Reviews for Dark Angel

The average rating for Dark Angel based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-03-25 00:00:00 Andy Lyons A lot of reviewers describe this book as a mystery. I didn't get that impression from it. Dark Angel is more of a general fiction book. You can't call it a coming-of-age novel because Jeff, the main character, is incredibly mature for his age, but then he's had to be. When he was 12, his older brother, Troy, murdered another kid and was sent to prison for it under a life sentence. The fallout was so traumatic, Jeff and his parents had to pack up and move to a small town in New Jersey where they managed to put a pretty good life together without Troy. But, thanks to a technicality, big brother's out of prison after a 5 year stint and coming home to reconnect with his family. Jeff knows what Troy's capable of and never drops his suspicion, unlike his parents who are desperate to see the good in their eldest son. There aren't many novels that explore what it's like to be related to a violent criminal. Dark Angel does that very well and from the perspective of a teenager. After a high school soccer player goes missing following a fight with Troy, Jeff's carefully arranged life is soon under attack from kids he once thought of as friends and he has the added pressure of watching his mother sink into depression while his Dad keeps quoting Bible verses as if that will solve everything. My one big question -- why didn't the family seek therapy when Troy got out? It might have headed off a lot of problems, but then, the story wouldn't have been as good. Recommended.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-12-13 00:00:00 Roddy Ley Intriguing idea, but I was left wondering what the main character and I were supposed to learn from this. There were a lot of ideas that made me think, "oh, this is what this book wants me to think about and learn" but then they were never quite explored enough. It was a fairly quick read and I didn't mind reading it, but it left me feeling "huh." Content warning: mild language, some sexual content 2018 challenge: a book with an ugly cover