A Quiet Belief in Angels

July 6, 2009
In his American debut, British author Ellory (A Simple Act of Violence
) presents an intriguing but overstuffed saga of a man haunted by a serial killer. In 1939, in rural Augusta Falls, Ga., someone brutally rapes and murders a classmate of 12-year-old Joseph Vaughn, the first in what will become more than 30 similar crimes over decades. At age 15, living alone with his mother after the death of his father and yearning to be a writer, Vaughan gathers together a group of local boys and forms the Guardians in the hope of preventing more attacks. It’s the failure of the group, and himself in particular, that eventually drives Vaughan to Brooklyn, where, in an improbable twist, he gets caught up in another murder linked to the killings back home. Ellory simply tries to juggle too many narrative elements. The sheer number of characters and subplots dilute the quiet power of his prose, particularly evident in scenes of Vaughn’s childhood.

July 1, 2009
It is 1939 in a tiny Georgia farming town. Joseph Vaughan, a bright, thoughtful 12-year-old boy, loses his father. That death is followed by a series of horrific murders of very young girls that casts a pall of fear over the town. Joseph organizes his friends into the Guardians, but the murders continue, and Joseph comes to believeprescientlythat they will haunt his entire life. Already a best-seller in England with editions in many foreign languages, this is an unlikely and, in many ways, admirable book. Author Ellory is English, but his evocation of life in the deep South is richly drawn and deeply detailed. His characters are well developed, and portions of the book ably mimic great southern writers, allowing readers to savor both the words and the images they offer. When Joseph flees home and moves to Brooklyn to be a writer, the author changes voice to portray an edgy, exciting, clamorous new world. Although it occasionally drifts into over-the-top melodrama, the novel presents an appealing mix of murder, madness, conscience, lost love, and redemption.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)