A Terrible Fall of Angels

By: Laurell K. Hamilton

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Angels walk among us, but so do other unearthly beings in this brand-new series by number one New York Times best-selling author Laurell K. Hamilton.

Meet Detective Zaniel Havelock, a man with the special ability to communicate directly with angels. A former trained Angel speaker, he devoted his life to serving both the celestial beings and his fellow humans with his gift, but a terrible betrayal compelled him to leave that life behind. Now he’s a cop who is still working on the side of angels. But where there are angels, there are also demons. There’s no question that there’s evil at work when he’s called in to examine the murder scene of a college student - but is it just the evil that one human being can do to another, or is it something more?

When demonic possession is a possibility, even angelic protection can only go so far. The race is on to stop a killer before he finds his next victim, as Zaniel is forced to confront his own very personal demons, and the past he never truly left behind.

The first in a new series from the author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.

©2021 Laurell K. Hamilton (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Wow! A Terrible Fall of Angels has it all - a terrific new character, devious twists, plenty of action, and one hell of an ending. Brava!” (Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Ink and Rage)

Interesting premise, good start to a new mystery series

I don’t like angel fiction. I avoid it in general, even when it is written by authors I love. I took a chance with this because it sounded different than what I’ve seen.
The depictions of the spiritual world are beautiful and powerful. She did some deep research and it shows in the rich depictions of the various spiritual philosophies and practices. I really loved how she showed the strengths and cooperation of the different practitioners as well as the close mindedness or programming of those from the college of angels.

I felt Zaniel’s sadness and frustration about his friends as well as his longing and loneliness. I liked that Zaniel has held on to the good bits even as he faced the bad and manipulations.

I really liked the characters, main and minor. The descriptions were so natural and full that I could get a solid feel for each of them. The way the religious cult was described was intriguing, disturbing, and yet the positives were stated too. I think that many authors and people in general forget that often there is good mixed in with the bad in abusive situations. This is why it is so confusing to the vulnerable and so hard to escape.

I am looking forward to more of this series. I got bored with Anita Blake several books in, the mysteries devolved into orgies and it just got tiresome. (I read all of the Merry Gentry series and thought it both beautiful and suspenseful)
The narration is very good. I don’t usually like tenor voices but I got lost in the story, which reflects well on the story and the storyteller. His vocal inflection and emotional tone is top notch.

Dazed and confused

I have been a Laurel K. Hamilton fan since I was 14 or 15 in 1993 when I first read guilty pleasures. I have followed the Anita Blake series which I am totally in love with Granted. There are some books that I more fond of than others, basically because some of the later books are character centered and more fond of certain characters that I am others therefore I'm naturally inclined to like different books in the series differently. However, I have never actually read a Laurel K. Hamilton book that I absolutely could not stand. I have always liked to different degrees anything that she has written of two, including nights here and her writings for Raven loft. That being said, I'm not going alive. When I found out she was publishing another series. I totally had a WTF? What about Merry? Moment know what's funny about that is when the Merry Gentry series was first published. I remember setting my friends house having the same. WTF moment and bitching about wanting a new Anita book. I actually put off reading the fairy series for quite a while, sort of, because I was pouting about more Anita. However, when I did finally read the fairy series. I fell in love with it to. So I decided to go ahead and give this Angel series a chance because I love a Laurel K. Hamilton's work will be quite honest I'm not big on Angel fiction stories. I don't know why it's not a religious thing, they're just not something that I generally read about like you would vampires or werewolves. But because it was Laurel K publishing this book, I had to check it out based on principle. That being said, I think this book or rather series has great potential. I found the concepts to be very intriguing. And once again Laurel has a way of including information into a series that I found interesting. I think the series has great potential. Although I will say one of the things that totally ruined it for me at this point is the narrator. To me it sounded like he was a newscaster reading from a Teleprompter. I think that was part of the confusion for me also. There are quite a few points that is brought up but then dropped. So I going to assume that some of that has to do with setting up for the second novel, or at least I hope so because I see great potential in the possibility for this series. However I will say that I felt that maybe the ending was a little forced.

Book 2 release date?!?!?;

As usual Laurell k Hamilton is amazing. I think this is by new favorite after years of reading Anita Blake. My only request is please right faster!!

awesome new series

I am a big fan of Laurell K. Hamilton and this is a wonderful start to a new series. Holter Graham did the narration and he is one of my favorites! I can't wait for more in this series!

Angels in their fierce Glory

I read the entire vampire series when first published, and loved the details which made it so easy to fall into the stories. I enjoyed this book- and again the details- angels wings, College of Angels, Zaniel’s ability to see other peoples angels & totems. I would have enjoyed it a bit more if in narration Zaniel’s voice was less husky/gravelly, & used that style for some of the lesser characters- like the lieutenant. I liked many of the characters & look forward to seeing them develop further. Thank you again Laurel!!

Loved it but

I love this story line and the performer that was cast to be the voice of Zaniel. What I am worried about is when the next one will be. This author tend to give only one of her main characters preeminence, and I love that storyline and all of her storylines, but I hate the wait. How long will it take for the next for this character? I love him as well and I can’t wait for the raccoon.

Holter Graham just isn't it.

Amazing story, but Graham's voice just ruins it. I love the totems, and I'm really exited to learn more about them, but Graham's voice takes me out of the story entirely.

Kept me interested. Highly Recommend.

First 16 chapters were wonderful but then it slowed down w talk of the "separation" before picking back up with the meat of the story. The opening chapter was a bit confusing (especially the rape by angels comment) but Im glad I stuck with it as it tied together. Very interesting thoughts on the possible invisible presences around us.
I already was a fan of LKH from the Merry Gentry series and I do not see any similarities in the story line. Fingers crossed she writes a Book 2 for Zaniel.
I am agreement with several other comments that the narrator seemed inconsistent in the main character's voice but I did like him overall.
Update: weeks later I am still thinking about this story (in a good way).

I enjoyed the main character and would like to see more and learn more about him.

I liked that a man was reading the part of a male character. The reader did a great job differentiating his voice for the different parts.

Superb Listen!

Wow I took on a chance on this book, never heard of the author but the summary sounded so interesting. I was hooked from beginning to end. I simply looked this!