Customer Reviews

Blood of Angels

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Blood of Angels was the first Reed Arvin book that I have read, and it is not going to be the last. Blood of Angels delivers on all levels and introduces a cast of characters that is very interesting.

While you are reading from the perspective of a lawyer, this is not a court room legal thriller, this is a book about revenge pure and simple. There are multiple sub-plots and action that keep the story moving along, and you will not want to put this one down.

Reed Arvin writes in the first person, which I thought would be a distraction, but I really enjoyed the smooth style. I would recommend this book to all who are looking for an interesting plot, and a fast moving book that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat.

I'm so glad that Reed Arvin didn't settle for being a successful Nashville music producer, because he is well on his way to being one of the best of the court room/thriller/mystery writers of our time. His previous two novels (The Will and The Last Goodbye) are excellent reads and all three are stand alone books. Thomas Dennehy is the central character in this book, but he has a wealth of company from the fertile mind of Mr. Arvin to keep this novel going at full throttle from page one to the end. Others have set out the story line quite well, so I will only say that if you enjoy this type of novel, there is none better on the market right now that you could buy.
The characters and dialogue are so authentically written that their voices and sounds come right off the pages. The villian in this book does not reveal himself for a while, but when he does, he is enough to give you nightmares.

Thomas Dennehy works as a prosecutor for the District Attorney's office in Davidson County, Tennessee. He has worked his way up the ladder, sacrificing his marriage, to be able to prosecute capital crimes. Three years ago, Wilson Owens killed Stephen Davidson, the manager of the Sunshine Grocery store. Owens received the death penalty. Thomas is now prosecuting a Sudanese refugee for the rape and murder of a local resident. Another criminal already in jail confesses to the Sunshine murders which sets his office into turmoil. Reverend Fiona Towns complicates matters further for Thomas. The heart-pounding action builds as those close to him suffer consequences. The edgy writing and the range of characters keep you in suspense. Excellent page-turner!

With "Blood of Angels," Reed Arvin joins the ranks of James Lee Burke and Scott Turow. He takes the legal thriller and ratchets it into a pure suspense novel, full of believable characters and nail-biting situations.

The setting is modern-day Nashville. Arvin reveals this southern city in a realistic light, never condescending, never kissing up. Music City has become a true melting pot of nationalities, and we see this clearly through the story of a Sudanese man accused of murder. Racial tensions build, deceits grow numerous, and pressing legal questions rise to the surface. Soon the characters are enmeshed in a deadly game that will push them to their limits.

The magic of the book is the protagonist. Tom Dennehy is intelligent, successful, and admired. But he's also wounded. His divorce still wears on him, and his anger tends to boil to the surface at inappropriate moments. As his career and loved ones face threats, he lets himself get involved with a female minister. Even as the story closes, his soul and his integrity are sitting in the scales.

Arvin is a wonderful writer. His themes are serious and hardhitting, his dialogue is coarse while his prose is picturesque, and the plot is a thing of beauty. "Blood of Angels" proves we have a master novelist rising through the ranks.

This is the third book by REED ARVIN which I have read, and the third which I have rated five stars. The author is an excellent storyteller; what I feel differentiates his books from the standard thrillers are the complexity of the plots and the extensive character development of the key participants in his stories. His previous two books (I have not read his first) also raise significant philosophical issues as well.

BLOOD OF ANGELS has a much more straightforward storyline than his two other books which I have read, and in my opinion is marginally less enjoyable. But the themes are so different that I suspect many readers may not share my opinion. In fact, readers who enjoy a more linear story and also speedreaders for whom nuances are less important may actually find this book the most enjoyable of the three. Another differentiating factor in this book is the importance of the locale in which the story is set and Arvin's choice of the town where he lives, Nashville, TN. The details utilized in the construction of this story, including the regional political climate, the local neighborhoods (especially the juxtaposition of the Nations and Tennessee Village), the nature of the sanctuary of The Downtown Presbyterian Church, and the central role of the "lost boys of the Sudan" all lend an aura of reality to it. The author has such detailed knowledge of the area that he has created what I call "reality based fiction"; the real people and places which comprise the background of the story lend it sufficient authenticity so that the reader feels much of it is not beyond the realm of possibility despite the fact is not based on an actual series of events.

There are several intertwined threads to this story; a full description would both be beyond the scope of this review and also impossible without spoilers. The central character is Thomas Dennehy, an Assistant District Attorney in Davidson County, TN whose life is about to be completely disrupted by the intersection two seemingly unrelated cases. Almost immediately, Dennehy and his associates in the DA's office are notified by Georgetown University Professor and death penalty opponent Phillip Buchanan that a prison inmate named Charles Bridges has just confessed to a murder for which they convicted Wilson Owens and then successfully argued for the imposition of the death penalty. Since Owens has already been executed, Dennehy suddenly starts "to seriously pay attention. The fact that my life is about to change is vaguely announcing itself now, a light humming in my synapses." He gradually comes to believe that it is quite possible that he will have the notoriety of becoming the prosecutor on the first case where an innocent man actually was executed.

