A Kiss Before the Apocalypse: A Remy Chandler Novel (Paperback)

~ Thomas E. Sniegoski (Author) "It was an unusually warm mid-September day in Boston..." (more)
Key Phrases: final scroll, Angel of Death, Jon Stall, Black Choir (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tightly focused and deftly handled, this adult debut from YA and comic book author Sniegoski (The Fallen) covers familiar ground in entertaining new ways. The angel Remiel wanders the Earth in human form as private investigator Remy Chandler, experiencing the mortal life while indulging his fondness for the trappings of noir. When the Angel of Death vanishes, Heaven hires Chandler to find him as well as a missing set of scrolls that could bring about the apocalypse. Sniegoski's choice to frame this high concept with a straight noir detective tale grounds the world for the reader and highlights the mystical elements. Chandler's dog, Marlowe, written with a humorous but heartfelt voice, shows off Chandler's ability to talk to animals and provides some charming comic relief. Fans of urban fantasy and classic detective stories will enjoy this smart and playful story. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

“The most inventive novel you’ll buy this year.”
—Bestselling author Christopher Golden

“A hard-boiled noir fantasy by turns funny, unsettling, and heartbreaking. This is the story Sniegoski was born to write, and a character I can’t wait to see again.”
—Christopher Golden, bestselling author of The Boys Are Back in Town

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Roc; Reprint edition (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451462599
• ISBN-13: 978-0451462596
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,694 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes a seraph's gotta do..., June 4, 2009

By	T. McAuley (Sheffield, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Remy Chandler is a Boston-dwelling private eye, with a black labrador named Marlowe, and a current case tailing an unfaithful husband - all in all fairly typical fare. Everything changes, however, when the man shoots his lover, and then himself, but fails to die, catapaulting Remy into a far more important case, and one which reunites him with kindred he thought he had left behind long ago, for Remy Chandler is really Remiel, one of the seraphim, the greatest of God's angels, who abandoned Heaven in guilt and disgust after fighting, and killing, his brethren in the war against Lucifer, and has been wandering the Earth in human form ever since. Soon, Remy is on the hunt for the missing Angel of Death, and the five scrolls in his possession that will permit the unleashing of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and bring about the end of the world.

Having an angel - not one who has Fallen, but who has voluntarily left Heaven - as a protagonist is the twist in Sniegoski's new series, which he populates with other beings from Biblical tales and Angelography. This is an interesting new theme in urban fantasy, if not an entirely original one (one only has to think of the 1995 movie 'The Prophecy', for example, which has many of the same ideas about angelic conflict and jealousy of humanity). Remy/Remiel makes an appealingly conflicted hero, struggling to be true to his humanity, to be part of the mortal world, while in reality being nothing of the kind, and his relationship with his failing human wife, and pet dog, to whom he can speak, that being one of his angelic powers, lends him a touching air of vulnerabilty. Although Sniegoski doesn't have the skill with description of, say, Jim Butcher, the plot moves along at a fair rate and, the occasional flashbacks to the war in Heaven, and Remiel's past on Earth, before becoming Remy, make interesting reading.I can only hope that we see more of these in the sequel, Dancing on the Head of a Pin: A Remy Chandler Novel, which I'll definitely be giving a go.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars heartwrenching beautiful urban fantasy, May 6, 2008

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (REMY CHANDLER NOVEL) (Paperback)

He was old before the earth was created. Archangel Remiel of the host of the Seraphim fought when Lucifer and his allies rebelled and though he was on the winning side, he witnessed the atrocities that angels committed. He left Heaven and came to earth. After several millennia as a hermit he hid his angleic personna to live amidst humans and even loved a human. He currently calls himself Remy Chandler, twenty-first century Boston private investigator.

His former Heavenly brothers, the Seraphim led by Nathanial visit him. Nathanuel asks on behalf of the Creator for Remiel to find Israfil, the Angel of Death who disappeared a week ago earth time. He has the five seals that would call up the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the fifth seal giving them permission to proceed with their mission. The Seraphim fear Israfil, like Remy, has taken human form, which means no one is collecting the souls of the dead leaving broken and dying but never dead people praying for release. To avoid the Apocalypse and to bring death back into salvation, Remy takes on the assignment, but finds traitors amongst the allies who supposedly aid him.

