Review Page: The Second Angel by Jeff Noon
| Title: |
The Second Angel |
| Author: |
Philip Kerr |
| Format: |
Novel |
| Genre: |
Science Fiction |
| Publisher: |
Orion Paperbacks |
| Date of Publication: |
5 August, 1999 |
| ISBN: |
0752826867 |
No. of Reviews: 1
Av. Rating: 7/10
Buy this book from the Amazon website.
16.11.2000 - Arcadian - 7/10
List of Reviews | Bio
The Second Angel is set in the middle of the 21st century. Most of the population of Earth are infected with a virus, P2, which will kill them at some time in middle - early adulthood. The price of blood has skyrocketed, the healthy deposit as much blood as they can in blood banks, take out mortgages against it, deal in futures in it and live in highly policed Clean Blood Zones, keeping out the carriers of the virus.
Our hero, Dallas, designs security for blood banks, but when his daughter is diagnosed with an illness requiring constant blood transfusions for the rest of her life - a treatment beyond even Dallas's considerable means - he becomes a liability to his employers, and an assassin is sent to kill him. The assassination is bungled, Dallas's wife and daughter are killed, and he goes on the run. He decides to get his revenge the most effective way he can, by robbing the First National Blood Bank, for which designed the supposedly impregnable defences. (The blurb on the book is misleading here, saying "he needs that blood - without it his daugher will die".)
Philip Kerr is absurdly knowledgeable. His story is peppered with titbits of trivia, often as footnotes, which he uses perhaps even more than early Pratchett, but surprisingly this is rarely intrusive. Sometimes he uses his footnotes to explain aspects of mid 21st century culture which are not obvious from the context - such as the properties of a tablet one of his characters is taking, and other times to refer the reader to further information, or the source of an idea or allusion. Only very few of these told me something I already knew, and I appreciated the others. (In books where I notice references I'm always plagued by wondering about the references I don't notice.) Yes, he's showing off, but it's hard to begrudge him that when he does it a way so eager to inform his readers.
The story is competently told and fast moving; the character interactions, company politics and social commentary fit in neatly with what is essentially a bank robbery, albeit against tighter security than most bank robbers face.
Unfortunately, the ending disappoints. It's been hinted at throughout the book, but, optimistically, I ignored the hints. If I'd paid more attention I might have felt less let down.