What’s not to love about spelunking abandoned asylums, inbred squid worshippers, infernal harmonic sing-a-longs and secret government agency cover-ups. Oh yeah, almost forgot the black hole sun hovering over Boston and the Old Ones that will emerge from within the dark star to fulfill their destiny of reigning terror, mayhem and world domination.

An action packed Lovecraftian tale with a well-drawn cast of characters and an engaging plot line. Very well done. Looking forward to the next one in the series.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Graham Woodward is hired to restore a rare movie reel, Angel of the Abyss. The movie itself is somewhat controversial and has the added mystery of what happened to the beautiful young starlet, Gracie Baron, who went missing after the movie was released and presumed dead many years later.

 

When Graham arrives in L.A. he finds his employee murdered, the movie reel stolen and his ex-wife missing, it seems to be too much of a coincidence and Graham, along with his 'friend' Jake, try to get to the bottom of why someone will kill to keep the movie under wraps.

 

This is essentially two stories intertwined, the 2013 story with Graham and Jake and the 1926 timeline that tells the story of Gracie Baron. These two storylines work incredibly well together, each moving the story along to the conclusion and both in their own right as excellent reads. The author also changed the modern storyline pov from Graham to Jake halfway through. I really enjoyed getting to know Jake more as his initial set up wasn't very flattering and he was someone that Graham tolerated rather than enjoyed spending time with. Jake's character really came into his own and I was completely immersed in where the story took him. I found more character development in Jake than in Graham, he was a sympathetic character and his acknowledgement that their friendship was one sided made me like him all the more, especially as he risked his life for his friend.

 

The pacing was fast and it was impossible to put this down once the bodies started turning up and I had to know how the pieces all fitted together, as each chapter was a different timeline it kept the read fresh and not too fixed in one story.

 

A great read that I would highly recommend.

 

This was an eARC from Netgalley.

An engaging blend of film history and noir, weaving the mystery behind a lost silent film, tainted by rumors of scandalous content, the unexplained disappearance of the film's star shortly after it's completion, and the deadly conspiracy intent on keeping both buried secrets buried forever.
Offering up alternating views of TinselTown, seperated by time, the tarnished side of the Golden Age that destroyed the likes of Fatty Arbuckle, to the mean streets of modern L.A. where life is cheap, this is a fun, fast paced novel of neo-noir that will entertain both mystery fans and silent film buffs alike.

Highly recommended.

Expected publication: December 2nd 2014 by DarkFuse

Angel of the Abyss is a pretty good crime noir tale from Ed Kurtz. The story switches back and forth from 1926 during the making of the film to 2013 and the search for the truth behind it.

A Hollywood legend. A long lost and extremely valuable silent film has surfaced and uncovered some deep dark secrets with it. Bodies are starting to pile up as the mystery is slowly revealed.

I had a bit of a problem with the character Frank who seemed to be a waste of space and added really nothing to the story line itself and ended up disappearing with no rhyme or reason behind it. I also had a bit of a hard time with the search for the film itself. For a “long, lost” film, it sure wasn’t very hard to find and as a matter of fact several reels were just sitting in an old theater that one of the characters owned.

It sounds like I did not like it very much, but I did enjoy it. Minus a few plot holes I thought it was a very well written novel that could have used a wee more “juice” to keep it moving. 3 Stars. I look forward to reading more Kurtz in the future.

*As a member of the DarkFuse / NetGalley Readers Group, I received an advanced copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Angel of the Abyss - Ed Kurtz I received an ARC e-book of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Once again, a very good monthly selection from Darkfuse. Not horror, this time. One half historical mystery, one half modern LA Noir---which made for a very interesting read. I found the historical elements of this novel so interesting that I loaded up several classic silent films into my Netflix queue.

Plot-wise, a copy of an (in)famous silent film, thought to be long lost, has surfaced. However, not everyone is enthusiastic about this discovery. In fact, it is clearly quite dangerous to know anything about his film as everyone connected with this discovery soon winds up dead.

I knew that I would enjoy this novel the minute that I read the plot-line. I am fascinated by horror movies, the older the better, and the idea of a “lost” classic (eg. “London After Midnight”) being found really gets me going. Add to that the fact that the back-story works in the framework of a modern LA Noir tale and you have me standing in line for a ticket.

And Angel of the Abyss did not disappoint. Enough history to satisfy film buffs and enough dark menace to create a very good modern LA Noir tale and you have a thoroughly satisfying read. Not terribly gritty as Noir goes---this is not a James Elroy novel, but the humorous characters provided a freshness that I enjoyed.

Four stars and two thumbs up. Check it out.