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.

Turtle Moon

When I find a new author that I haven't read before, I often find myself immersing in all of their works over a short amount of time. I did it years ago with Jonathan Kellerman and James Patterson, then again a while ago with Jodi Picoult. Last year, I did it with Alice Hoffman, who I started reading because it was Picoult's favorite author. I purchased a lot of her books at once, and am slowly making my way through that cache. I just knocked another Hoffman book off, as well as adding a book to my 2009 list. That book was Turtle Moon.

Turtle Moon tells the interwoven story of two single mothers, a cop with a haunted past, and a boy called the meanest in all of the town. When one of the mothers is murdered, the one left behind, Lucy, takes it upon herself to figure out who this person was, and why she was dead, to clear her son Keith, who was at the scene of the crime and runs away with the now orphaned baby. With the help of the cop, Julian, the past of everyone involved is unraveled, and answers come out of the woodworks.

Initially, I wasn't drawn in by the book like I normally am with her stories. I struggled through the first 50 pages or so. I almost set it down, but I knew that Hoffman always comes through, so I kept going. I was rewarded, and by the end of the book I was connecting with characters and their motives.

I give this book a 3 out of 5. The ending was redeeming, not just for the characters but also the doubt that I felt when I started the book. If I would have been sucked in right away, like I have been with Hoffman's writing in the past, this book would have ranked higher.