Dark Angel

May 3, 10.41am

I have liked John Connolly's books from the very beginning and so The Black Angel was a no brainer when I arrived at St Pancras last night without a book to read on the train home.

I enjoy the mixture of the supernatural and the conventional detective stories that he writes and as I am always pre-disposed to novels set in New England, I guess he was always going to find a way on to the list.

There's not much doubt that The Black Angel is the most supernatural of the lot. Any book that starts: "The rebel angels fell, garlanded with fire," can only be partly of this world. (And what a great opening line).

But the line that tickled my fancy last night was a little further in and rooted in more earthly matters.

"Most criminals are kind of dumb, which is why they're criminals. If they weren't criminals they'd be doing something else to screw up people's lives, like running elections in Florida."

It brought a smile to my face after a pretty long and demanding day. Judging by the tone of everything else I've read so far, it might just be the last one. I'm enjoying it hugely, but it's not one for the faint of heart or manic depressives.

Reading

The Black Angel by John Connolly (p165)

Pelagia and the White Bulldog (p62)