Angelmaker [Hardcover]

Joshua Joseph Spork is a name that will be with me for a long time, if not the rest of my life. He is an antique dealer, expert repairer of things clockwork, son of a submachine toting crook, and the main character in Nick Harkaway's spy adventure novel, "Angelmaker".

When I reviewed Nick's previous novel, "The Gone-Away World", I described it as "a fast paced tale that covers a lot of ground and doesn't let you rest for a minute". Well, he's done it again. The same pace; subtle, and not so subtle humour; intricate plot, and breadth of scope are all present. "The Gone-Away World" convinced me I should read anything Nick writes. "Angelmaker" reinforced this conviction.

Without being specific I can tell you that Joe Spork, like any central character in a spy novel, finds himself in a troublesome situation with different elements of his life falling asunder. For someone who just wants a quiet life this is rather troubling. In addition, he is surrounded by characters who may be on his side, or possibly the other. For that matter, he doesn't know what or who the other side is.

We also meet Edie Banister and her pet dog. Don't be fooled by Edie Banister's outward appearance. She may be a little old lady in her eighties, but in her heart she is something very different.

Nick's characters are impeccably drawn, his language artful, and his plot intriguing. This was one of those books that I was sorry to finish and that, I have to admit, had me with a lump in my throat at the end.

"Angelmaker" is much more than a spy novel. It is a tale of struggle and loyalty; a story of family and righteousness; and a narrative of how a legacy of former years can visit havoc on the present day world. It also poses the questions, "Who is really in control?", "What are they really trying to do?" and "Do they have a clue what they're doing?"

Back in June 2008 I picked up a debut novel `The Gone-Away World' that frankly blew me away and left me wondering what Nick Harkaway would come up with next and indeed how he could write anything better. When a proof copy of `The Angelmaker' came into my possession I couldn't have been happier and all other reading was put on hold. Anyone who enjoyed `The Gone-Away World' is going to love this.

Joe Spork is trying to live a quiet life, not easy when your (deceased father) was an infamous mobster - Matthew `Tommy Gun' Spork. On the first page we learn of how his father hijacked a lorry load of Argyll socks destined for St Andrew's Golf Club, ridiculous, bizarre but hilarious to read. Joe spends his life mending clockwork and when a `friend' hears of a clockwork mechanism that needs repairing Joe is called in. Unfortunately this leads to him unknowingly triggering a doomsday device `The Apprehension Engine' and a bit like Richard Hannay in `The 39 Steps' he is on the run and caught between the Government and a sinister organization known as `The Ruskinites', taking their name from the 19th century art and literary critic John Ruskin. This weapon is unlike anything you have come across before.

Joe comes into contact with another inspired creation in Edie Bannister, a former spy now in her 80's who has grown bored and craves excitement again. She spent years trying to kill her nemesis Shem Shem Tsien but he just refused to die. Joe and Edie join forces to save the world's population from a fate worse than death, with some help from his underworld contacts. Nick Harkaway has a slightly warped and subversive sense of humour which suffuses just about every page. In `The Angelmaker' he successfully combines action with tragedy he throws in a bit of philosophy, some romantic interest for our hero, memorable characters and of course, bees, the ending had me almost cheering out loud. It often happens that great story tellers are not particularly good writers, Nick Harkaway combines both skills to great effect.

This is a thoroughly entertaining novel that I can't recommend highly enough for anyone who is looking for something a bit different. And if you don't know who his Dad is I am not going to tell you, but it definitely goes a long way to explain his story telling ability. I just hope that there is not such a long wait for his next novel!

Just noticed that a short story is available for Kindle 'Edie Investigares', involving Edie Bannister from 'Angelmaker', so if you have a Kindle and are unsure about Harkaway's novels this would be a good way to discover him.

There are some wonderful, inventive ideas in here. The Ruskinites are a great creation, and rather touching with it; the effect of the Doomsday machine is frightening and original.

On the other hand, there's also a lot of annoying whimsy and juvenilia. It's trying far too hard to be cool.The main characters are cyphers, spouting identikit 'snappy' Tarantino-style dialogue, and it's very difficult to feel anything for any of them, or care about their fates. The silly names don't help. The female characters are particularly one-dimensional and unconvincing, consisting almost entirely of lithe bisexual women who get turned on by absolutely everything (in one section, one of them is turned on by the sight of her own forearm. Sigh.) As a female reader it can feel quite alienating - these are women created by male fantasy. The sheer amount of over-the-top, cringeworthy sex scenes is exasperating. It reads, at times, like something written by a hyperventilating teenage boy. You wish he'd pull himself together and focus on the plot, which can be gripping, but you'll be lucky if the action's not interrupted by pages of interminable stuff about the nature of causality or a long description of something that isn't as interesting as the author thinks it is. When you do get the action, it's often over-egged with hyper-violence and gratuitous nastiness which in the end becomes more tiresome than shocking. As others have said, also, it needs a really good edit. I've found myself skipping whole sections of superfluous stuff. You would have thought the issue might have been resolved post-Gone Away World, but Angelmaker is almost as verbose.

But then, I'm still reading it. It's gripping. Just prepare to be frustrated.