Sunday 11 November 2018

Angel in the Shadows by Walter Lucius


This is the second novel in the author’s Heartland trilogy, the first title in the series being Butterfly on the Storm, which I reviewed here: https://bit.ly/2PocTGL. The Dutch author has been compared with Stieg Larsson, and certainly there’s similarities between this series and Larsson’s Millennium series.

Angel in the Shadows starts precisely where the previous title closed and continues with that title’s labyrinthine plot of international corruption. At heart, the story is of a Russian oligarch, Valentin Lavrov, who uses his power and wealth to corrupt people around the world in pursuit of greater riches and power. 

While the protagonist of the series is investigative journalist Farah Hafez, there’s a strong supporting cast, including her friend and fellow journalist Paul Chapelle, and Dutch Detective Radjen Tomasoa. Each of these lead their own investigations, Paul Chapelle’s linked to that of Hafez,  that of Radjen Tomasoa a separate strand.  There’s an equally large cast of villain’s.

In the previous novel, an Afghan boy dressed in girls’ clothing, makeup and jewellery was the victim of a hit and run on a deserted street on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Hafez starts to investigate, immediately guessing that the boy is a victim of Bacha Bazi, an afghan tradition of dancing boys who often fall prey to paedophiles. This leads her to uncover a paedophile ring, at the centre of which is a powerful Dutch politician, finance Minister Ewald Lombard. This in turn leads her to uncovering the wider corruption of Valentin Lavrov. In Angel in the Shadows, Hafez continues her work, which takes her to Indonesia.

I gave Butterfly on the Storm four out of five stars and I do recall really liking that novel, but for some reason Angel in the Shadows did not impress me so much. To be sure there’s a lot to like about this book. It’s settings are vividly described and brought to life, it’s characters well drawn, and its tale of corruption, oligarchs, and Russian undermining of foreign powers is nothing if not current. But unlike the last novel, there’s something more formulaic about the sequel. High octane thrillers which have their characters trotting the globe are nothing new, and when done well, are an exciting read. Butterfly on the Storm achieved this, but I felt Angel in the Shadows was not so successful and that the author was trying to hard to have his characters travel to locations new.  Also, things which didn’t bother me in the last book did this time around.  Farah Hafez is an adherent of Pencak Silat, the Indonesian martial art, and while in the previous book it was an interesting feature of her character, in this novel the sections where she met a Pencak Silat master in Indonesia just felt like filling.  In fact, weirdly this novel felt too long, despite it being shorter than the last (the paperback of Butterfly on the Storm is 528 pages, while Angel in the Shadows is 464).

I think the main reason I liked Butterfly on the Storm so much in comparison to Angel in the Shadows is because in the first novel there were some bold set pieces which really blew the reader away. The initial set up of the child victim of Bacha Bazi was striking and deeply disturbing, while later there are some explosive moments, quite literally. Towards the end of the novel, there is a massive set piece on a motorway, which results in a huge pile up. This is a scene that needs to be read to be believed and really makes the novel soar. Angel in the Shadows has none of this and while there are some moments of great drama, even some surprising and shocking moments, the novel just seemed pedestrian by comparison.

In conclusion, to me Angel in the Shadows suffers from second book syndrome. There is a silver lining however. Unlike Butterfly on the Storm, which ended on a cliff hanger, from where Angel in the Shadows started, this second novel ties up all loose ends. This means the third and final instalment in the series can start from a fresh page. No doubt the characters will find that the conspiracy and corruption continues (and there are hints of this in Angel in the Shadows) and that they still have much work to do. Hopefully then, in crafting a novel that doesn’t have to continue so directly from what’s gone before, the author can produce something that meets the expectations left from the first in the series.

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