Review: Angel Avenger: A Max Becker Thriller by Tim Wickenden

Review: Angel Avenger: A Max Becker Thriller by Tim Wickenden

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sometimes, I don’t need much to entice me to pick up a book. An interesting premise can be powerful enough on its own to pique my interest and make me want to know more. With Tim Wickenden’s Angel Avenger, there are a lot of things in the narrative that I find rather enthralling!

In certain cases, all a good writer needs to pull a reader in is a scene that gives some information but makes them want to learn more from whatever small bit is given. That is exactly what this novel did to me. I had a lot of questions as I read that kept me hooked, interested in how things were going to play out. And, while the novel did deliver on an interesting plotline and was difficult to put down, I admit that I didn’t love everything about it.  

Before we go further, though, let’s get a summary for the story.

Summary

In Germany 1960, World War II veteran Max Becker works for the police force. When bodies of unidentified men start showing up in the area, Max finds himself drawn into a chase to find the perpetrator. However, as the case unfolds and Max and his coworkers learn more about the victims, Max finds himself struggling with feeling some sympathy for those that committed these crimes as more is uncovered about the circumstances.

Will he be able to find the perpetrator before they strike again?

Thoughts

There are several things about this novel that I find intriguing. The post-WWII setting, certain characters, the actions they take, and motivations for those actions all culminated in situations I wanted to know more about. Right from the opening scene, I was intrigued by the story being built because there were plot developments that kept me invested.  

That said, despite the positives with this story, I did end up having some issues with the way certain elements were handled. While the plot alone was enough to keep me hooked, I wish the characters and the writing were handled a bit differently, because I think there were some issues in those areas. I also found a problem with how the narrative is structured that did affect the pacing of the story. I’ll discuss all this further in those respective sections.

That said, let’s get into it!

Characters

Max Becker

I like how Max Becker is portrayed. He is a good person with integrity that greatly guides how he goes about his work. Given his past, this is nice to see, how he tries to make amends for his role in the war. The one thing that I explicitly want to mention is how he allows his children to help him with certain aspects of the main case his team is dealing with in the story. This doesn’t mean they are actively with him on the job, but the family all find a way to help him tackle the case in such a way that it is safe to do so, which is nice to see.

On the other side of things, I like the rapport he has with his colleagues. You can see that he greatly cares for them all and will do whatever possible to make sure his team is as safe as possible when tackling this case. Seeing him go to great lengths to ensure the safety of his colleagues is awesome!

Ottilie (Otti) Jäger

I see what Wickenden is trying to do with a character like Otti, with her being a woman on the force in this setting. As a character, I admit that I wanted a little more from her than what we got. I feel like her character is mainly used to send a message to the reader and, while that can be done, if it’s done before her character is fully developed, it can backfire and not work as intended. She does have a backstory, but it got buried under everything else going on, so I forgot it as a result. I couldn’t tell you very much about her because she is not focused on enough.

I think what needed to be done if her character were to be better fleshed out is there would need to be more time with her by herself. We see a lot of her interacting with the rest of the force, but we do not see her reactions to these conversations off the job very much. Even when she is off the clock, she is often with a coworker. Giving her some time by herself completely away from the position could help to show her reactions in full to her situation, potentially fleshing her out as a character.

Structure  

The way this story is structured is one of its strongest aspects, in my opinion, at least in terms of the story’s narrative. The flipping back and forth between noteworthy characters help in piecing together how the narrative will play out, making it easier to follow. Wickenden also manages to throw in some curveballs for the reader as well, helping to keep them hooked on the story, and these surprises manage to fit organically into the narrative. The events of the plot flow easily together, showing clearly how one thing leads to another while also allowing backstory to be given when needed.

However, there was an issue with the structure of the story that I can’t overlook, and it has nothing to do with the narrative itself. Wickenden provides appendices in the back of the book for when the German language used in the story cannot be translated directly in the narrative. I think this was done to avoid breaking the flow of the pacing, but the problem is, there is not enough to alert the reader to when they need to flip to the back of the book to find a term’s definition. I found myself missing a couple of definitions I needed in the story because of this, which often ended up meaning the pacing was broken anyway because I would realize that I’d missed it and it threw me out of the story. The good news is, there is a simple fix: mark the terms that are in the back of the book with footnotes. This way, when the reader sees a note, they know both when and where to go to find the definition they need before there is even a risk of the flow of the narrative being broken. I have seen this technique used in other narratives, and it does work to alert the reader that they need to look somewhere else in the book to gain more context before going on.

Writing

Unfortunately, I see some issues with the writing in this narrative. Wickenden’s prose is colorful and intriguing, but I did see problems with dialogue and making sure each character has their own unique voice in conversation. In the police force, officers’ voices blended together most of the time. I think Wickenden needed to use more tags when writing the dialogue, given all the characters the reader needs to be acquainted with. Or perhaps, like certain other characters in this story, give them characteristics or language that is solely theirs.

For example, in another story I reviewed a while back, a certain character always stood out because he had one expression that solely belonged to him, a speech pattern that was recognizable and fit with his personality. Giving some officers expressions unique to them would help to differentiate their voices without having to give the reader a full history of the character speaking while fleshing out their personalities.

Conclusion

When all was said and done, I found myself feeling a little conflicted about the story. I see a lot of great elements being played with and an intriguing hook that can easily keep a reader invested. However, there ended up being some problems for me that added up to this not fully delivering the experience I was hoping for.

While I do see a lot of great things about this narrative, I must admit that I walked away with lukewarm feelings about it that affected my overall feelings about it. For this reason, I am giving the story two stars.