The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels || Janice Hallett || Netgalley Review

 

Open the safe deposit box. Inside you will find research material for a true crime book. You must read the documents, then make a decision. Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police?

Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult-like group who were convinced one of their member's babies was the anti-Christ, and they had a divine mission to kill it - until the baby's mother, Holly, came to her senses and called the police. The Angels committed suicide rather than go to prison, and Holly - and the baby - disappeared into the care system.

Nearly two decades later, true-crime author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the Angels. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen and can finally be interviewed - if Amanda can find them, it will be the true-crime scoop of the year, and will save her flagging career. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and is also on the baby's trail.

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that what everyone thinks they know about the Angels is wrong, and the truth is something much darker and stranger than they'd ever imagined.

This story is far from over - and it won't have a happy ending.

*Gifted a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

This was another absolutely brilliant read from Janice Hallett (to be fair it's not like I expected any less) 

Told in the brilliant way Janice does, it kept me hooked as I tried to unravel all the clues and find the answers before the last page, and fail once again.

Everyone has heard of the Alperton Angels, a cult that planned on killing a baby to save the earth from it. Luckily this never happened and the mother vanished into the care system along with the baby.  The baby is due to turn 18 so true crime author Amanda Bailey wants to track the baby down and finally solve this mystery. Alongside her is fellow author Oliver who also wants to be the one to interview the baby. 

This was just incredible, it was gripping. I was sold on the cult-like aspect of this but this runs so much deeper. The plot is thick heavy and intertwined in ways you would never expect. Amanda and Oliver have a history of working together so you would expect the relationship of the pair to develop and boy does it. 

I loved the way this was told through all the research that was discovered in the process of trying to track down the baby. This obviously allows the reader to try and discover what actually happened on that night and in the immediate aftermath. I find that Janice writes these books that are unlike any others I have ever experienced. 

I think you have to really lose yourself in this book because you really need to concentrate on what is happening if you want to stand a vague chance of figuring it out but realistically - that isn't going to happen and it's just going to hook you in. This was 100% a 5* read for me. I found i trusted no one and i wasnt warming to the characters this became very apparent towards the end as i started to question everything i had read so far and well it just is a kicker. Fantastic book.

Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. She wrote articles and speeches for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times, from Madagascar to the Galapagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. A playwright and screenwriter, she penned the feminist Shakespearean stage comedy NetherBard and cowrote the feature film Retreat.