The Angel's Game

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I was really looking forward to reading this novel by Spanish writer, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I really enjoyed his first novel, translated into English, entitled "Shadow of the Wind". Shadow of the Wind is a beautifully written story about a young boy and the mystery that surrounds a book he chooses, or it may be the other way around, from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. However this is a much darker and sinister story.

The Angel's Game once again incorporates a secret visit to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for David Martin, the main character. This is an intricately plotted novel, with parallels to Great Expectations (the book by Dickens does play a role in the story) and Faust by Goethe. David, who starts out as cub reporter for a Barcelona newspaper, and is recruited by the editor, because he has a talent for telling tales, to write serial stories for the paper, entitled ''The Mysteries of Barcelona''. David moves on from the newspaper work and begins to write cheap "B" grade tales for a local publisher under a pseudonym. This success enables him to buy an abandoned tower house he was always interested in. His life begins to unravel, from the pressure of pumping out the cheap, sensationalized novels and the mysteries that surround his new home.

David is given the opportunity to break out of his literary rut, when a French publisher, Andreas Corelli, offers him a significant sum to write just one novel. This Faustian bargain that David enters into, unfortunately, further leads to his unraveling. The literary project in which Corelli has enlisted David winds up involving him in all manner of deceptions and outright crimes, including a fair number of violent deaths (NY Times Book Review).

Zafon at times is a beautiful writer and quite a storyteller. His prose, at times, flows like poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed Shadow of the Wind. However, while the Angel's Game started out with that same mystical and mysterious tone, it seemed to spiral out of control like a promising horror film that ultimately turns into just another slasher film. But I will say, his closing chapter pulled me back from that dark abyss that David Martin was in, and brought tears to my eyes. Zafon weaves such a spell that you will stay with David and ultimately find yourself caring for what happens to him.