Book Review: Red Angel

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Red Angel     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Andrew Harper
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Psychological Suspense
Leisure, Sept 2003, $6.99, 368 pp.

After being attacked by an escaped mental patient in his own home who threatened his wife and children, Troy Campbell needed plenty of time to recuperate both physically and mentally. Now the psychiatric Technician and Supervisor of D ward at the maximum security hospital of Darden State is ready to tackle the six inmates of Program 28, Sexual Sadistic Predator Violent Sociopath Level seven. One of the worst of these offenders is Michael Scoleri, a man who has the looks of a choirboy but the heart of a monster.

Somehow, some way, Scoleri is getting messages from the Red Devil, a disorganized psychopath who is kidnapping young children, drugging them, than drowning them. Before he dumps their dead bodies he attaches bloody wings to their necks, fastened with a coat hanger. His latest victim is the son of Darden State psychiatrist Elise Conroy and she intends to use Scoleri to track down the Red Devil in defiance of all the rules with only the help of Troy Campbell.

Andrew Harper is the one of the best crime thriller writers of the decade just as Douglass Glegg, Harper’s alter ego, is a master of horror. RED ANGEL is not for the faint of heart because there are some very gory and visually graphic scenes. The protagonist is a good and noble person who wants to know how a sociopath comes into being, a trait that causes him to become involved in dangerous situations. If this book is an example, Leisure’s new line of thrillers will be a smashing success.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner