The mysterious case of the Alperton Angels : a novel

"A novel about a journalist in pursuit of a story about a child who survived a cult mass suicide, which may not be all that it appeared to be, told in Janice Hallett's signature original and innovative style of emails, messages, news clips, and screenplay excerpts"--

Format:

Book

Length:

417 pages ;

Copies:

Available:*

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Summary

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

"[An] ingenious jigsaw puzzle of a book...highly entertaining." -- The New York Times

"The queen of found footage thrillers." --Julia Bartz, New York Times bestselling author

A whip-smart and "fast-paced mystery" ( The Daily Telegraph , London) fr om the internationally bestselling author of The Twyford Code and The Appeal about a true crime journalist who revives a long-buried case about a cult--and finds herself too close to the story.

Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing 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.

Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the 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 realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they'd ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.

Author Notes

Janice Hallett is a former magazine editor, award-winning journalist, and government communications writer. She wrote articles and speeches for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office, and Department for International Development. Her enthusiasm for travel has taken her around the world several times, from Madagascar to the Galapagos, Guatemala to Zimbabwe, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. A playwright and screenwriter, she penned the feminist Shakespearean stage comedy NetherBard and cowrote the feature film Retreat. She lives in London and is the author of The Examiner , The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels , The Appeal , The Christmas Appeal , and The Twyford Code .

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this inventive offering from Hallett (The Appeal), true crime author Amanda Bailey investigates the Alperton Angels, a cult that carried out a mass suicide after one of its members--a teenager whom the cult was convinced had given birth to the anti-Christ--alerted the police to its criminal activities. Eighteen years have passed since the Angels' death ritual, and no one has been able to track down the mother or her child since. Planning to write a book about the incident, Bailey searches for the missing Alperton baby, now presumably a young adult. There's only one problem: rival author Oliver Menzies, with whom Bailey shares a checkered history, is on the same trail. As in The Twyford Code and The Appeal, Hallett isn't afraid to make demands of her readers: she pieces most of the novel together via a series of WhatsApp messages and discarded drafts of Bailey and Menzies' work. The twists never let up as Hallett barrels toward the finish, frequently undermining reader expectations along the way while staying firmly in the realm of fair play. Hallett's fans and newcomers alike will relish this brilliantly constructed and eminently satisfying mystery. Agent: Markus Hoffman, Regal Hoffman & Assoc. (Jan.)

Excerpts

Chapter 1: Correspondence, Background Reading, and General Prep1 Correspondence, Background Reading, and General Prep Excerpted from The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels: A Novel by Janice Hallett All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.