Death Angel, by Linda Howard

Perhaps I should start by disclosing that I am a fan of Ms Howard’s writing. While a few of her more recent novels haven’t particularly resonated with me, most of her work does. In fact, a good many of her books are comfort reads for me, novels I read again and again, and enjoy equally every time. This one, once again, hit the spot for me.

Death Angel is a difficult book to review because, while a romance, it doesn’t have many of the traditional sympathy grabbers of so many romance novels. The heroine is a rich—and unscrupulous—man’s mistress. We don’t know the hero’s name for more than half the book. Neither of them has many redeeming qualities. As my significant other asked me (twice during the first half of the book, and once again going on the last quarter), Who are we supposed to be rooting for, again?

On top of this, the protagonists are not together for a good four fifths of the novel. How can this be a romance novel? I can hear the critics say.

And yet, Ms Howard’s writing is so good, the reader can’t help but root for Drea and wonder about… 😀 him. It works.

Here’s the ohmygawdawful jacket cover blurb…

(by the way… Why oh why do they write these things? Seriously! This one is one of the worst offenders ever—it gives away too much and it gets a bunch of facts wrong on top! Arrrrggghhh!): (more…)