Product Description

Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1950s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. Despite banding together with his friends as ' The Guardians', he was powerless to prevent more murders - and no one was ever caught. Only after a full ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope, with articles from the dead girls around him. Thankfully, the killings finally ceased. But the past won't stay buried - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. And the secret of his identity lies in Joseph's own history...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1027 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 396 pages

My Weekly
"A meaty, involving drama which will catch you up in an emotional rollercoaster -- great reading"

Review
"A meaty, involving drama which will catch you up in an emotional rollercoaster -- great reading" (My Weekly )

"Very spine chilling... keeps you going right until the last page" (Amanda Ross )

Synopsis
Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1950s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. Despite banding together with his friends as ' The Guardians', he was powerless to prevent more murders - and no one was ever caught. Only after a full ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope, with articles from the dead girls around him. Thankfully, the killings finally ceased. But the past won't stay buried - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. And the secret of his identity lies in Joseph's own history...

Customer Reviews

Left feeling unsatisfied
After stumbling across positive reviews for this book and being intrigued by the title, I bought A Quiet Belief in Angels and after the first 3-4 chapters found I was gripped. Unlike some reviewers, I enjoyed the drawn out descriptions of characters and feelings and felt this helped bring a place and an era to life that I've never experienced.
Whilst I enjoyed the book I felt it suffered in some key areas.
Firstly, we are expected to believe that a murder spree of this magnatitude targetting little girls gets no more attention than a collection of the local small town law enforcement officers who seem to offer nothing in the book other than meeting up occasionally for a coffee and reviewing newspaper clippings. Secondly, character involvement - where childhood friends and adult friends / lovers seem to jump in and out of the lead character's life without the author really developing them to an extent you feel you know them in the way you know Joseph. Their motivations, emotions and background are missing to an extent they just become a series of names. The final criticism is that as a 'who dunnit' - it's very disappointing. With limited characters in the book, or alive by the second half, it's so obvious and after an entire book dedicated to building the horror of the murders, there's absolutely no reason or motive explained. This particularly left me disappointed more than the other criticisms and for a book that many felt was drawn out - I feel the final scene was worthy of dialogue between the characters. On the whole an enjoyable read despite the criticisms - but a really poor ending and therefore not good enough for me to consider following up with another Ellory book.

Great book!
Brilliant storyline, gets you guessing right till the end, (well I never...) but a little bit too "wordy" with descriptions etc, I had to skip through the long winded bits, but the story/plot... FANTASTIC

A Quiet Belief in Angels
At last! Here is a writer who knows how to evoke the imagination, someone who doesn't write to formula, who describes situations and emotions that you can almost taste.
A story about a serial killer told against the tale of a boy's rite of passage.A story of hope and despair,yet uplifting, a story of everyman!Engage your mind and read one of the best books to be published for a long time.