VBT review: Before There Were Angels

Before There Were Angels   

Sarah Mathews

Taylor Street Books

She was the ex-wife who wouldn't go away

When Luke leaves his wife, Rafaella, divorces her, moves to the US, meets Belle, falls in love with her, and then marries her and her two young sons, they all settle down to live happily ever after.

Until Belle spots an ad for a classic San Franciscan Victorian in which four murders have just taken place. It's ideal: it's a Victorian, it is probably haunted and it is unbelievably cheap to rent.

However, they could probably have done without the terror, torment and tragedy that pursued them in their new house.

Should they have stayed in their cozy mid-city apartment and spared themselves the anguish of what was to come? Possibly, but Rafaella was not the kind of woman who was ever going to leave them alone.

Review Rating: 3.5 LIGHTNING BOLTS

Review:  Give me a story with a gothic feel, a ghost, and a good thrill, and I'm in! Before There were Angels has an interesting premise with a little bit of a twist. Take your normal man divorcing his crazy wife, moving on, falling in love and getting married again. Yeah, this isn't your typical happy ever after. Know why? Because the ex wife is still in the picture...in a very strange and not so good way....

The characterization is great! I was impressed with how well they were done, especially the villain's character. Wow! Now, the beginning of the story did not lure me in right away, it took a few pages for my interest to pique, but when it did, i was in for an interesting and wild ride. 

A big downfall to the story was that it had quite a few editing issues, which at times, did jar me out of the book. Otherwise, it's a fairly good read, with great pacing and plenty of twists and turns. 

Sarah Mathews

Sarah Mathews lives in San Francisco and has written her first book set in an architectural symbol of the city - a 'Victorian'.

There is the slight problem that while there are reputedly several ghosts who march around the city, there are very few murders that take place there, however Sarah seems to have corrected that.