The Third Angel

I followed up the disappointment that was Handle With Care with a new book by my other favorite author, Alice Hoffman, which I had borrowed from a good friend who also loves this author. This book, called The Third Angel, does not take place in her usual setting (New Hampshire or Connecticut) but instead in London. More specifically at the Lion Park hotel.

The story centers on the inhabitants of the Lion Park hotel during three different periods of time; modern day, 1952 and 1966. As the stories unfold, you realize that everyone from the modern day story are involved in the hotel in some way, and their lives entwine in the most intricate of ways. There is also the story of the ghost of the Lion Park hotel, and how he touches each and every life of the characters in The Third Angel. Hoffman's writing is so intricate and precise, and you never feel that the connections between the characters are forced.

The name comes from the idea that when a doctor visits a patient, there are three angels in the car with him. One is the angel of life, and one is the angel of death. Then there is the third angel, and he is the one that is harder to spot. He could be anywhere, from the people you see on your way to the suffering, or the person suffering themselves. The idea of the third angel is interwoven with all the characters of the novel.

After finishing Handle With Care and being so disappointed, I am really glad that I read The Third Angel. I think if I would have read just anything I probably would have put it down and stopped reading for a while. Instead I started The Third Angel and finished it in just days.

I give The Third Angel a 5 out of 5, for a rich complex story line that isn't forced, and restoring my faith in prolific writers.