Death Angel by Linda Howard

Death Angel Linda Howard Romantic Suspense    2008 Rating: B-

I am a sporadic reader of Linda Howard's books.   I've liked a few of them, hated a few of them, and been ambivalent about most of them.  For whatever reason, she just doesn't hit me the way she does other readers.  Even my sister, with whom I share significant reading similarities, is a bit of a Linda Howard junkie.  Not me.  Still, Howard is readable, and she does provoke a reaction.  Death Angel just got a DIK review at AAR, and since I'm not swimming in 2008 suspense for my AAR Readers Poll ballot, I thought I'd give it a try.  Another consideration was I could listen to it on my new MP3 player while walking my dog in the dark, snowy, uncomfortable, boring winter scenery.  Not that many romances are available in audio, but this one was, so I downloaded the library software, then the files, and gave it a listen.  

First a note on the audio: the narrator, Joyce Bean, is very good.  Her voice for Andi/Drea was soft, feminine, and passive sounding, and for Simon it was gruff and blunted.   Bean gave a solid performance, and the whole thing was fun to listen to.  I give the audio a B+.

The book I'd say was more flawed.  This is the story of Andi Butts, who, in the beginning of Death Angel, is going by Drea Rousseau.   Andi comes from a poor, rough background and has "risen" in the world through her ability to manipulate men.  Currently she is Rafael Salinas's mistress and lives a life of rather boring luxury - really, a sort of boring voluntary captivity.  She shops, has her hair done, and watches a lot of QVC while putting on a convincing act of being safe and vacuous.  She has to play dumb because Rafael Salinas is a drug lord who is suspicious of anyone, and Drea figures that the dumber he thinks she is, the less she has to worry about.  

Then one day, while listening to Rafael negotiating a deal with a hired assassin, Drea hears herself mentioned in conversation.  The gorgeous, ice cold assassin dude has just asked for the afternoon with Drea as a sweetener to close his death deal.  And Rafael, desperate to hire him, has agreed.  Drea panicks.  She is supposed to have sex with this guy so Rafael can convince him to kill someone?  Uh uh.  No way.

Way.  

What follows is the most...interesting...sexual experience of Drea's life, but when it is over she realizes everything has changed.  Rafael, obviously, considers her of low value, and she can't stay with him.  What's more, she hates him for giving her away like a prostitute.  So what is a woman scorned to do?  Why, steal $2 million of Rafael's money and flee to middle America, of course, leaving a digital trail that will serve to slap Rafael's face in her absence.  

It was the last bit that left me confused.  I mean, sure, it's important to let a scumbag know you've left him and won't be looking back.  But this guy is a drug lord, a rich drug lord, scruple free, and Drea is, though smart, not a pro at embezzlement or undercover work.   It would seem smarter to either take a stand and leave the money or take the money and fake your death.  But that's not what Drea chooses.  She wants her cake, and she wants to eat it too.  But when Rafael brings the assassin in to hunt Drea down, it becomes instantly clear that those cake calories aren't going to be a worry.  The likelihood that she will live to eat the cake is slim to none.  

Death Angel is actually a pretty interesting read.  The initial "love" scene came [cough] a little too quickly for me and would make plenty of squeamish readers squeam.  But I could live with that.  Drea was an interestingly flawed character.  Mistress of a drug lord.  Primarily decorative in function.  Those qualities don't show up too often in contemporary romance.  

The assassin is your basic sociopath in love.  Cold.  Scary.  Powerful.  Deadly.  Hawt.  And inexplicably drawn to Drea.  Here's the thing, though: can sociopaths love?  Because it's clear Simon is a sociopath.   A quick check of wikipedia reveals that 3 of the following 7 have to be present to diagnose a sociopathic disorder:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead;
4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;
5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

Simon definitely exhibits 1, 2, and 7.  Howard tries to repeatedly emphasize that 3 - 6 do not apply.  Simon is extremely controlled.  He plans everything well in advance.  He is careful of himself and others, and he is not dangerous to society at large, only to his targets.  Still, he is a hired killer.  And he feels no remorse about this.  Bad people gotta be taken out somehow, he figures.  But while that's a side benefit, he does it for the money, which is quite good.

So, you know, how romantic is that?  By book's end the reader knows very little about his personal circumstances or what led to his unique career choice.  But she knows that his is devoted to Drea and will protect her from any danger with his life.  I guess I'd have to say that's not enough.  I don't require moral perfection from a hero (Sebastian Verlaine, anyone?) but I like to be convinced of a character's predictability, at least.  And the vigilantism that Howard espouses is a bit troubling.  Yes, there is a difference between law and justice, and, yes, justice frequently isn't served under the law.  But how often is justice or any other value espoused by civilization served by vigilantes?  And what makes Simon or Drea or anyone morally superior enough to dispense that justice?  That's why we have a court system.  Because in the past giving one person supreme authority hasn't worked out that great.  

Drea also has some flaws in characterization.  She is clearly smart and, in the beginning, clearly unhappy.  So she signs up for virtual captivity as a drug mafioso's sexual servant so she can actualize herself?  It would seem like someone so smart would be bored into insanity living that life.  And she does it voluntarily?  Why?  Why wouldn't she bag a half decent rich guy and have the freedom to choose a career or at least take up an interesting hobby?  Instead she plays dumb and put out for years.  Years.  

Halfway through the book there is a very dramatic story pivot that changes the way Drea sees everything, and her character morphs from there.  While the story pivot is effective at creating a dramatic character arc for Drea and Simon, it has a certain woo-woo Catechism-free spirituality to it that I found corny and unconvincing.   I guess I didn't need for Drea to learn and grow, although she wasn't that terribly admirable a person.  But if she was going to learn and grow, I'd have liked her to thoroughly and rationally examine her self-absorbed, self-destructive behavior, straining it through an actual moral/ethical sieve instead of just lumping it all together as bad decision making.  Frankly, I think in order to balance her personal ledger she'd have to behave not just practically, but generously and selflessly.  Putting money into a 401K she touts as good decision making, and it may be, but there's no moral, ethical, or spiritual dimension to that.  It's just good sense.  You don't win awards or achieve sainthood by putting together a good financial portfolio or even by just righting past wrongs.  It takes a little more.

Those were my reading niggles.  But overall, I found the story easy to follow and entertaining.  I rooted for Drea even when she was being bad (heck, especially when she was being bad).  I thought her connection with Simon was believable and romantic, actually.  And listening to Death Angel was a lot more enjoyable than trudging along in the snow in silence.

B-. 

tags: books  romance novels  linda howard