She stares at her mother’s clumsy lettering on the envelope. Nine years. Nine years since she stepped over her mother’s drunken body and into a cold Alaska night running south, lost to her mother forever.
How did she find me? She hesitates, not wanting to open the envelope, knowing the letter inside will drag her home; back into the bleakness of a life with no exit.
Kris Gabriel, twenty-four, …
Kris Gabriel, twenty-four, Alaska Native, and fierce like a wolverine, returns to Alaska—to find her mother murdered; shot in the face by the double-barreled blast of a shotgun. Angry her mother is pushed around even in death, guilty she abandoned her in life, Kris only knows to fight. Relentlessly, she tracks a trail of pain, of lost love, of lives ripped apart by the frozen north’s unyielding law of survival, never suspecting it’s not what her mother would have wanted.
Never suspecting that she has far more at stake than finding her mother’s killer.
Broken Angels is fast-paced Alaskan noir filled with richly drawn characters struggling to survive in a hostile country where there are no second chances.
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Heath’s novel took me into the cold, heartless tundra of Alaska, a place of pure dank darkness clouded darker by the evil people do to protect the rotten, false world they’ve built around themselves in order to live with their poor choices. Kris is a tattered Wolverine of a woman who returns to Alaska from Los Angeles to make some amends. When she arrives she finds her mother, a barfly-alcoholic named Evie, has been brutally murdered and found by a river. Kris shows ruthless determination in figuring out who killed her mother. Throughout the story Kris struggles to reconcile her hatred for the terrible upbringing her mother subjected her to with the love she still feels under her gruff exterior. The story is aided by the setting as she must face her demons while also in constant danger of dying from exposure in the desolate land of impossible cold. Kris’ relentlessness is her hallmark. She outmaneuvers everyone and pieces together a taught mystery. I cheered for her despite disliking her for much of the story. The action is intense and forced me fingers to keep turning the pages. Highly recommended.
4 Cranky Stars
This was a very gripping story. I found it raw and complex in the greatest way. The lead character, Kris, was so multi dimensional. She wasn’t some virginal, untouched angel. She was damaged, sullen, and sometimes downright unlikable. Which made her more human than any woman I’ve read about in recent memory.
That’s what I like most about this book. The people are so human and imperfect that sometimes it seems like a true crime novel. No one is model thin and effortlessly gorgeous. They’re all just scarred people caught up in a murder mystery. The writing is so descriptive that I was easily able to form the scenes in my head. Mr. Heath was able to describe Alaska in such a way that it became a character all it’s own. At times it was beautiful, and other times it was bleak and dreary. I loved this writing style and I do recommend it. 4 out of 5 stars. I will be reading more of this writer’s work.
great characters, kept my interest right from the start. Building in intensity with a great ending.
Loved this book. Loved the characters. It almost seems to be too convoluted but I was able to run with it. Although it had a twisted, noir ending, i found myself enthralled with the complexity and am still rooting for the main character. I am sure there will be a sequel and I’ll want to read that, too.
Very well written, and so sad. No real ending, though, or it would have been a “5.”
Didn’t like the end…..don’t really know what happened……But is was an exciting read and I couldn’t put it down once I started!!!!
Sorry. Just could not get into this book. Gave up less than halfway through, and I am a person who reads about a book every two days. The dialogue did not ring true.