Written in Hallett's trademark style of disjointed texts, emails, recorded conversations and book excerpts, the Alperton Angels pulls you in for the ride.
An unsolved murder enquiry centring on a mysterious 'religious' cult garners attention from two writers of true crime fiction, who are jointly tasked with uncovering the truth behind the so called 'Angels' and the whereabouts of the missing baby at the centre of the sacrifice.
Rather than a straightforward narrative, Hallett's style encourages the reader to experience the evolution of the case alongside Amanda. Who can be trusted and why are there points of contradiction? Why would the establishment be resistant to the investigation and who are they protecting..
Enough twists, turns and revelations to keep most readers hooked...even the smallest detail can be vital!

You have to wonder who put Janice Hallett’s brain together. Reading one of her novels is like going down the rabbit hole and finding a warren of tunnels that cross and divert and lead you round in circles until you’re not sure which way is up.

What you will know, quite quickly though, is that our protagonist, Amanda Bailey, is absolutely ruthless. Her training as a journalist has helped her to understand what to say in order to get what she wants and she will say anything she has to in order to get the information she needs.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is comprised of a series of emails, recordings and telephone calls transcribed by Amanda’s assistant, Ellie Cooper, alongside WhatsApp messages and sometimes even snail mail.

Amanda has been commissioned to write a true crime book about an old case – that of The Alperton Angels, a group of people widely believed to be part of a cult, who died, allegedly committing suicide, while plotting to kill a baby they knew to to be the Antichrist. The baby survived as did the alleged cult leader, known as Gabriel, who is now serving a prison sentence.

Janice Hallet’s book is about the research that Amanda Bailey undertakes to find the baby who is now 18, and in the process to understand what happened to all those involved in the case. To make matters morecomplex, Oliver Menzies, who trained in journalism with Amanda, is also writing a book that deals with this case. The two negotiate through their agents to ensure that they collaborate on the information, but take decidedly separate angles to the case so as not to overlap.

Janice Hallett’s superpower is to give you lots of information that should let you understand what’s going on, but which also often diverts you down another tunnel in the warren until you’ve followed your tracks so often you realise that you’ve turned a perfect circle and have in fact been chasing your own tail.

Sometimes you are blinded by too much information, occasionally Hallett slips in a critical clue but you really do have to be eagle eyed to spot it in the morass of information she offers.

She’s brilliantly funny though on some of the people who become obsessed with true crime and religiously follow every cough and spit of new information. (Disclaimer: I fell down my own rabbit hole with the BBC’s Death in Ice Valley)

Sometimes as a reader you lift your head to wonder quite how so many people can be sucked in, but we understand the charisma exuded by cult leaders and how they instinctively know who is vulnerable and open to suggestion – especially those who feel the need to belong.

Verdict: The Alperton Angels is a really fiendish puzzle which gives the reader a great deal of tension alongside some brilliant characters. There’s food for thought about the kind of judgements we make on a daily basis and some clues to understand where our moral compass lies. It is a rip-roaring read and offers both some strong commentary on the male/female dynamic alongside a wry and challenging look at the true crime genre.

Nope, no happy ending here. Not for your brain either because that's just going to explode into such a big pile of mush that you'll forget your own name.

'The Mysterious Case of The Alperton Angels' opens with instructions for the reader. You will be handed research material that has been used to write a book about, you guessed it, the case of the Alperton Angels. At the end, you will have a choice to make. Hand whatever you've read over to the police or shove it all back into a safety deposit box and make the key disappear forever.

Intriguing doesn't even begin to cover it.

Who are the Alperton Angels, you ask? Nearly two decades ago, there was a cult whose members thought they were angels. They were convinced one of their members had given birth to the antichrist. There was no other solution but to kill this baby. Luckily, the mother came to her senses just in time and notified the police. Some of the remaining cult members slit their own throats, one ended up in prison, and the baby and its mother disappeared into the care system.

Now that baby turns eighteen years old and can finally be interviewed. If it can be found, that is. Enter Amanda Bailey, a true-crime author whose flagging career desperately needs a scoop. It is her research the reader will be diving into to try and make sense of this mysterious case, and it is her path the reader follows as she hunts for the truth alongside her rival, Oliver.

This story is told entirely through various documents. Emails, texts or WhatsApp messages, transcriptions of interviews Amanda has with people who were close to the case, ... In that respect, it harks back to Hallett's debut 'The Appeal' as it gives the reader the opportunity to get stuck into things, trying to put together the pieces of this incredibly complicated puzzle. But! I dare say 'The Mysterious Case of The Alperton Angels' is even better.

