Books : A Quiet Belief in Angels

Rating: - Brilliant!
I don't get much time to read fiction but once I started this book, I was compelled to make time for it. Ellory's style of writing really puts you there with the characters. This would make a great movie!
I'd also recommend Candlemoth by Ellory.

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Rating: - Compelling
In A Quiet Belief in Angels, RJ Ellory has created an unfamiliar world in which the sacred and the profane cross paths and destinies, in which the most unlikely shape-shifters trod zig-zag paths, in which the life of one Joseph Vaughan spins out its chiaroscuro web of cul de sacs, and sudden lurches left and right -- where there is always someone or some memory looking over your shoulder, and where neither the protagonist nor the reader can ever afford to lower their guard.

Ellory's language is sometimes poetic, always intoxicating; his logic, the logic of dreams where transitions are as seamless and illogical as they are compelling.

Run don't walk into A Quiet Belief in Angels. When you get there -- it's 1939 in rural Georgia -- fasten your emotional seat belt and give yourself over to Ellory's imagination and prose. You are in for a ride you will not want to end and will not easily forget.

If I haven't made my point yet, I highly recommend this book. (And while you're here, check out Ellory's A Quiet Vendetta.)

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Rating: - Disappointing
I have to differ with most of the reviews. As a Black Countryman myself (honourary) I was impressed to learn that this authentic Southern US voice hails from Birmingham (the original one) but overall was disappointed. A good idea spoiled for me by repetition. The same feelings being expressed too many times. I think the editor is at fault. All in all it reminded me of any of several Stephen King or Peter Straub stories where the sins of one's youth continue to haunt the protagonist(usually literally!)in later life, minus the supernatural element and the quality of exposition. All in all not convinced by the internal world or the external world of the main character.

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Rating: - Smell the coffee!
Smell the coffee, feel the heat, but you won't want to get out of the kitchen!

It is a privilege to be invited into the life of Joseph Vaughn. A privilege and a responsibility. A fascinating, yet relentless insight into his world and the people who share it with him.

The author invites us to use all our senses by contrasting an emotional landscape which stretches far belong the horizons of Augusta falls, Georgia.

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Rating: - profound poetry
I was grabbed by the first paragraph and couldn't put it down. When i finished i went out and bought 4 more copies for friends and family. RJ Ellory KNOWS how to write. It was so theraputic to read such a well written book. He has ruined me for many other crime writers. I read a great deal so when a book can keep you guessing to the very final pages thats one helluva good book.