The Angel's Game

Last week I finished reading The Angel's Game from one of my favorite authors and master storyteller Carlos Zafon. Zafon is the renowned author of The Shadow of the Wind. The The Angel�s Game is touted as "a dazzling new page-turner about the perilous nature of obsession, in literature and in love." I was so excited about this book that I called the publisher and requested the advanced readers copy. As soon as it arrived I jumped right into this amazing story.

The description provided by the publisher starts with the following quote from the books, a pure example as to why Zafon is such a beautiful and descriptive writer...

"The whole of Barcelona stretched out at my feet and I wanted to believe that, when I opened those windows, its streets would whisper stories to me, secrets I could capture on paper and narrate to whomever cared to listen . . ."

The story begins with the protagonist as a young man, and progresses on. He starts out writing for a newspaper, then his own books. He buys a deserted mansion in center of Barcelona and in that house he struggles to write in the evenings deal with a love that can never happen. Then one day he gets a mysterious and lucrative offer.

David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed. He is to create a religion, the power of his words should be able to change hearts and minds. In return, he receives more than enough money to live off of, but as he begins to work on his "religion" he begins noticing connections between his book and the life he is living. There are "ghosts" surrounding him and haunting his life. In true Zafon fashion a tangled web of stories, characters and passions begin to come together. Zafon even weaves a web that contains elements of the Shadow of the Wind. At times you are not sure what will happen, and how these character will affect others. You are amazed at how certain characters meet there end, and how others trigger additional chaos.

And then you come to the end of the book, and it all comes together. I put it down and knew that I would need time to recover. A truly amazing story, heartbreaking, romantic, surreal, tragic, secrets, lies, murder and mayhem. Yet it is still a cleanly written and amazingly descriptive novel.

Zafon is a master, and the power of books is evident once again in The Angel's Game. Run out and buy in as soon as it comes out on June 16!