Close to the Ground (Angel) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jeff Mariotte (Author)

Book Description

Series: Angel (Pocket) | Publication Date: August 1, 2000

Even if it takes an eternity, he will make amends...

"MORTAL WEAKNESS"

Greed. Fear. Anger. All, technically, human emotions. But Angel's a demon, not a saint, and he's not immune to human emotions. So when big-shot Hollywood studio head Jack Willitts offers him huge sums of cash in exchange for guarding his overprivileged daughter, Karinna, the Dark Avenger takes the gig. After all, as Cordy and Doyle point out eagerly -- there's rent to pay. And Willitts can certainly foot the bill.

After accompanying Karinna to several trendy nightspots, Angel writes her off as a spoiled brat. Cordy thinks Angel's too personally involved in the case, but the situation is worse than they suspect. Karinna's in trouble and suddenly Angel and company are being pursued by an unidentifiable creature, bent on destroying everything between it and what it wants most in the world.

Before long, Angel finds himself trapped within a supernatural struggle for power, fame...and immortality.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671041479
• ISBN-13: 978-0671041472
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,544,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffrey J. Mariotte is the multiple award-winning author of more than forty-five novels, including original supernatural thrillers Cold Black Hearts, River Runs Red and Missing White Girl, horror epic The Slab, thriller The Devil's Bait, and the Stoker-Award nominated teen horror quartet Dark Vengeance, as well as books set in the universes of Supernatural, CSI, Spider-Man, Superman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Conan, 30 Days of Night, and more. He is also the author of more comic books than he has time to count, including the horror graphic novel Zombie Cop, the original Western series Desperadoes (some of which have been nominated for Stoker and International Horror Guild awards) and the bestselling Presidential Material: Barack Obama. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Western Writers of America, and the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. With his wife, Maryelizabeth Hart, and partner Terry Gilman, he co-owns Mysterious Galaxy, a bookstore specializing in science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror. He lives on the Flying M Ranch in the American southwest with his family and pets in a home filled with books, music, toys, and other examples of American pop culture. More information than you would ever want to know about him is at jeffmariotte.com, where you'll also find a link to his blog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Angel grounded by his humanity., July 27, 2000

By 

algerina "algerina" (Saint Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Close to the Ground (Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

A powerful Irish magician travels to LA where he hopes to raise the dreaded giant Balor and rule the world. A Hollywood studio head struggles to keep his job. Kate tries to track down a gang of bank robbers who have killed three people. Doyle has a brain splitting vision of a young girl in trouble. These plots are all part of a puzzle framed by fear, greed, anger and regret. And when the pieces are all fit together a new image of Angel appears more human than we have seen him before except perhaps with Buffy. Trapped by strong magics Angel must face the ultimate death.

The story moves at a fast past. The pages are heavy with demons and villians. The fastbacks are kept to a single sad incident. Hollywood and the Otherworld blend surprisingly well together.

This is an excellent addition to the Angel series. Even if a reader has never watched the TV shows they can enjoy this book

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another really good Angel book., July 25, 2000

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Close to the Ground (Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Angel's newest job is pretty unusual for him - he's been hired as a bodyguard for seventeen-year-old Karinna Willits, the spoiled, bratty daughter of a Hollywood studio head. Angel can't really figure out why Doyle had a vision of Karinna in trouble - she doesn't appear to be in any sort of supernatural danger. But he figures he'll stick with guarding Karinna and keep an eye out for trouble. He doesn't expect to be abducted by an ailing sorceror who thinks by killing Angel he can trasfer Angel's immortality to himself and live forever. Angel knows this all corrects to Karinna SOMEHOW, but he just can't figure out how. The connection, revealed in the end, totally shocked me, but I won't say what it is, since it would spoil the whole thing. I didn't get why the whole subplot about bank robbers was in there, but that's revealed at the end as well. Talk about a plot twist! On a side note, I really liked the brief part about Cordelia working for a short time as a tour guide. That brought a nice bit of humor to a mostly dark story (although the darkness fits the mood of the show). The ending was sad (but again I won't reveal what happens). I highly reccomend this to fans of Angel, both the show and the books. One thing I noticed: although the Angel books are classified as young adult books, they're much darker in nature then the Buffy young adult books. They're as dark as the adult Buffy books, in fact.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Job, Jeff Mariotte, January 21, 2001

By 

Josh "Josh" (Sc, Usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Close to the Ground (Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

Close to the Ground is now my favorite in the line of Angel books. Mariotte managed to combine true greed with the supernatural in a well-thought out manner. After Angel has accepted the job of bodygaurd over a hot-shot director's daughter, Karinna, weird (as usual) things began to happen. What does an ancient Celtic sorceror want with Angel? How does Karinna mesh with the Celtic man? Angel has to figure out those two questions, as well as save Kate Lockley who has become hostage to a group of nasty bank robbers. Nothing like a good old cops and robbers plot. Especially one which is splendidly done and meshed in with a supernatural tale. I do have one tiny complaint; Mariotte made Angel a bit too sarcastic during his battles with the Celtic sorceror's minions. But other than, Close to the Ground is a very good novel.