Death Angel - Dark Publications

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Product Description
A striking beauty with a taste for diamonds and dangerous men, Drea Rousseau was more than content to be arm candy for Rafael Salinas, a notorious crime lord who deals with betrayal through quick and treacherous means: a bullet to the back of the head, a blade across the neck, an incendiary device beneath a car. Now eager to break with Rafael, Drea makes a fateful decision and a desperate move, stealing a mountain of cash from the malicious killer. After all, an escape needs to be financed.

Though Drea runs, Salinas knows she can’t hide – and he dispatches a cold-blooded assassin in hot pursuit, resulting in a tragic turn of events. Or does it?

Left for dead, Drea miraculously returns to the realm of the living a changed woman. She’s no longer shallow and selfish, no longer steals or cheats or sells herself short. But in order to feel safe she will need to take down those who marked her for death.

Customer Reviews: Read 108 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Best Linda Howard in Years!!! July 4, 2008
59 out of 67 found this review helpful

This is truly a story of redeeming love, and I loved it. Linda Howard has taken some truly unlikeable characters and because of a life changing miracle given us two truly memorable characters. The first few chapters led me to believe it was like some of her other books and I started to put it down. But the cover said something about a miracle so I kept reading and am I glad I did.

Drea Rousseau is the mistress of a mobster. She is smart enough to act very dumb. She was raised poor and determined to have the best in life she could get. She has been his mistress for two years. At the age of 15 she got pregnant and when she lost the baby she lost her self. That was when she decided to go for everything she wanted. Using her body and her wits she has climbed to the penthouse of a mobster.

The assassin is unknown and we don't learn his name until the end of the book. The mobster uses him for the most deadly hits on his competitors. He always gets the job done and his very cold deadly glance gives even Salinas cold chills.

As the book starts he is facing Salinas, who wants to give him a bonus for his good work. A hundred thousand extra dollars, but the assassin asks for Drea for one time. He is testing how far Salinas will go to humor him. Drea considers herself a mistress not a ho. Now however she can't believe Salinas will give her to this man.

Drea spends four hours with the assassin and her life is changed in ways she doesn't understand. She asks him to take her with him, but he laughs and leaves. At that time her hatred for Salinas is unstoppable and she puts her get away plans into motion.

Salinas naturally calls on the assassin to take her out. From this point on I could not put it down. It is truly one of the best books by Howard I have read in many yrs. Do not miss this one.

5 out of 5 stars

Intense Read - Well Worth Time and $$$ July 2, 2008
36 out of 42 found this review helpful

I agree with another reviewer that likened this story to "Son of the Morning" and "Cry No More." The story was as intense as those, but as emotionally fulfilling as "Mackenzie's Mountain," my favorite book of all time, not just of Ms. Howard's titles, to me. Drea/Andie reminded me more of Milla than Grace, and "The Assassin" definitely brought Diego to mind.

This was one of Ms. Howard's best efforts since "To Die For." While the two storylines were very different, the characters were just as rich - the good, the bad, and the non-critical-path-individuals. The story was not something that I saw coming, and I hung on through the entire ride. While the end was perfect, like another reviewer, I would have loved for the story to continue...but I have to admit I feel that way about all of the good books I read.

I read quite a bit, and am very particular in what I consider worth my time, effort, and hard-earned money. This was well worth all, even at the HC price.

I don't feel that I can discuss the specifics of why the story worked for me without including spoilers...so, as the title of this review states, it is an intense story, and well worth the time, effort, and expense.

5 out of 5 stars

4.5 Stars July 1, 2008
28 out of 31 found this review helpful

If asked "Who has been disappointed by Linda Howard's latest hardcover novels, raise your hand?" mine would've been the first one to shoot into the air. However, Linda Howard is one of the most versatile authors out there and she has written some of my very favorite books, so when given the opportunity to read this book, I jumped at the chance. I thought it was great! Her last few books have focused too much on the details and/or the unbelievable plots and left characters to fall by the wayside. Not so with Death Angel. Yes, there are a lot of details and the plot is unbelievable at times, but the way the story is put together is one heck of a ride. I couldn't stop turning the pages.

When reading the summary, I wasn't sure I would like Drea. Who would be interested in a drug runners arm candy? So I was more than a little surprised when I was actually sympathizing with her from the first chapter. She is a very layered heroine and it was so interesting to watch the evolution of her character. She is most definitely arm candy by the very definition of the phrase for the first part of the book, but she is also very cunning, conniving and street smart - a fact that is shown more than once as she plays the role of girlfriend to Rafael Salinas (a role that he buys into wholeheartedly).

This book doesn't skimp on the details of Drea's situation or how she gets out of it, but unlike last year's 'Up Close and Dangerous', the details add to the story instead of taking away from it.

This isn't a love story in the traditional sense of the word, but there is a love story in it. It's a very female-driven plot (think of 'Son of the Morning' or 'Cry No More' - the story in no way resembles these two books, but the layout of the plot and the heroine doing anything and everything she can to survive is what reminded me of those two, as well as the relationship between the hero/heroine - not a lot of page time, but it's worthwhile when they are together).

