Falling Angel

Falling Angel, Book 1

De: William Hjortsberg

Narrado por: Michael Kirby

Edgar Award Finalist: The hunt for a vanished singer leads a detective into the depths of the occult in this "terrific" novel (Stephen King).

Big-band frontman Johnny Favorite was singing for the troops when a Luftwaffe fighter squadron strafed the bandstand, killing the crowd and leaving the singer near death. The army returned him to a private hospital in upstate New York, leaving him to live out his days as a vegetable while the world forgot him. But Louis Cyphre never forgets. Cyphre had a contract with the singer, stipulating payment upon Johnny's death—payment that will be denied as long as Johnny clings to life. When Cyphre hires private investigator Harry Angel to find Johnny at the hospital, Angel learns that the singer has disappeared. It is no ordinary missing-person's case. Everyone he questions dies soon after, as Angel's investigation ensnares him in a bizarre tangle of black magic, carnival freaks, and grisly voodoo. When the sinister Louis Cyphre begins appearing in Angel's dreams, the detective fears for his life, his sanity, and his soul.

Contains mature themes.

©1978 William Hjortsberg (P)2023 Tantor

More detail than movie

Original story t hats easy to imagine into a movie. A little more darker than the movie version. Well worth time

Animal abuse and death warning

Highly descriptive torturing and killing of an animal made me turn this book off forever. Be warned.

character development

I really enjoyed the storyline of Angel the detective. He reminded me a little of my father who was also a private investigator. It was interesting seeing his story as it progressed through a complex and complicated narrative the deeper the story got. It seemed like everyone but him was involved in the occult. Definitely well written. I'm excited to read (listen) to the next book.

This is a great, original story. Very well written and entertaining.

I loved this novel, BUT I did not care for the narrator. He was too campy and over the top. The character Cypher sounded like Mr. Burns. the voices and tones he used were just too
campy for me. I did get used to it after a while, and I enjoyed the story. ⚠️ If you get triggered by violence, you might want to avoid, but it was a cool story.

Wild Noir Ride

I had seen the film Angel Heart years ago not knowing that it was first a novel so not a lot of it came as a surprise. With that said I had a lot of fun listening to the mystery unravel especially in that noir, hard-boiled, detective tone. I l9ve scary stuff and Faustian deals very much so I really enjoyed this, it may not be fore everyone but it's undeniably entertaining, scary, and the performance by the narrator is flawless.

I knew the ending and was still shocked at the ending

Its safe to assume you've already seen the cult classic film and one of my favorites which has effected me more than any other piece of media since I was a kid. The book differs enough to make it well worth the read and has a few scenes far more disturbing than anything found in the film

what I enjoyed most is the book never leaves NYC. The landmarks and time accurate locations add so much if youre either a New Yorker or familiar with its history. Louis Cypher is also much more fleshed out as a character instead of just a cameo by Deniro. Just getting ready to start the sequel because I dont know how they can go anywhere from the hopeless ending

Dark

Very cool. Slick. I dig any books dealing with Satan. Great movie as well. Old New York

writing style

liked this more than the movie adaptation and didn't realize there was more to the story