This reviewer prays there will be more novels starring Remy, a being who could return to Heaven any time he wants, but so far chooses to live amongst humans because he relishes the emotions that Heaven does not have. Not everyone will agree with his choice as many people strive on going to Heaven not running from heaven, but the audience will believe he is on earth for a reason as he does great things for humanity. This heartwrenching beautiful urban fantasy will grip readers with its potent emotional fervor.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spurning Heaven & seeking redemption in being human, June 19, 2008

By	H. Bala "Me Too Can Read" (Carson - hey, we have an IKEA store! - CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (REMY CHANDLER NOVEL) (Paperback)

Are there ever enough novels in the urban fantasy field? Novelist Thomas E. Sniegoski would like to think: no. In other books and by other writers, we've already been treated to witches, wizards, vampires, werewolves, and elves making a living in these contemporary times, rubbing elbows with us just plain folks. So I think it's kinda neat that we hear from the heavenly hosts.

Sniegoski introduces Remiel, a mighty warrior angel of the Seraphim, who long ago participated in the bloody celestial war waged between the armies of God and of Lucifer Morningstar. Sickened by the resulting carnage and destruction, Remiel turned his back on Heaven. Cut to unmentionable years later, to the present, where Remiel now walks around in human guise as Remy Chandler, a Boston private eye. He's been content the past few decades, having met and married the wonderful Madeline, who is privy to all his secrets. But Madeline is only human, and, as such, only has a finite span on earth. Madeline today is old and wasting away from cancer in her nursing home. Remy sorrowly counts down the days. Meanwhile, the shamus business keeps him occupied.

Some possible plot SPOILERS now.

His latest gig is mundane enough, spying on a hubbie suspected of that old thing. Until the case abruptly escalates into a murder-suicide. But when the two corpses keep on breathing, Remy begins to get that uneasy feeling. Soon, word spreads of people around the globe who should now be dead but who refuse to give up the ghost. Shortly after, Remy is visited by his old brethren, the Seraphim, who task him with tracking down Israfil, the Angel of Death. Israfil, it seems, had gone missing and, worse, had shed his responsibilites. Souls are not being taken. Souls who should've passed on are agonizingly locked in their mortal coils. Including Remy's wife, Madeline. Remy takes the case.

There are also five scrolls missing, scrolls which, if unfurled, grant the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse license to cut loose and usher in the end of days. Naturally, there are any number of supernatural creatures who desire this calamity. The Grigori, for instance, are a heavenly host originally charged with safeguarding humanity's development (a job they rather thorougly bollocksed). As punishment, the Grigori were exiled on Earth, their wings torn off. Might the Apocalypse, they wonder, be a quicker way to reconcile with the Almighty? Then there is the Black Choir, angels who played both sides of the Conflict and whom neither God nor the Morningstar wants. The Angel of Death himself has an ulterior motive. Demons and fallen angels, trusted friends and sworn enemies, Remy has to sift thru his list of suspects, and quickly. Because the Four Horsemen have just manifested on Earth. Not a banner day for humanity.

End SPOILERS.

A KISS BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE is yet another dark and gritty urban fantasy. But, more to the point, it's another very good dark and gritty urban fantasy. It's fast-paced and action packed enough for the bloody minded, but with a core of melancholy and a humanity to lend it some gravitas and added nuance. Remy Chandler is an intriguing character, striving so hard to be human, to feel the depths of emotions which only a mortal can feel. To do this, he's ever struggling to deny his powerful heavenly aspect. But as the reader might've guessed, it'll be a losing battle as Remy must unleash his true self to save the world.

Even more interesting is his sweet, heartbreaking relationship with his dying wife, whom he has to pass off as his mother to her caregivers. Then, there's Remy's awesome Labrador, Marlowe. Remy's powers include being able to communicate with animals, and, trust me, Remy's touching conversations with his innocent dog will make you fall in love with Marlowe. Several flashback passages flesh out these three even more. I really like the bit telling of how Marlowe, as a puppy, first met Remy.

Remy does spend more time taking in beatdowns rather than dispensing them (again, he's very reluctant to let out his inner halo). Like any good fiction detective, he takes a good licking and keeps on pressing. That just might be the definiton of hard-boiled. What makes this book a really gratifying read, though, is that flavor of heartache and bittersweet angst. For the grief he feels, Remy reduces himself to a human level, but elevates himself in the reader's eyes. Early in the pages, we know that Remy's primary source of happiness is about to be wrenched away from him. It's not his angelic powers which makes me root for him; rather, it's how he deals with this impending loss. I hope Sniegoski comes out with a sequel soon.