The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, book review

I have so far enjoyed the books from Janice Hallett so I was keen to read The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels.

The Blurb

Everyone knows about the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing that her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared into the care system.

Now, author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the true-crime scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby’s trail.

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined. This story is far from over…

My Review

First, the story. This is my favourite story by Janice Hallett so far. I loved The Twyford Code and The Appeal but I have to say The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels really gripped me and I loved the ending. (Well, I didn’t, it wasn’t pleasant, but the twist was great!)

It follows two journalists who are tied together because they are both researching the Alperton Angels for books. The baby in the case is now 18 so they both set out to find it and end up having to work a little together. The Alperton Angels were a cult led by so called Angels who manipulated youngsters and convinced them that the baby is an anti-Christ and must be sacrificed, but it all goes terribly wrong. The result is a mass suicide and the journalists Amanda and Oliver are about to uncover what really happened.

As usual for Janice Hallett, the book does not read as normal. The story is told in a series of recordings, What’s app. messages and texts all transcribed by Ellie. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but if you are familiar with Janice Hallett’s work you will know that this is how she presents her story.

Now for the audible version. I did say last time that I’d prefer to read the book, but I think this one really worked in audible format. Ellie was transcribing so she was like a ‘king pin’ in the story. Each of the characters had their own voice actors which brought the story to life. A lot of it was recordings so it was like listening in to their conversations. The What’s app. and text messages where read out by Ellie so it wasn’t so annoying hearing the dates and times, I did find the emoji’s amusing. I often misuse emoji’s and I have no idea what half of them are called so it was fun hearing them described. ‘blushing cute face emoji’ ‘laughing emoji times 5’

This book certainly left me lots to think about at the end. I should have seen it coming…the clues are there!

I listened to the book on Audible where you can get a 30 day free trial if you click the banner. This is also my affiliate link.

you can also purchase the book on Amazon