Coincident with the investigation into Bridges' claims, Dennehy is the lead prosecutor in another potential death penalty case. Moses Bol, a Sudanese refugee living in Tennessee Village (largely populated by immigrants) is accused of the brutal murder of a white woman from the neighboring Nations enclave (a bastion of lower class whites). The juxtaposition of the two cases causes a national media spotlight to be focused on Nashville; inevitably protests are mounted and violence erupts. As in Arvin's previous novels, interwoven with these storylines is the complex personal story of Dennehy himself. While facing perhaps the greatest challenge of his life, his is also attempting to deal with the price which his professional career has led him to pay in terms of his failed marriage and his strained relationship with his young daughter.

This is both an action and a psychological thriller; however, lovers of legal thrillers should be aware that the actual courtroom scenes are almost non-existent. BLOOD OF ANGELS is not about legal maneuvering, but rather concerns a a search for the truth as the upcoming trial of Moses Bol is enveloped by the shadow cast by the long-ago trial verdict that eventually led to the execution of Wilson Owens. The lives of several of the central characters including members of the DA's office are impacted during the course of the story as further assaults and additional murders occur.

This is not only a thriller, but a story where morality and religion and their role in the complex choices which individuals face are central to the plot. While the story utilizes the backdrop of powerful forces arrayed against each other in the debate concerning the morality of capital punishment, the reader is never subjected to either preaching or propaganda regarding a specific viewpoint (as was the case with the film THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE and so often detracts from my enjoyment of death penalty stories). This is rather a fast moving thriller which also features the intense impact which these cases have on Dennehy's personal life.

As mentioned earlier, It is difficult to compare Arvin's three books which I have read, I thoroughly enjoyed all three. THE LAST GOODBYE (review 2/17/2004) was the most complex plot but had a somewhat more standard storyline and was much less an investigation of complex societal and moral issues. Due to its philosophical undercurrent as well as the story's complexity, my favorite is definitely THE WILL (review 7/19/20040: however, the more overtly religious theme of certain segments of this story (while never "preachy") might not appeal to some readers. If you appreciate good story telling you will probably want to read all three regardless of which one you read first, and they are all completely standalone novels.

One final note: the publisher is to be congratulated for its pricing strategy with this book. I hope that what I assume is an experiment to determine if a lower price would attract more readers to Arvin's fiction succeeds. This is one of the real bargains to be found in a world where so much fiction is overpriced given the frequent short length of novels and the waste of space with chapter breaks every few pages, blank facing pages and overly large type. Finally, a book where I felt that I got more than my money's worth.

Tucker Andersen

I loved "The Will" by Arvin and grabbed "Blood of Angels" as soon as it was released in hardcover. It is a book to own and I will read again one day. Great suspense, character developement and plot. This book has it all. It's one of those you can't put down once you start it.

As a former resident of Nashville and currently living in the city of Frankling (the hero's city) I was expecting to be somewhat familiar with the sites and locations. What I was not expecting was the absolutely riveting story - a police procedural of the first degree. I now know how residents of New York, DC, LA & Chicago feel when they read stories that take place in their city. The areas described are well-known and provide a reference point for the story.

This is the New South. Absent are evangelicals, the dominant Democrat party, close-knit generational families and a whites only landscape. Instead, Thomas Dehenny, the district attorney, is a driven, dedicated hard-drinking, divorced father who never attends church. One detects that the author (through Thomas) decries those who devote their lives to defending murderers and rapists. He asks, What about the victims? Who speaks for them?

In this case, there is a strong possiblity that the wrong man was executed. The crime involved two defendents - the shooter & the medic who actually killed the woman through negligance (he was on meth). At the same time, the city is rocked by the brutal murder of a Nationite woman by an African refugee. The struggle between low-class whites (The Nation) & the growing numbers of refugees and immigrants is real & depicted with accuracy. Into the fray steps Fiona Tonws, local Presbyterian minister/activist. Despite their positions, a romance breaks out between the two. The real villian is revealed midway through the book & he is as horrible and clever as they come. The ending was sheer perfection as was the entire story. I cannot say enough about this book! Buy it.

Other reviewers have outlined the plot of this fine novel which should give this writer a boost up the sales ladder. Reed Arvin is a pretty darn good writer, folks. If you like Lee Child and Michael Connolly, give this guy a look.

t's been kind of hard to get a handle on Reed Arvin, at least until recently. He's written a how-to book dealing with the music industry, an inspirational work, and a low-key, beautiful novel titled THE WILL. None of the foregoing offered any clue to THE LAST GOODBYE, Arvin's first entry in the suspense genre. THE LAST GOODBYE was contemporaneously a character study, a morality tale and, at rock bottom, a mystery --- complex, fine and true, meticulously plotted and wonderfully told. As good a book as THE LAST GOODBYE was, however, it was just a foreshadowing of the heights that Arvin has achieved with BLOOD OF ANGELS.

