Black Angel

Price: 34.95 AUD

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The Black Angel has a wonderful premise: a married man is falsely convicted of murdering his mistress with his wife then doing everything conceivable to find the real killer. And Cornell Woolrich certainly has the credentials for writing wonderful noire mysteries. But The Black Angel falls flat at least for this reader. Why?? Well...

The Black Angel is in many ways a series of short stories. Our wife/heroine goes through the mistress/victim's little black book to find who might be the real murder. In effect each chapter of the book is a separate mini-story of the heroine confronting some strange (and sometimes dangerous) man. While each mini-story in by itself is often interesting not enough time is really afforded for character development; it all goes by so quickly and most often unsatisfactorily. However The Black Angel is partially redeemed by a good (and surprising) ending.

Bottom line: not one of Woolrich's better efforts although Woolrich fans will probably find some enjoyment from it. For Woolrich neophytes I recommend starting with one of his classics (such as Waltz Into Darkness).