Review: Andrew Mayne – Angel Killer (Jessica Blackwood #1)

Angel Killer (Jessica Blackwood #1)
Andrew Mayne

This is a Jessica Blackwood novel. Jessica is a motivated and skilled FBI agent – who also happens to have been a magician in the past. Not one that uses fantasy magic, but one who can do impossible tricks on stage like Houdini. When some unbelievable crimes begin happening, it’s up to Jessica to see through the illusions.

This is a thriller, and it’s a bloody good one! I absolutely loved this book. Jessica is a really engaging character and through her the author makes things that always seemed pretty fantastical realistic. There were little hints of humour that helped keep your mind off the impossibly amazing deadly feats carried out by the Warlock.

What intrigued me the most about this novel was Damien. Enough said, or I’ll give too much away. Or perhaps there isn’t actually anything to give away…. It’s nice to have a male protagonist that is only a sort-of love interest – because the novel is focussed on Jessica’s skills, not her sexual finesse.

I’m looking forward to the next, hopefully something equally awesome will happen. I don’t doubt it, this author has a lot of potential. My one quibble was that it was a little bit aimed at the US public, who would be familiar with the usual roles of the FBI. I just figured that they were the usual ‘Men in Black’, and kept reading! Also, I don’t know all of the places that are in the novel, and so I couldn’t get a good grip on the distances of things.

After I finished this novel I quickly looked on Goodreads and lo and behold there’s a second book and I really wanted to get my hands on it straight away but it doesn’t appear to have been released in Australia. (Phew, that was a long excited sentence).

Go get this book. I’m going give it five stars because it’s got that bit of thriller behind it and enough clues that I want to go back and read began to see whether I picked up everything the first time.