That being said, it won't be for everyone. There is a small paranormal aspect to it that some people probably won't like. I enjoyed it and others will as well, but not everyone. It's a very small aspect of the story (less than 25 pages) but very pivotal, so don't let that sway you either way in buying the book or not buying it.

The hero is definitely her darkest yet. The baddest of her bad boys and one of my new favorites. He's known for several chapters as nothing but 'the assassin' which set him apart from her other heroes at the first mention of him. The heroine was strong and smart with a soft side that draws the reader (or at least this reader) in from the very beginning. It starts off with a bang (literally) and the pace rarely slows down until the end.

Is it as good as some of Linda Howard's novels? No. But it is one of the best books I've read this year and I'm so relieved to see she hasn't lost her edge. It's definitely LH's best hardcover in the last five years or more. Without question, I will be buying her next book in HC, and looking forward to it.

2 out of 5 stars

Many Lives, Many Masters July 4, 2008
22 out of 32 found this review helpful

Dark Angel is not a traditional romance/thriller novel. It's a spiritual book/allegory in disguise. The plot line seems to suggest a sophisticated plot with the usual story elements: a vicious drug lord with a personal grudge, a heroine running for her life, a shadowy hero with a secretive past, and a couple of lethargic FBI agents who are always two steps behind the game. The basic thread of the story centers on the actions of the heroine who steals a couple of million dollars from her drug trafficking "sugar daddy" as payback for his treatment of her as a sexual object,traded on demand. The hero aka the assassin is a cold-blooded killer motivated by money.
He's "the best of the cut throats" with a high commission fee.

What do the hero and heroine have in common? How can readers possibly connect with these characters? Who cares about a woman who sells her soul to the devil (the drug dealer) in exchange for a handful of jewelry and a life in a gilded cage. Who can accept a "hero", a murderer by profession, as a match for the heroine? What can possibly unite them as believable characters deserving of a second chance at life and love? Howard's set up: they are both lost souls in search of redemption, but each has to find his/her way out of hell separately.

The frustrating part of this novel is that too much attention is devoted to the insignificant details (how to transfer money by computer, how to hide one's identity on the run, how to circumvent banking regulations, etc.) and not enough time to real characterization techniques through dialogue and interactions so readers can appreciate the characters fully. The hero/heroine have very few scenes together; any "bond" they have is superficial and undeveloped. The action/suspense elements in the novel are lacking: no clever action scenes, no intense scenes between the hero and the heroine confronting the the drug king, no real description into the inner workings of the criminal world, no real drama (the drug lord is neutralized too easily).

The real energy of the novel comes from understanding the nature of the soul. Readers familiar with near death experience narratives/discussions (such as books by Dr. Brian Weiss about karma and the after life) will easily identify Howard's controlling idea in this novel: love is pure; love is eternal; love is redemptive. The heroine rediscovers her purpose in life and her humanity after her physical death and gets a chance to return to her earthly life to make amends in order to be worthy of a blessed life on the other side. "The purest form of love, a mother's love" (sounds like a line from Harry Potter's life) gives her a chance to be whole again. In turn, she changes the consciousness of the hero, who confronts the truth of his own worthless life and also makes amends. The after life theme is intriguing and authentic; what's disappointing about both characters is that they hardly interact with each other for readers to see the connections forming between them because of this newfound awareness.

Many readers have mentioned that the hero is referred to simply as "the assassin" for most of the novel, which fits his profession and lack of humanity; towards the middle of the novel, he is characterized as "Simon Goodnight" to give him a human dimension (Goodnight is a clever, ironic moniker for one who brings death to others). At the end of the novel, he is revealed as "Simon Cross," a strong Biblical allusion consistent with the conversion theme. However, the novel would be more powerful had there been more development of his character for the readers to appreciate how "Cross" fits him. What type of cross did he bear and what cross will he carry in the future?

The ending of the novel seems odd. Both the hero/heroine get a new life out of the country, but the closing conversation they have is on (in)fertility issues: no "bad genes" will be passed on to future generations from these "bad characters." What message is Howard making about the inherent goodness in all human beings?

I would consider Dark Angel a fictionalized discussion of the soul's long day's journey into night and the intriguing possibility that we have many lives to live and many "masters" on the other side to help us grow and evolve.

1 out of 5 stars

Not Linda Howard at her best! July 7, 2008
16 out of 28 found this review helpful

I usually like Linda Howard but her last few books have been disappointing. Death Angel continues her downward spiral and probably has crossed her off of my "authors to read no matter what" list. The characters are too flawed to be redeemable or plausible. The miracle is a real stretch - too much to be believable even in a psychic sense. And for the heroine to fall for a guy that basically buys and uses her, just glamorizes rape to a point that is fairly disgusting. A "chemistry connection" even while being raped is still rape. Save your money and time and leave this one on the shelf.

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