The Trial of Fallen Angels - James Kimmel Jr.

The Trial of Fallen Angels is James Kimmel Jr.'s first fiction book.

Brek Cuttler awakes in a train station. She's sitting on a bench in  her favourite 'power lawyer' suit. The station is deserted. Her suit is covered in blood. She is sure she is dreaming when a man comes along and welcomes her to Shemaya. She struggles to remember who she is and what she was doing before she arrived at this station. Inevitability, she discover that the man Luas is right - she is dead. And she has a job to do in Shemaya....

"You don't think God would allow souls to face the Final Judgment alone, do you? Even murderers on earth have a lawyer to represent them, and the outcomes of those trials are only temporary. The stakes are higher here, dear. All of eternity."

As Brek begins presenting the memories of the dead,  she begins to realize that the acts and events of each person have also played a part in her own life and are part of her own final choice and presentation.

Kimmel explores the themes of justice and forgiveness in The Trial of Fallen Angels with a keen eye and much thought. Kimmel has presented his philosophical viewpoints cloaked in a mystery. When this book was pitched to me for review, I wasn't fully aware of how much emphasis was placed on spirituality. I felt that the characters were used only a vehicle to carry the message, so I never really bought into Brek. As God is the Judge, this is somewhat limiting for believers of other faiths or non believers, although I do think Kimmel's views are extremely intriguing and applicable to anyone.

So while it was an interesting read, I did find it slow in parts and ended up skimming by the end to get to the conclusion.

 Kimmell "is a lawyer and advocate who focuses on the intersections of law and spirituality and law and psychology."

The Trial of Fallen Angels would be an excellent selection for a book club, sure to engender lots of discussion. Read an excerpt of The Trial of Fallen Angels.

The Gods of Gotham - Lyndsay Faye

The Gods of Gotham by  Lyndsay Faye's  is newly released novel today. And it's definitely one you want to get your hands on!

"On the night of August 21, 1845, one of the children escaped."

I was captured from that opening line - hook line and sinker. History and mystery combined is a sure bet for me and Faye did not disappoint.

1845 is a turning point in the history of New York City. Thousands of immigrants fleeing from the potato famine in Ireland settle in the city and the first formal police force is formed. That line?  It's from a report written by 'copper star' Timothy Wilde, a policeman in the Sixth Ward - home to the notorious Five Points and more.

Wilde has been hired on based on the recommendation of his bigger than life brother, Valentine. And also on his knowledge of  'flash'.

" Flash, or flash-patter, is the curious dialect spoken by foisters, panel thieves, bruisers, dice burners, confidence men, street rats, news hawkers, addicts, and Valentine.....It's not a language, exactly - it's more like a code."

Faye provides us with a mini lexicon in the beginning of the book, based on George Washington Matsell's actual book from 1859. (Take the Penguin 'Flash" quiz here.)Matsell is also a character in the book. I loved the amount of history and detail that Lyndsay Faye has woven into her book. It brought the time period to life - the political machinations, the religious unrest, the racial prejudice and the social fabric of the time provided a engrossing backdrop for a delicious plot.

Faye's prose paint vivid pictures: (It's a long passage but especially good!)

"If there's a wider street on earth than Broadway, a street more roiling, a street with a more dizzying pendulum swing between starving opium fiends with the rags rotting off of them and ladies in walking gowns bedecked like small steamships, I can't imagine it nor do I want to. Colored footmen sitting atop phaetons and wearing summer straw hats and pale green linen coats whirred past me that morning, one nearly colliding with a Jewess selling ribbons from a wide hinged box hung around her neck. Ice delivery men from the Knickerbocker Company, shoulders knotted with painful-seeming muscles, strained with iron tongs to hoist frozen blocks onto carts and then wheeled their cargo into the opulent hotels before the guests awoke. And weaving in and out, mud-crusted  and randy and miraculously nimble, trotted the speckled pigs, rubbery snouts nuzzling the trampled beet leaves. Everything begrimed but the storefront window panes, everything for sale but the cobblestones, everyone pulsing with energy but never meeting your eye"

But what really grabbed me were the characters. Timothy's life changes radically over the course of the book. From a bartender saving his coins, dreaming of marriage and a small piece of land to being consumed with solving the child murder cases that have fallen in his lap - and finding out he's very good at it.

"I wanted to know how they came to be there like very little else I've ever wanted, and I'd never felt so about a puzzle before....this was a single goal, a mountain to climb and see the top with your own eyes, and I needed to know."

The relationship between Timothy and his brother Valentine is a mystery to be solved as well. I loved the cast of eclectic supporting characters - especially Mr. Piest and George Matsell.

Lyndsay Faye has combined a great mystery with a fascinating look at history and engaging characters, all of which kept me up late, rapidly turning 'just one more page'.  I truly hope that that Faye has plans to continue on with these characters.

**Just found in an interview with Kirkus reviews...."The first draft of the sequel is finished, actually. It’s the winter of 1846, about six months later, and in it I merrily continue to do terrible, terrible things to Tim and Val."

Fans of Caleb Carr's The Alienist would enjoy this book. And author Michael Connelly says "A wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of hum"A wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of human character even more so. I bought into this world in the opening pages and never once had the desire to leave. It's a great read." Five stars for me!

Read an excerpt from The Gods of Gotham. (You'll be hooked...) A Reading Group Guide is available as well. You can find Lyndsay Faye on Twitter and on Facebook.