THE LAST GOODBYE was set in Atlanta, and Arvin made the city as much of a character as any person in the book. He continues this practice in BLOOD OF ANGELS, which takes place in Nashville, Arvin's city of residence. It is clear that Arvin knows Nashville with an intimacy that is at once pleasurable and painful. It is a town of quiet, subtle intrigue, of promise and pain, where a kiss on the cheek and a knife to the back both can be delivered with a smile and cordiality unmatched elsewhere. Arvin captures this spirit quite nicely. But his main protagonist is Thomas Dennehy, senior District Attorney for Davidson County. Dennehy's first person, present tense narration provides a knife's edge immediacy for his tale.

Dennehy, a good, honest and decent man, is given the task of prosecuting Moses Bol, a Sudanese refugee charged with the murder of a white woman in the Nations. The Nations is an area of Nashville populated by downtrodden whites; Bol lives in Tennessee Village, a complex bordering on The Nations filled with Sudanese. Relations between the residents of these two areas, already tense, threaten to boil over as the trial approaches. The outcome of the trial becomes all but certain until two events occur. A beautiful minister and death penalty activist is ready to provide an alibi for Bol on the night of the murder. Meanwhile, a university professor, an activist with a penchant for bread and circus audiences, comes forth with what he claims is evidence that Dennehy sent the wrong man to Death Row in a capital punishment case tried several years previously.

The accusation rocks the District Attorney's office, and Dennehy, to the core. Yet Dennehy is unaware that both cases are going to challenge him in ways he never thought possible on both a professional and personal level, and that a dark and shadowy figure from his past --- all but forgotten --- is about to seek retribution and revenge against Dennehy and all who he holds dear.

Reed Arvin is a marvel, pure and simple. BLOOD OF ANGELS has enough intrigue and suspense for three novels, yet it never feels crammed or unduly compressed. Arvin provides what is perhaps the fairest, most balanced discourse on capital punishment I've encountered, while at the same time he populates his story with characters who the reader will honestly care about, and wonder about, when the tale is told. I was reminded of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in some ways, PRESUMED INNOCENT in others; BLOOD OF ANGELS will sit on my annual reading shelf with both of them. Highest possible recommendation.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

The protagonist of Reed Arvin's "Blood of Angels" is Thomas Dennehy, a senior prosecutor in Davidson County, Tennessee. Dennehy, who pops Zoloft to help him stay on an even emotional keel, has lived a lonely life since his wife divorced him. However, he derives pleasure from his adorable eleven-year-old daughter, Jazz, whom he sees on weekends. Although he gets a measure of satisfaction from putting bad guys away, his job as a prosecutor has taken a huge toll on him. Dennehy is underpaid, overworked, and he spends too much time dealing with vicious criminals and the fallout of their crimes.

Dennehy's friend and mentor, Carl Becker, is about to retire after putting in three decades as a respected prosecutor. Just before Carl's retirement party, the prosecutor's office gets some very bad news. A professor from Georgetown University reveals that an incarcerated felon, Kwame Jamal, has confessed to a murder for which another man, Wilson Owens, was executed. If the evidence proves that the wrong man was indeed sentenced to death, then Dennehy's career will be over and his office will be discredited.

As if this were not enough to give him nightmares, Dennehy is about to try a politically sensitive case in which a Sudanese refugee named Moses Bol is accused of raping and murdering a white woman, Tamra Hartlett. Tempers flare as Moses's Sudanese compatriots square off against the the victim's relatives and friends. A female pastor and political activist named Fiona Towns takes Moses's side and does everything she can to throw a monkey wrench into Dennehy's case against Bol. The prosecutor has his hands full coping with tremendous pressure from the media, the public, and the impassioned demonstrators on the both sides of the Bol case.

Reed Arvin has written a timely, suspenseful, and compelling legal thriller about the stressful life of a principled man who wants to do the right thing. Dennehy tells a group of third year law students, "Working for the DA's office is a passion, not just a career." He adds, "I get to set the balance of scales back to where they belong." Would that life were so simple. By the time the Owens and Bol cases are resolved, not only is Dennehy's life threatened, but the people he cares about most also find themselves in the line of fire.

"Blood of Angels" is a fast-paced and engrossing novel featuring realistic dialogue, nail-biting suspense, and many humorous moments that serve as welcome comic relief. Arvin gives his characters shading and depth. Fiona is a beautiful, brainy, and idealistic woman who is willing to sacrifice herself to help the disenfranchised people of the world. Moses Bol is a proud, dignified, and desperate man; he has seen horrible injustice in his native land, and it is ironic that the "land of the free" has proven to be just another place where innocent people are tortured. Thomas Dennehy is both committed to and repelled by his job, and he learns the hard way that truth and justice are elusive commodities.

"Blood of Angels" is not perfect; the novel's conclusion relies on several shopworn plot devices. Still, Arvin's story holds the reader's interest, and he reaches beyond the standard legal thriller formula. The author effectively shows the ugly fissures in our society, including the hatred, racism, and thirst for violence that make it so difficult for people to live together peacefully. It is against these powerful forces that people like Thomas Dennehy struggle heroically every day.