Massively addictive and a true page-turner, this book will have you going around in circles like mad. Sometimes it feels as if you're being led down a rabbit hole and it's taking all your effort not to stray from your path, but to keep your head down and to keep searching for the truth. It's a layer that acts like any cult would, I suppose, and it's so incredibly cleverly done that I almost missed it. Or maybe I just imagined it. Cults are inventive that way too, aren't they?

I will not say any more for fear of saying too much. Read it, enjoy it, decide what you will do with this information that's found its way into your lap. I will be truly impressed if you're able to predict the outcome. Despite a few moments where I thought I had a tiny inkling, I could never see the full picture. Sublime crime fiction once again from Janice Hallett, who keeps coming up with delightful new ways to tell a mystery story.. I have no doubt 'The Mysterious Case of The Alperton Angels' will end up on my favourites list in December. It's just that good.

A fabulous twisty ‘true life crime’ mystery full of red herrings and blind alleys, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels had me totally gripped from beginning to end. The story is told by emails and transcriptions of interviews and it was very readable and moreish - like Janice Hallett’s previous novel ‘The Twyford Code’ it was so skilfully written that I believed every word was true.

Many thanks to all concerned for allowing me to read and review this terrific novel.

Nearly twenty years ago, the case of the Alperton Angels shocked the nation. The cult were convinced that one of their members new-born baby was the anti-Christ and plotted to kill it until the baby’s mother, Holly, informed the police. The Angels committed suicide and Holly, and the baby, disappeared into the care system.

Now, true crime author, Amanda Bailey is writing a book about the case, hoping to locate the baby and interview them. This would be a huge scoop if it was not for another author, Oliver Menzies, who is also on the trail of the baby. Forced to combine resources, they soon realise that there is much more to this story than meets the eye, something much darker than they ever could have imagined.

I am a huge fan of Janice Hallett’s previous books, The Appeal and The Twyford Code, their novel way of storytelling being a breath of fresh air. By telling the story via the format of emails, interview transcripts and WhatsApp messages, the reader is immediately drawn into the book, making it feel like a true crime book rather than a work of fiction. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, in particular, makes you play along with Amanda Bailey, using her research to try to discover what really happened that night.

The plot is a complicated one, but is easy to follow due to the way it is told. It is very much character-driven and it is amazing how much of the personalities of the main protagonists we can get just from reading their correspondence. I really like how, in Janice Hallett’s books, we are not always anticipating a huge twist, leaving us able to enjoy and become fully immersed in the story.

Despite there not being an over-reliance on twists and turns, the ending did come as a complete surprise to me and was a very clever conclusion, in-keeping with what we had been reading.

If you have never read a Janice Hallett book before, I can fully recommend starting with this one. Even this early on, I think this will feature on my ‘books of the year’ list.

Having listened to and read 'The Appeal', I knew that this author's third story would be original and thought-provoking it was. It has a true crime vibe with mystical elements and hard-to-like characters with an immersive quality that makes it addictive reading. The multi-layered story has many reveals and twists, most surprising and all building the intensity to the final resonating conclusion.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

The plot is as deep and dark as it gets, multi-layered with 'who knew what when?' as the strands come together and the finer details get filled in. This is an absolutely compelling, gripping book full of mystery and suspense. Only a few authors can write deeply involving psychological drama of the very highest quality.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

The new queen of crime strikes again - gah this was good! If you haven’t yet read a Janice Hallett novel, then you should know that the form of writing is always very interactive - in this case, we read a series of transcripts, text messages, emails and newspaper cuttings, among other things, all of which form a bundle of papers that were the research material for a true crime novel, by our protagonist, Amanda Bailey. Amanda is on the tail of a cold case about the Alperton Angels - which was a mass suicide by members of a cult who claimed to all be real Angels rather than mortals. The angels had misled some vulnerable teenagers and had apparently been intending to sacrifice a baby. Amanda’s publishers, 17 years on, want her to find out the identity of the baby and secure an interview with them - but the more Amanda researches, the less clear-cut this case seems to be. Almost all of the interviewees seem to remember key details differently, there are strange discrepancies in the facts, and none of her usual contacts are turning out to be helpful. Throw in a rivalry with a fellow writer and things get even messier. I’m pleasantly surprised by how engaging this format still is - although it follows a similar structure to the first two books, the case is interesting, the plot is complex and unguessable, and the characters are just insanely interesting, so again I struggled to put the book down because I just really needed to know how the conclusion was going to solve everything! The ending was brilliant too - I can’t fault this book really. I enjoyed it immensely.

