I admit I'm pretty late to the party however I've been a fan of Lisa Unger for a while and finally got around to reading her novels written under her maiden name.I found Angel fire to be well written and engaging as are her later works. I sort of saw the ending coming or at least figured out the 'whodunit' before the end of the book but that doesn't change the fact that this is a fun read.Lydia Strong is a true crime novelist, a role she was born into when her mother was killed by a serial killer when she was in her teens. Lydia has an uncanny knack for being able to spot clues and put them together. While her gift was born from great tragedy, she's not without her obvious issues. Every year around the anniversary of her mother's death she gets cagey, anxious. She's battle with the why's of her mother's death her whole life and as a defense mechanism from losing the thing she loved most at such an early age she keeps everyone at arm's length.Enter Angel Fire New Mexico. Lydia's home away from home. She owns a home in this remote and cozy small town in order to get away from it all, but the past will not let her go as her intuitiveness and ability to spot clues lead her into the path of serial killer while the local law enforcement, lead by a man who's reputation she helped ruin years ago, see some newly emerging local crime patterns as random acts of violence and unrelated.With the aid of Jeffrey Mark, former FBI agent who worked on her mother's case year ago (and whom she's been too afraid to admit she cares about more than she wants to) she helps turn the town of Angel Fire on its ear.I can't say enough good things about Lisa Miscione/Unger. She's a great thriller and mystery writer that always has the right blend of believable characters that are the right mix of flawed and likable intertwined with stories that are just twisted enough as to keep your interest and keep you turning pages without crossing the line into shock value and cheap thrills. Can't wait to read the rest of this series as well as her new book when it arrives later this year!
Angel Fire was not a quick read. It wasn't a sassy, dumb blond joke read either. Angel Fire dove into the minds of the killer, victims, investigators & surrounding characters as well. I wasn't sure what to expect from Angel Fire after the first 20 pages or so. I was not yet pulled into the story how I usually like to be by the time I reach page twenty. This is usually when I decide to continue reading or ditch the book all together. I was picturing Angel Fire to be pretty predictable at this point. It had all the usual aspects of a crime/mystery/drama read. Main character has some back story of why she is motivated to search out killers. Main character pushes everyone she really cares for away because of her horrid past. But, the other characters in the story really changed the norm for this type of read. They truely are the stars of Angel Fire. Yes, Lydia Strong was likeable in the end, but she took a lot of warming up to. If it weren't for Jeffery Mark staying by her side, I think Lydia would have let herself be killed by this serial killer. Before Jeff, she really didn't have much to live for and could probably see herself with the same fate as her mother. She may have even believed she was destined to die at the mercy of a killer.By mid-book I was completely drawn in and couldn't wait to finish. Lisa Unger pulled everything, every character together in a way that captivated me. I will continue on with Lydia Strong's story, as I can't wait to see where and what she is going to do next.Thank you Lisa Unger for a great read!
This book had its moments. I loved the description of New Mexico, and the protagonist's use of intuition. I also liked how the protag used her knowledge/expertise of true crime to prevent crime. On the other hand, so much of the book was based on romance and on the ability of a serial killer to escape unscathed despite (we found) being completely unbalanced. I am really tired of serial killer books, and descriptions of people whose lives are a mess, but then they change and turn them around, and then they are killed. I think I'm done with this series.
—Katherine Clark
This was a first effort that read like one. While the plotting was decent, the execution felt amateurish in multiple places with bizarre point-of-view shifts and nonsensical plot point thrown in.The heroine Lydia is someone for whom the reader should be able to root, however I found her to be one of the most annoying main characters I've read recently. She's a writer of true crime books and a private investigator who, when she was a teenager, discovered her mother's bound and mutilated body. She is generally horrible to everyone who has the misfortune to encounter her.Her love interest Jeffrey is also a private investigator. He happens to be the FBI investigator who was assigned to her mother's case and has looked out for her all these years. I love a good May-December romance (in fairness this is more May-September) but this pairing was squicky. Jeffrey is actually quite nice, but so enamored by her that he allows her to lead him around by the nose. She even makes the observation at one point, something to the effect of, "he would always come when she called."My primary issue with the story though is that everyone, including the Chief of Police, allows Lydia to run the investigation. She's a writer, yet she directs even the seasoned investigators through the missing persons and murder investigations. She barks orders at the uniforms regarding the processing of evidence, rakes the Chief over the coals regularly, and tells Jeffrey when to jump and how high. They all let her do so, bowing to her "expertise." It made zero sense.There is the promise of good writing here if the author has honed her talent, so I will try other books by her. But maybe not the ones featuring Lydia.
—Heather Stanton
This book starts out with one of the cheesiest lines I've ever read. Something like "she ran until she couldn't run any further. And then she ran again". WHAAAAT ? Fortunately, the writing gets better. Certainly not Unger's best work ,but not her worst either. She wrote one book that did not even deserve one star. I believe this was one of the first books she wrote and it was first published under another last name. Current murders are being committed and we also get a nice glimpse into a past murder the main character is connected to. The story moves along at a comfortable pace and kept my interest. I would have given it 3 1/2 stars if I could have, but there was not enough action or character developement to have earned 4 stars.
—Marie
