Heather F. (AZmom875) -
Helpful Score: 3
Chaz McGee is the pseudonym for an experienced author of two mystery series writing as Katy Munger and Gallagher Gray.
It is best to read book one in this series before you read book 2. Some of the re-occurring minor characters do not get a full introduction.
I do tend to love mysteries with a ghost, more than any other cozy paranormal mystery. This one does not disappoint. Our ghost can not talk to the live characters, and cant really move things. He can cause a breeze or a spark and that is about it. Those minor skills will come in handy in the book.
In life, Kevin Fahey was a lousy father, a miserable husband, and a bottom feeder detective; who was drunk more often than he was sober. In death, he remains stuck on the mortal plane seeking redemption. He believes he needs to make reparations because of all those he harmed when he was alive. He follows the activities of his replacement highly regarded Detective Maggie Gunn.
Currently Maggie is bogged down with two complicated cases that each needs her full attention. A dead nurse is found in her home; dead by a gunshot made to look like a suicide, but Maggie realizes a murder occurred. Across the street is a park and while all attention is inside the victim's home, someone abducts a child. Add a cold case that Kevin botched of an abducted child 16 years ago.
I kinda figured out right away who killed the nurse, what happened to the boy abducted 16 years ago, who the bad guy was. No real clues gave it away, but because the book is not full of red herrings like cozies, you would logically come to the same conclusion fairly soon. The book is more of a police procedural mystery . We know who the bad guys are about 2/3 into the book and now we just have to catch them.
I gave this book 5 stars cause I couldnt find a flaw to give it less than 5 stars. It is a great book. I want to see another in the series soon. I also want to read some other works by this author and see how her writting style compares.
It is best to read book one in this series before you read book 2. Some of the re-occurring minor characters do not get a full introduction.
I do tend to love mysteries with a ghost, more than any other cozy paranormal mystery. This one does not disappoint. Our ghost can not talk to the live characters, and cant really move things. He can cause a breeze or a spark and that is about it. Those minor skills will come in handy in the book.
In life, Kevin Fahey was a lousy father, a miserable husband, and a bottom feeder detective; who was drunk more often than he was sober. In death, he remains stuck on the mortal plane seeking redemption. He believes he needs to make reparations because of all those he harmed when he was alive. He follows the activities of his replacement highly regarded Detective Maggie Gunn.
Currently Maggie is bogged down with two complicated cases that each needs her full attention. A dead nurse is found in her home; dead by a gunshot made to look like a suicide, but Maggie realizes a murder occurred. Across the street is a park and while all attention is inside the victim's home, someone abducts a child. Add a cold case that Kevin botched of an abducted child 16 years ago.
I kinda figured out right away who killed the nurse, what happened to the boy abducted 16 years ago, who the bad guy was. No real clues gave it away, but because the book is not full of red herrings like cozies, you would logically come to the same conclusion fairly soon. The book is more of a police procedural mystery . We know who the bad guys are about 2/3 into the book and now we just have to catch them.
I gave this book 5 stars cause I couldnt find a flaw to give it less than 5 stars. It is a great book. I want to see another in the series soon. I also want to read some other works by this author and see how her writting style compares.
He was once a second-rate cop, a mediocre husband, and an absent father. But ever since he was killed in a drug bust gone bad, Kevin Fahey, a lost soul in limbo. roams the streets of his small Delaware town, seeking redemption in other people's lives, trying to prove he's a better ghost than he ever was a man. And trying to help Maggie Gunn, the detective who replaced him, is a good way to start. Some cases are as cold as the grave.
Thomas F. (hardtack) -
The first book in this series was good. This one was better.
As for the bad review, I liked this one because, unlike the current crop of NYT "best sellers," we don't have to read in detail how a pedophile sexually uses his victim.
As for the bad review, I liked this one because, unlike the current crop of NYT "best sellers," we don't have to read in detail how a pedophile sexually uses his victim.
A boy abused by a pedophile became a pedophile, kidnapper and murderer who enjoyed seeing the man he burned alive suffer. That's the Angel referred to in the title.
The "hero" - the dead detective is impotent and does nothing but watch the story and the tragedy of these peoples lives slowly - very - dreadfully slowly - unfold.
Would have been a good short story (15 - 20 pages).
We figure out everything early on - VERY VERY early on. Then, there is 300 hundred pages of dead, dull wait, dull weight, while we all get to ponder pedophiles and the bad that they not only cause and but also set in motion.
It was like real life - long long lengthy agonizingly s-l-o-w that we can see the damage pedophilism does but we, like the author and like the hero, like most of the people affected, can do nothing but watch it in agonizing slowness. slowness. Agonizing slowness while the dimwits in the book trudge on, blind to, well, everything. They must have IQ's in the single digits.
It almost tries to shock us in the end, talks to us like we've never been exposed to evil in the world. The final insult to the readers' intelligence is that "oh! the parent found their child after 16 years! Everything is ok!!" Never mind the kid is a kidnapper, pedophile and murderer who enjoyed watching a person being burned alive and suffering! Everything is peachy! The angel that was interrupted has returned! All is great!
So depressing and so poorly written both in words, expectations and format (a very short story drug out to 330 pages) that I just put it in the trash can. I would feel guilty about taking a credit for passing this slow, poorly written, insulting tome on to another reader.
The "hero" - the dead detective is impotent and does nothing but watch the story and the tragedy of these peoples lives slowly - very - dreadfully slowly - unfold.
Would have been a good short story (15 - 20 pages).
We figure out everything early on - VERY VERY early on. Then, there is 300 hundred pages of dead, dull wait, dull weight, while we all get to ponder pedophiles and the bad that they not only cause and but also set in motion.
It was like real life - long long lengthy agonizingly s-l-o-w that we can see the damage pedophilism does but we, like the author and like the hero, like most of the people affected, can do nothing but watch it in agonizing slowness. slowness. Agonizing slowness while the dimwits in the book trudge on, blind to, well, everything. They must have IQ's in the single digits.
It almost tries to shock us in the end, talks to us like we've never been exposed to evil in the world. The final insult to the readers' intelligence is that "oh! the parent found their child after 16 years! Everything is ok!!" Never mind the kid is a kidnapper, pedophile and murderer who enjoyed watching a person being burned alive and suffering! Everything is peachy! The angel that was interrupted has returned! All is great!
So depressing and so poorly written both in words, expectations and format (a very short story drug out to 330 pages) that I just put it in the trash can. I would feel guilty about taking a credit for passing this slow, poorly written, insulting tome on to another reader.