My thanks to #NetGalley and Viper for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Another slippery little thriller with everything you would expect from Janice Hallett: an epistolary format using messages, emails, transcripts and, here, extracts from fictionalised accounts of events; vivid characters brought to life through their own (unreliable) voices, a twisty plot. A great, fun read to see the new year in with.

I thoroughly enjoyed the previous two mystery novels by Janice Hallett, finding them innovative, interesting and cleverly written. This one was no less novel in its use of a variety of forms for delivering the plot and showing different perspectives, but I found it less absorbing than the first two, mainly because I was not drawn into the main character's story and felt her style of investigation was rather cold and bloodless. Some of the plot twists felt a little convoluted and contrived, working towards the inevitable conclusion. Nevertheless, the book was intelligently written and kept me interested throughout. Had I not read the first two excellent novels, I may well have been more impressed with this novel. Well worth a read, as it beats most other mystery novels in its originality and verve.

Overall I’d say I enjoyed this book, however it seemed a little convoluted at times with almost too much but in. However the idea is good and I enjoyed the character development.

The book follows two authors researching books on the 18 year old case of the Alperton Angels. As there research continues, they get more and more involved in the mystery, almost consumed by it. The premise of the book is that you have a safety deposit box with their evidence in. You have to decide what to with it!

Like The Appeal and The Twyford Code before it, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is written in Janice Halletts modern epistolary style; a clever mix of text messages, emails, transcripts of interviews and extracts from books and screenplays. It can take a few pages to get used to, but way she manages to build such well developed and complex characters through only these limited snippets is masterful. Despite it's many (and I really do mean MANY) twists and turns and a huge cast, the plot is easy to follow and gripping.

Our protagonist, Amanda, is likeable but it's clear there is a lot about her to uncover. I wouldn't go as far as to call her an unreliable narrator, but she deliberately keeps things from the other characters, and thus the reader, in her interactions. This is a clever way of drip feeding clues, keeping the plot moving and us guessing.

The chapters are long, but because of the format, it's easy to pick up and put down, not that I wanted to put it down at all. It's rare that I pick up a 500 plus page book and read it in a day, but this had me hooked till the end.

A massive thanks to Serpents Tail and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review

A teenage couple called Holly and Jonah, alongside their baby and cult leader, Gabriel, all survived a cult member suicide eighteen years ago.

Now that the baby is an adult, author Amanda Bailey has chosen the Alperton Angels story as her next book to write. With clandestine meetings and suspicious deaths occurring, can Amanda get to the truth of the story where so many others have failed?

This was such an exciting story. I was worried I would get a bit lost with all the characters but fortunately it wasn’t the case at all.

I love the authors way of writing, the story is told through WhatsApp messages, emails, phone recordings etc. A cleverly woven tale that is peeled away like layers, I was hooked by the story.

Thanks to all the twists throughout, I had no idea where this story was going to take me, which made for great reading and made the ending that bit more special and unexpected.

My thanks to NetGalley and Viper Books for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

A complex and absorbing read!
Amanda Bailey is a true crime writer researching the case of The Alperton Angels which involves murder and teenagers in the grip of a cult .
The story is written in Hallet’s unique style of nixed media including emails , and WhatsApp messages and due to the calibre of the writing it is easy to read and follow.
There are a lot of characters within the plot and at times I did get a little confused but as always the story is brought to its conclusion expertly and suddenly it all falls into place .
This book is written in an astute way and is full of twists and turns a true roller coaster read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Viper.

The story of the Alperton Angels is one that everyone knows the basics of, but no one knows the details. Eighteen years ago, the cult brainwashed a young couple, convincing them that a newborn baby was the Antichrist. The girl broke free and summoned the police, the Angels committed suicide and the couple and the baby disappeared, lost in the care system.

The fact that the baby, if alive, has now turned eighteen, prompts true-crime author Amanda Bailey to write a book on the Angels. If Amanda can find the baby, it will be the scoop of the year, but other authors are also on the case, in particular Amanda’s old rival Oliver Menzies.

As Amanda and Oliver delve a little deeper, it seems that the story that everyone knows is wrong – there are discrepancies in almost every detail. And some others who have got close to the truth have not lived to tell it…

So, the third book by Janice Hallett. The Appeal was an outstanding piece of work. The Twyford Code was interesting, if somewhat flawed. And this… well, to me at least, it was disappointing.

To emphasise the “to me” part of that sentence, the average review on Netgalley for advanced review copies is 5 out of 5. I’m definitely in the minority here, and to be fair, this is an extremely well-constructed thriller. The format is similar to The Appeal, consisting of a compilation of various aspects of Amanda’s research – emails, Whatsapp conversations, transcriptions of conversations with informants – and the picture slowly coalesces, first to reveal the problems with the original assumptions about the case, and then finally to reveal the truth.

