many bread-and-butter literary elements such as foreshadowing and dramatic irony, and it has some echoes of Greek tragedy and certain Elizabethan plays. At the same time it is a fast, easy read. The chapters are short, and each one advances the plot or our understanding of the characters with an efficiency that would make any creative writing teacher proud. Whether you call it horror, detective fiction, or a psychological thriller, this is a great read.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one gritty detective story!
While you read this, take what you know about the late fifties in New York City, and compare it here. This story immerses the reader superbly into the atmosphere of the setting. Read more

Published on Feb 17 2003 by R. E. Mattey

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing thriller
Detective stories are a mine field. Given the amazing numbers of this kind of books, every now and then you surely are going to step in a bomb and regret the time and money you... Read more

Published on Nov 14 2002 by J R Zullo

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EXCELLENT THRILLER THAT WORKS ON MANY LEVELS
At one point in William Hjortsberg's masterful horror novel, Epiphany Proudfoot, 17-year-old voodoo priestess, tells our detective hero Harry Angel "you sure know a lot about... Read more

Published on Nov 11 2002 by s.ferber

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, credible PI noir fiction
This novel is always found in the Horror section but it is really a private eye mystery. It's as good a PI novel as I have ever read and I highly recomend it. Read more

Published on Oct 10 2002 by Marc Clapp