A Dark Angel by Hal Kowalski

Amazon Digital Services, 2014

ASIN: B00P392B0K

Available: Kindle edition

Kowalski presents us with a first-rate anti-hero, Silas Shivers: husband, father, businessman, and Hell’s emissary/assassin. Three years ago, Silas answered a too-good-to-be-true ad headlined “Catch Lightning in a Bottle.” Even after his prospective employer introduced himself as Lucifer, the Lord of Hell, Silas bound himself to a ten-year contract. In this world, the denizens of Hell are not humans who have gone astray. Lucifer’s domain is “an everlasting prison for Abominations. Monsters. Demons.” Silas’s job is to hunt down and kill any monsters who escape from Hell, and his first mission is to find Molecc, the Boogeyman, a pedophilic predator who steals prepubescent children so that he can dine on their fear and their blood.

The second story line involves Silas’s agreement to investigate the supposed suicide of his neighbors’ teenage son, Ian. The boy’s mother doesn’t believe that her son killed himself, and begs Silas to look into his case. Reluctantly, Silas agrees, even though he believes that the boy committed suicide.

Silas tells his story in the first-person voice, which Kowalski handles with great finesse. In fact, the strongest element in this novel is Silas’s self-deprecatory, sardonic, sometimes weary voice as he stumbles through his search-and-kill Boogeyman mission, puts his assistant on Ian’s case, and tries to keep his wife and family from finding out about his dark and devilish second job. The situation gets even more difficult when the beautiful, red-haired Jaelle—another of Lucifer’s assassins—unexpectedly becomes his partner and seems to be making a play for him.

The action alternates between the two story lines, with a third character appearing intermittently to add a fiery twist to the tale. The blood and gore don’t start to flow heavily until the final chapters, but the suspense begins building up right from the beginning.

There are a few areas of weakness, and they are mostly copy-proofing problems and one minor continuity error. In general, these lapses did not interfere with my enjoyment of the book. A few of the more violent scenes seemed to go on just a bit too long, but since this is a horror novel, maybe I’m wrong about that.

Silas’s unique voice is the key to the novel’s overall strength. His just-get-it-done attitude and his darkly sarcastic humor are sometimes his only means of surviving some horrific situations (plus a powerful antique knife and body armor from Hell). Silas himself states the theme of the book: “Anyone is capable of hiding pieces of themselves they deem the outside world is not ready, or worthy of accepting.” Recommended for all libraries.

Contains: blood, gore, and violence

Reviewed by Patricia O. Mathews