These revelations are very well done and there are some genuine surprises along the way. So what’s the problem?

Well, first of all, I don’t think this is really clued. This is far more of a thriller than the mystery that The Appeal was. I completely understand that authors want to change their style from book to book, but as that’s the case, could the blurb stop comparing Hallett to Agatha Christie? This is a complex plot with some really clever ideas but we are told almost everything rather than being given the chance to work things out.

There’s also a problem with pacing for me. It took almost half the book for me to get a handle on what exactly the reader was being asked to figure out/guess and so the first half seemed rather nebulous to me.

And finally, despite the author apologising to the families of those victims, I really didn’t like the use of real-life high profile murder cases – Jill Dando, for example – even in a casual way. Really didn’t see why fake names couldn’t have been used.

So, that’s why the book didn’t work for me, but I have to admire the structure and the ideas on display here, and as I said, most other reviewers seemed to love it – I can see why, but it just wasn’t for me.

The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels is out on January 19th from Viper Books in hardback and ebook.

Oh my lord! What a ride and what a way to kick off my 2023 reading year.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels plunges you into all of the evidence that author, Amanda Bailey has gathered for a true crime novel she's writing about 2000's cult, The Alperton Angels. Nobody really ever understood what happened to them...

Janice Hallett really is the Queen of immersive fiction, I had so much fun with this following the case through WhatsApp messages, transcripts of conversations and interviews and snippets of scripts and books based on the events of 2003. I NEVER saw the ending coming, but that wasn't because it was completely left field.

I loved Ellie's character, I quite liked Amanda and Oliver was suitably unlikeable.

This book will be the ultimate buddy read for 2023. You need a friend for both sleuthing and those OMG moments that just keep coming throughout the book.

I don't often star rate, but this is probably the easiest 5* rating I've given since Janice's first book, The Appeal!

Get it pre-ordered loves. What book buying ban?

Janice Hallett is back with yet another tale full of twists and turns.

Amanda Bailey is a true crime writer and she is working on a new book concerning the Alperton Angels cult, led by Gabriel Angelis in the early noughties.

The small cult consisted of four men, two teenagers and a baby. The Angels believed that they were indeed angels in human form and that the baby was the Antichrist, which had to be sacrificed.

Before that happened, four bodies were found in a murder-suicide pact in an abandoned warehouse. The teenagers were rescued and the baby taken away by the Social Services.

Amanda is desperate to find the baby and tell the story of the Angels from their point of view.

However, she isn’t the only one looking for the baby… Her old nemesis, a journalist called Oliver Menzies is also on the trail of the Alperton Angels.

Who will get to the truth first? More importantly, will the truth ever be found?

What a story! I am still reeling from the ending and all the revelations that came alongside.

The plot is such a huge strength of this book; it’s so intricate and well thought out.

I loved the format of the book, written through the WhatsApp messages, emails, and interview transcripts. I adored Ellie Cooper, who was transcribing Amanda’s interviews – her witty and wry comments made me chuckle.

Overall, it is yet another great book by Janice Hallett. It will be published on 19/01.

Many thanks to Viper for approving my NetGalley request to read and review this title.

Thank you to the publisher Viper for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While I loved the non-traditional structure, as per Hallett's previous novels, personally the supernatural theme didn't sit well with me and as such have rounded what would otherwise be a 3.5 or 4, down to 3. The writing style remains exquisite, and fans of her previous work will almost certainly enjoy yet another clever romp, including a hilarious insight into literary agent relations!

The third book by Janice Hallett that I have read, after enjoying the first two, but I couldn’t finish it…too many email/messages and not enough actual writing.
Disappointing.

I have an enormous fondness for epistolary novels. Hallett embraces the format with great skill, bringing the style into the 21st century utilising modern communication methods to launch her plot. She masterfully creates a complex plot dripping information, misdirecting and leaving the reader to interpret evidence as the story moves along. She has done this so well in her previous 2 novels, but the Alperton Angels is her best yet. When I began the book and saw the list of characters, I was worried I wouldn't keep pace with it. This was an unnecessary worry, the characters are well realised and the plot moves very swiftly. So much so that you are soon caught up in the intrigue. There are layers upon layers of story, beautifully presented. The antagonism between authors, Amanda Bailey and Oliver Menzies, competing to cover the same story of the Alperton Angels cold case, provides another POV against the background of what really happened to the cult, Holly and her baby in 2003.
If you pick this book up, make sure you've canceled all other plans, as you won't be able to put it down.

My thanks to Viper and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review The mysterious case of the Alperton Angels.