Angels in the Gloom

This was a powerful novel in some ways and a disappointment in others. If the reader wants a mystery they should look for another book, as the mystery element here is rather unengaging. If the reader wants a war novel that deals with the trauma found in life on the home front this is a very powerful novel. The center of it is the Rev. Joseph Reavley and he must wrestle with questions of faith to which there are no clear answers only personnel decisions that rest on faith. That does not mean that this is a "why bad things happen to good people" book, but rather that even in war there are few clear cut answers to that question. It is also about how to deal with death in mass numbers. The trauma undergone by a small village during WWI, show more when the numbers of causalities are so large is a theme that is rarely explored in literature, and this book does what it can to deal with that overlooked and unglamorous part of war.

I listened to this book in an audio format and found that I did not mind the readers dramatization of the text as much as I did in some of the other books in this series. Because of the subject matter and the way the author handled it I decided to rate this book rather high for me. It takes on some subjects that most war novels ignore but that need to be written about and she does a fine job. Not that I think it is the best book ever on that subject but it is a good effort. show less

Angels in the Gloom is the third book in Anne Perry' series about World War I. Joseph is wounded saving a life in No Man's Land. He's home on leave when a crucial scientist at the nearby 'Establishment' is murdered. Will the man's loss cripple the war effort?

Ms. Perry manages to get Matthew Reavley on site for the Battle of Jutland. It's a tense scene to listen to. We know that Matthew is wrong about the Peacemaker's identity, so we get to wonder if he will find out in time.

There's something else we know that Joseph doesn't and calls into question the guilt of Joseph's suspect. In fact, that leads to another suspect.

It's interesting how much tension Ms. Perry manages to get in a battle whose outcome has been known for more than a show more century. Mr. Page's narration helps. show less

WWI who-done-it.
Read as an abridged audiobook.

This was a nice surprise. I had previously read A Christmas Guest and found it to be an unexciting who-done-it. I had expected something similar with Angels in the Gloom but was happy to find that the WWI aspect of the book lifted it considerably from the mundane.

The story begins with Joseph Reavley, a chaplain in the army, rescuing injured men from no-man's-land. When he is injured bringing back a man from his own village, he wakes in an army hospital with an injured arm and damaged leg. He is sent home to receuperate with his sister Hannah and her boys. Hannah's husband is at sea with the navy and Joseph's brother, Matthew is working in intelligence.
Then a man from the village is murdered show more and Joseph, in his position as chaplain, becomes drawn into events as he comforts the grieving wife and interacts with his father's old friend Corcoran, who had been the dead man's boss.
I enjoyed the picture of life at home while the men were at war and the struggling pastor of the village who had no idea how to be there for his parisioners as word came back from the front of their losses.
The who-done-it part had a few unexpected twists and turns and this was altogether a joy to listen to.
I did think the court case was lacking in authenticity but otherwise four stars.

I hadn't realised that this was the middle book of a five part series but although I would have preferred to have read them in order it did not detract in any way. I will look out for the others and try to read the whole set.
My abridged version was well read by Michael Page.

Also read:
A Christmas Guest by Anne Perry (3 stars) show less

This series is proving a partial disappointment to this devoted Anne Perry reader. The mystery part of the plot has been rather slight, and its development dependent on hearsay and gossip. I must confess I found protagonist Joseph Reavley's inexorable logical unraveling less inexorable and logical than he did.

I was also troubled by the subplots or vignettes -- for example, that of Joseph's sister Judith, still driving ambulances in Flanders -- that didn't seem to resolve or even recur in the latter part of the book. There were also some minor characters whose moral positions seem underexamined and untenable despite our being asked to relate to them at least partially. In a series as dependent as this one has been on niceties of ethics, show more that can be troubling.

Perry is a good author, and I will give the next book in the series a try. I still care about these characters and the village they hail from. However, had I borrowed this book in paper form, forcing it to compete with my other reading material, rather than in audiobook so I could listen to it as I bake and clean, I might not have completed it.

Audiobook: Either the narrator has toned down his emoting, I have gotten used to it, or there simply weren't as many hysterical women or browbeating men for him to chew on, this time. The narration was fine. show less

3rd of 5 in series. Perry works well dealing with Joseph and the demons he must wrestle with in finding God's voice in the turmoil and destruction of the fabric of society. Although I did not find her portrayal of the sea battle effective, I think this is the volume (not having read the final one yet) I enjoyed the most. Or, perhaps that would be better said, of the three dealing (so far) with actual war, this is the one I have enjoyed the most....hmmm which is interesting in that it dealt with civilian coping more than trench warfare.

Interestingly, at least from my perspective, Joseph was no better, yet no worse, at dealing with espionage as his supposedly brilliant younger brother Matthew.

England + front 1916 — Reavley family 3rd in series — looking for Peacemaker who wanted peace at all costs — still not found!

Angels in the Gloom is an intense saga of love, hate, obsession, and murder that features an honorable English family–brothers Joseph and Matthew Reavley and their sisters, Judith and Hannah.

In March 1916, Joseph, a chaplain at the front, and Judith, an ambulance driver, are fighting not only the Germans but the bitter cold and the appalling casualties at Ypres. Scarcely less at risk, Matthew, an officer in England’s Secret Intelligence Service, fights the war covertly from London. Only Hannah, living with her children in the family home in tranquil Cambridgeshire, seems safe.

I enjoyed the novel. Anne Perry made it interesting and was organized in her writing the story. The book was very discriptive and drifting in and out of different emotions. The war events were proper history and aventurous from both sides of the equation. The novel kept me compelled to read on for the sake of the (characters) people in the world of war.