Customer Reviews

Death Angel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Death Angel, the tragedy of losing a child to a heinous crime is the impetus for the book's main character, Kate Warner, to dive headfirst into a world of sleuthing, danger and ultimately, revenge. As a parent, Kate's determination and courage are inspirational in the face of horrendous circumstances and utmost despair. Determined to find her child's killer and clear her husband's name, Kate takes the law in to her own hands and leads the reader on an unexpected journey into the darkness of everyday America.
Her character adds new heights to the emotional complexity of a child's murder and grips the reader like few characters can. A must read for any mystery lover and avid reader alike.

This mystery grabs your attention at the very beginning and holds it through the entire book. It is the story of Kate, a sheltered stay-at-home mom whose life is destroyed when her eight year old daughter is kidnapped, raped and murdered. Kate's husband becomes a suspect and then disappears. Kate begins to investigate her daughter's death and her husband's disappearance at the possible price of her own life. It is an excellent mystery that keeps you guessing. Just when you think you know who did it, Powers throws a curve ball and you doubt your prediction and add another suspect to your growing list.

I cannot give this book 5 stars, however, because I did not care for the characters. They never seemed to fully develop and instead were superficial. I found Kate and her husband, Richard to have a strange relationship and even Kate herself was odd. She had one child and a part time job but no real friends. In some ways, her husband seemed to be dominate (he laid out her clothes for her to wear each day) but in other ways he didn't. The only character I liked, who seemed like she could be a real person, was Kate's elderly next door neighbor.

Kate Warner is living every mother's worst nightmare. Her young daughter, Jenny, has been brutally murdered, and the investigation has focused on her husband. Unable to accept Richard's possible involvement in Jenny's death, Kate feels helpless in the face of public and private scrutiny.

Pickard's chief of police, Carl Leidecker, is a former member of Chicago's finest. He also knows the Warners. Leidecker dives into the case of Jenny's murder with all available resources. When Richard Warner, Leidecker discovers there's more to the family than meets the eye.

The case follows a twisted trail of leads that pull Kate Warner and Carl Leidecker in a deadly direction. Not knowing who to trust and who to blame is a dangerous game. If the killer isn't found in time, the Death Angel will be sure to strike again.

In this haunting suspense, Martha Powers weaves a spell of heartbreak and rage guaranteed to affect even the most jaded readers. She dives into the psyches of the grieving mother, a dogged investigator, and the sadistic killer. Readers will be kept guessing until close to the end, with a chilling climax sure to keep you on edge.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
9/26/2006

I recently re-read this novel and was reminded again of how well done it is. Powers is a really smart writer, and her intelligence shows through beautifully in this book. Powers is really good at handling tricky elements of suspense such as a villain's pedophilia with enough detail to be realistic but without so much explicit description that the book becomes seriously creepy or uncomfortable to read, as some contemporary suspense novels are. Publishers Weekly was right to compare this novel to the (more powerful) early work of Mary Higgins Clark, not because Powers is in any way derivitive--she's not--but because some of their strengths--balance, warmth, suspense, place evocation--are the same. This is a book well worth trying if you like thoughtful, well-characterized and well-crafted suspense.

Death Angel is a poignant and gripping tale about a perfect family whose happiness is shattered when the ten-year-old daughter is murdered and the father becomes the target of the murder investigation. The burden of solving the crime and clearing her family's name falls to Kate Warner, the mother. She has to join forces with the police and eventually put her life on the line to bring the killer to justice. I was consistently amazed at how realistic this novel felt. Its attention to detail and portrait of a mother fighting for her family reminded me of a new book by Patricia Gussin, Twisted Justice. Good stuff.

Martha Powers book Death Angel is a mystery you won't want to put down after you start reading it. She holds the suspense of mystery right to the very end. She has a knack of leading you to one conclusion several times only to turn the tables on your solution to the mystery and leave you back at the drawing board. A great book-I look forward to reading more of her books.

Kate Warner leads a sheltered life as a stay-at-home mom until her life is shattered one afternoon when her eight-year-old daughter Jenny disappears in the time it takes Kate to answer a mundane phone call. Jenny turns up raped and murdered in the forest preserve at the edge of a suburban Illinois town. The nightmare continues as Kate's husband Richard, accused of Jenny's murder, goes missing, an apparent suicide. The distraught Kate battles depression, gossip, a suspicious police chief and a rabid press corps as she goes through the motions of putting her life together, seething over the fact that her husband has been convicted in absentia of a murder she knows in her heart he couldn't commit. Police Chief Carl Leidecker finds he misjudged Richard when a new witness comes forward but not before another victim--the jogger who found Jenny--is found in the forest preserve. Certain that something is amiss, Kate, determined to exonerate Richard and on the trail of new clues, soon finds her self face to face with the killer. The novel thunders to a stunning conclusion as Kate makes desperate choices. Martha Powers' gift for portraying the seething emotions masked behind a civilized veneer sets her apart as a novelist.

The plight of Kate Warner is so desperate and tragic, that you can't help but be engaged by this novel and want to follow her on her path to redemption and retribution. And the writing is so well done, that I was pulled deeper and deeper in to the story with each page of reading. Death Angel is a captivating story of a mother's search for her child's killer, fueled by lies, deception and heartbreaking loss. The storyline forms a complex, intriguing and terrifying mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. I will highly recommend Death Angel to my friends and family.

>I've never been a huge fan of mystery/suspense writing. But when a friend
>highly recommended Death Angel to me, I decided to take the plunge and
>check it out. And boy am I glad I did! Powers weaves a powerful tale of murder, betrayal and suspense with characters so well developed that it's
>impossible not to feel emotionally involved in the plot. The conclusion is so chilling and such a surprise - a rewarding payoff for a fantastic book that had me reading for hours on end. I enjoyed it so much and may even read it again!

Reviewed by Kristina Patton for Reader Views (08/06)


Blatant lies, hidden truths, and broken hearts are all a part of Martha Powers' new thriller "Death Angel." Powers takes us down a road that no parent could ever imagine experiencing, let alone actually go through it. The unfathomable crimes of a child molester are just the beginning of the next few tortuous weeks for Richard and Kate Warner.

As an award-winning romance novelist and humorist, author Martha Powers has crossed the threshold into a completely new genre. But, after reading "Death Angel," this category seems as familiar to Powers as it is to Mary Higgins Clark or James Patterson. "Death Angel" is thrilling, full of twists, and seemingly straight out of the headlines. The characters come alive as we watch the story take life on the movie screen of our imagination. Powers renews the meaning of a best-selling thriller.

As Kate Warner begins to believe that her life is as it should be, her world is turned upside down. With the loss of her eight year old daughter, Jenny, normally dependent Kate becomes even more dependent on her husband Richard. As the story unfolds, Kate must become an independent woman and must really think about who she can and cannot trust. She can no longer just go through the motions.

In between Kate's fight for independence, we enter the mind of the killer......and we know he's close. While Kate inches closer to the truth, Powers' twists the story in yet another angle. "Death Angel" will keep the reader on the edge of their seat with their back to the wall. Readers Beware: Do not read this at night, or alone! - It may cause paranoia and a scared silly reaction to anyone who walks into the room.

Received book free of charge.