Customer Reviews

Search Angel

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

 

 

Mark Nykanen's "Search Angel" is a good summer read, for fans of the Harris, Cornwall genre - but his novel about an adoptee serial killer, raping and murdering birth mothers around the country - should not be confused with real life adoption issues, or clinical truth and forensic fact; as he suggests that it is.

I have examined many adopted murderers, including serial killers (as an adoption expert and forensic psychologist)- but none of them has ever killed a birth mother. Unlike Nykanen's "Searcher," who methodically stalks and mutilates birth mothers, whom he hates for abandoning their children; in real life, adoptees who kill profess nothing but love for their fantasized, idealized biologic mothers. Their rage is buried and dissociated from consciousness, until it is triggered, and acted-out, like a "crime of passion," with the victims being adoptive parents, lovers or prostitutes.

Nykanen suggests many other "facts" about the adoption experience, which are also not based on reality, and the reader is cautioned to take "Search Angel" for what it is - pure fiction.

condition of book was as advertised - story line was good and easy
to follow - a good read -

I liked the author's most recent book, even though it was pretty twisted. The earlier two, including this one, were too gruesome for me!

I usually like this author and Bone Parade was one of my favorites, but I only finished this because I had paid for the book and felt obligated to read it! It was poorly written and the story was so unbelievable in most parts. It seemed sort of disjointed at times. Just not an enjoyable read.

It pretends to be a compassionate book about open adoptions, and indeed in its acknowledgements at the back of the book Nykanen talks about all the interviews women gave him regarding their experiences. Imagine the horror with which these women will then pick up this novel and find their confessions so distorted. It's not about healing or closure or changing the system, it's a book filled with pornographic and violent images, scenes and chapters of women being abused and tortured in unimaginable ways, in the name of "dark thriller" writing. Who's enjoying these scenes? Who dreams them up? Suzanne is a "search angel," a private eye for orphans who specializes in reunited unfortunate women with the children they gave away long before. For years she has held on to her one secret, that she herself, the daughter of an unknown birth mother, had herself had a baby at fourteen, a son coerced out of her by a nasty priest. Now it's time to tell the world about it, and now is the time that a series of horrible murders starts littering the US landscape, commnitted by this one guy who tells his side of the story in his own words. The author has a nasty little imagination, doesn't he, but I would caution anyone who doesn't get off on sexual violence against women to avoid this particular story.

However, for what it's worth, there are some good suspenseful situations and set-ups, and the author knows how to describe a good mudslide, and a good bonfire.

But in the long run is the game worth the candle? It's not like I haven't read endless numbers of "serial killer-mastermind" novels before, and in general I think I'm sophisticated enough to separate a character's actions from the mind of the author who created him. This is the first book I can remember that, after reading it, I thought the author had slipped into some truly clinical and aberrant behavior, the first time I can ever remember in which I'd be afraid to meet a writer. It is plain as paint on a barn that he relishes the suffering of his victims. Loathsome.

Mr. Nykanen has created yet another fascinating and engaging journey into the mind of a psychotic killer. Infusing the infinitely creepy "Search Angel" with his own unmistakeable brand of humor and pop culture references, the result is another in his series of unique and compelling page turners. No, not for the faint, and strongly recommended!!

While this book definitely was one I began and felt compelled to finish, I am not totally sure I'd recommend it. I feel the author's take on adoption for this story was very unsettling at best. It was very dark at times and I was glad to have finished it so I could move on to a different type of book. I feel that this book would deeply offend many birth mothers/adoptees and would definitely tell many friends to steer clear of it.

Brazenly original thriller. Irreverent and irreligious. Scary as hell. Exceedingly well-written, almost literary. Starkly condemns our adoption system and the Catholic Church for abusing children and turning out mass murderers.

A chilling, suspenseful thriller, riveting to the very last page!
Author Mark Nykanen is at the top of his game with his newest novel, "Search Angel", a compelling, twisted, hair-raising story.

Nykanen's unique talent of painting the devious mind of a rapist and homicidal maniac called "The Searcher" is truly haunting, and we as readers will no doubt suffer the guilt of climbing inside the killer's dark thoughts and actions.

With its' well executed plot, surprise twists and turns, it leads us on a gripping, gut-wrenching thrill ride - birth mothers attempting to locate their adopted children - a killer preying upon them, and a search angel who's willing to risk her own life to trap the killer.

The author has a knack for orchestrating dark subject matter, pulling at the strings of the readers emotions, while walking the thin line between good and evil.
"Search Angel" will no doubt ride a successful wave and Nykanen's achievement in crafting a compulsive, page-turning story is his merit.

Search Angel is far and away Nykanen's best work to date. It is also his most "accessable" - Nykanen is a master of writing scenes of graphic violence, but he has "toned down" the violence in this one while "ratcheting up" the tension and suspense. Make no mistake, there are passages in this book that are "classic Nykanen" - passages that are definately not for "the faint of heart". On the whole though, this is a book of almost breathtaking suspense and terror, and there are passages in this book as well-written as ANYTHING (Harris, Cornwall) I have ever read. Nykanen is the "real deal" - this guy knows how to create images with words, images that bury deep into your brain and won't let go. Buy this book today and prepare to go on the thrill ride of the summer. I can't recommend this book highly enough!