Katherine's Reviews > Destroyer Angel
Destroyer Angel (Anna Pigeon, #18)
by
by
*2.5 stars. Usually I really enjoy the Anna Pigeon mysteries. I just didn't find this one very interesting. It dragged and too much time was spent with the non-Anna characters. Nevertheless, here are quotes I appreciated:
"The only earth the meek inherited was six feet down and capped by a stone" (5).
"When it came to fundamental criminal activities, Charles doubted if he could steal a peek at a nudist camp" (5).
"The air was a delicate balance. The last summer rested on the skin as the prickle of coming winter brushed the mind" (14).
"Money was like sugar; too much of it sickened people" (15).
"They needed to believe the impossible: that there was an end to suffering, that their emptiness would be filled. That they were loved" (16).
"Tracking everything from grizzly bears to skunks, she'd become convinced animals could sense a clamorous mind. People, not so much…" (29).
"On a canvas of exposed roots and rocks, firelight painted a stairway that might have been done on one of Dali's bad days" (29).
"…either liked the look or hadn't bothered to update his perception in thirty years" (31).
"It was more like the sound Heath imagined when characters in Dickens's books said, 'Harrumph'" (41).
"Time and life were the only true riches humans had" (44).
"Greed was like hope on steroids, ready to see the object of desire where it did not exist" (70).
"One never had to hide from numbers. In math two plus two always equaled four. In English literature two plus two could equal two above ground, one in a tomb, and one swallowing poison. Philosophy, sociology--the studies of why people felt as they did and did as they did--were even worse" (72).
"Of course she had heard the word 'fuck' before. She'd just never heard it used as a verb, a noun, and an adjective, often in a single sentence" (106-107).
"The apple showed nearly as much courage as the tree" (129).
"…her skin had faded to the color of an old chamois cloth, hard used and much laundered…" (135-136).
"Sean started putting on his shoes with a slowness that would have done a recalcitrant four-year-old proud" (144).
“People who held up the Bible and proclaimed their belief in God, then denied Lucifer and his demons were cherry picking. God didn’t work like that. Charles had always known he couldn’t take only the good parts of anything. Without darkness, light was meaningless. Without Satan, God was nothing but a schizophrenic with a cruel streak” (161).
“Anna found money an alien concept. In the real world a hot bath, an apple, a cup of tea: Those things were real” (168).
“Dog nose paid off before human eye” (168).
"…damp and lichen drew faces on the stones" (186).
"Reg was performing a remarkable feat; he was whining in a baritone, and with bravado" (186).
“In the bottom ran a shallow stream; the music she’d heard earlier” (189).
"Night did not so much fall as thicken imperceptibly around the trees and bushes" (246).
“No crunching of a man trying to navigate the night woods followed” (247).
“God is good, Heath thought. Then, considering the situation, amended it to: God is not as rotten as he could have been” (251).
“She crossed and entered again into the midnight of trees” (256).
"To wear a jacket like that in a tiny airplane put Leah in mind of a lab tech she'd worked with who wore full motorcycle leathers when he rode his 49 cc scooter to work" (282).
“Even though Heath couldn’t feel it, there could be no harm in warming the blood headed back up to her friend’s heart” (288).
"The only earth the meek inherited was six feet down and capped by a stone" (5).
"When it came to fundamental criminal activities, Charles doubted if he could steal a peek at a nudist camp" (5).
"The air was a delicate balance. The last summer rested on the skin as the prickle of coming winter brushed the mind" (14).
"Money was like sugar; too much of it sickened people" (15).
"They needed to believe the impossible: that there was an end to suffering, that their emptiness would be filled. That they were loved" (16).
"Tracking everything from grizzly bears to skunks, she'd become convinced animals could sense a clamorous mind. People, not so much…" (29).
"On a canvas of exposed roots and rocks, firelight painted a stairway that might have been done on one of Dali's bad days" (29).
"…either liked the look or hadn't bothered to update his perception in thirty years" (31).
"It was more like the sound Heath imagined when characters in Dickens's books said, 'Harrumph'" (41).
"Time and life were the only true riches humans had" (44).
"Greed was like hope on steroids, ready to see the object of desire where it did not exist" (70).
"One never had to hide from numbers. In math two plus two always equaled four. In English literature two plus two could equal two above ground, one in a tomb, and one swallowing poison. Philosophy, sociology--the studies of why people felt as they did and did as they did--were even worse" (72).
"Of course she had heard the word 'fuck' before. She'd just never heard it used as a verb, a noun, and an adjective, often in a single sentence" (106-107).
"The apple showed nearly as much courage as the tree" (129).
"…her skin had faded to the color of an old chamois cloth, hard used and much laundered…" (135-136).
"Sean started putting on his shoes with a slowness that would have done a recalcitrant four-year-old proud" (144).
“People who held up the Bible and proclaimed their belief in God, then denied Lucifer and his demons were cherry picking. God didn’t work like that. Charles had always known he couldn’t take only the good parts of anything. Without darkness, light was meaningless. Without Satan, God was nothing but a schizophrenic with a cruel streak” (161).
“Anna found money an alien concept. In the real world a hot bath, an apple, a cup of tea: Those things were real” (168).
“Dog nose paid off before human eye” (168).
"…damp and lichen drew faces on the stones" (186).
"Reg was performing a remarkable feat; he was whining in a baritone, and with bravado" (186).
“In the bottom ran a shallow stream; the music she’d heard earlier” (189).
"Night did not so much fall as thicken imperceptibly around the trees and bushes" (246).
“No crunching of a man trying to navigate the night woods followed” (247).
“God is good, Heath thought. Then, considering the situation, amended it to: God is not as rotten as he could have been” (251).
“She crossed and entered again into the midnight of trees” (256).
"To wear a jacket like that in a tiny airplane put Leah in mind of a lab tech she'd worked with who wore full motorcycle leathers when he rode his 49 cc scooter to work" (282).
“Even though Heath couldn’t feel it, there could be no harm in warming the blood headed back up to her friend’s heart” (288).
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To the examples above I could easily add many more from the first 8 chapters alone. I had to reread the first few chapters to try to work out what the author was trying to describe. This book just seemed to be written by someone with little writing experience. Very odd.