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“The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels” by Janice Hallett

About Blog Post Mar 18, 2024 by SCLSNJ Staff
“The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels” by Janice Hallett Review by Yvonne Selander, collection development librarian Teen parents are found in a building with slain and mutilated cult members who all believed they were angels; their leader is miraculously unscathed. The teen mother is clutching a bag that is only discovered to hold a tiny infant after the teens are admitted to the local hospital. The teen mom is very protective of her baby even though she is convinced it is the antichrist. She is devastated to learn what happened to the other members, even though they were planning on killing her baby. Needless to say the murders/mutilations captured the public’s attention. The cult leader has been in prison for over a decade and speaks to very few people. The teens and the baby were whisked away by social services, their identities protected and never revealed. But now two true crime authors are tasked with researching the crime and finding answers. The authors, each writing a different book, are at odds. Not exactly rivals, but not friendly after working together years ago, the two are both pursuing different angles of the crime for their bosses. But the more they dig, the more unexpected answers they find. Could there actually be some truth to the outlandish claims of the cult? Or is something else happening here? I’m a sucker for an epistolary novel – that this one was told in text messages, transcripts and emails gave it both a modern and old-timey feel. While you get to know the characters through their communications there are so many gaps that it really plays with your brain – what is going on?! Just like with our own written communications you wonder if you are reading too much into the messages, or assigning emotions that aren’t there or being gaslighted by who knows who. Hallett is on the top of my list of authors to watch, and every new book will be added to my to-be-read pile.
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