Perfect Angel

By Seth Margolis

Book Overview

"Sizzling...Original...Hypnotic...A page-turner." --ORLANDO SENTINEL

"Thoroughly chilling and engrossing...a breathtaking psychological thriller." --LIBRARY JOURNAL

Back at college in the '70s, they called themselves "The Madison Seven"--a close circle of friends inseparably linked by trust, loyalty, and love. Then one night, years later, they gathered at Julia Mallet's Manhattan apartment for a "Come-As-You-Were Party" and decided to play a game...

Tough, beautiful and independent, Julia Mallet feels her life is nearly perfect. She holds a high-profile executive position in an important advertising firm. She is raising a beautiful little daughter, Emily, without the inconvenience of a husband. And now "The Madison Seven" have come together once again to celebrate her thirty-fifth birthday...and to bring back a past that should have been left dead and forgotten.

Less than twenty-four hours later, a woman Julia barely knows is brutally and senselessly slain by a faceless psychopath. NYPD Detective Ray Burgess is a man pursued by shadows, a good cop who has stared too deeply into the face of evil, and his obsessive dedication is drawing him closer to Julia, even as a crazed killer strikes again and again.

The maniac has left a calling card behind that only Julia Mallet can read: the result of a post-hypnotic suggestion inadvertently lodged in six subconscious minds--the dark residue of a harmless party game gone terribly wrong. Now Julia knows without question that one of her six dearest friends is a murderer...and is coming after her next.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 168230096X
• ISBN13: 9781682300961
• Release Date: June 2015
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Length: 362 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

NOT QUITE PERFECT BUT WELL DONE

Seth Margolis gives us an interesting premise in this well-written, but often overburdened, thriller. The book opens with a tragic death that may or may not be accidental, involving two children. We don't really know the sexes of these two, so this certainly helps add to the mystery when we flash forward about twenty five years and meet seven people who have been friends since high school, calling themselves "The Madison 7." Lovely Julia is the focal character, an advertising executive and single mother to precocious little Emily. We don't know who papa is and the author gives us veiled hints, but no real identification (one of the book's downfalls). Julia is also an accomplished hypnotist and at her 35th birthday party her closest friends insist they hypnotize them to go back to 1981 and let them relive those events. Julia does but she also goes further back to 1963, and they are all children. To make a long story short, Julia's hypnotism has unleashed a cruel murderer, who takes vengeance on who he or she feels are abusive parents. Julia falls for the handsome detective with his own dark secrets and it's clear that as the killing continue that one of Julia's closest friends is indeed a murderer. Margolis uses the Wizard's POV to distract us, never letting us know whether it is a man or a woman, but in the final third of the book, I found the identity of the killer to be quite obvious. But still it's a tight mystery and worth a read.

Perfect Angel - A devil of a book!

This book will definately leave your brain racked. When I read it, I had changed my mind about the killer...countless times! Right when you think you know who it is, there's an ever bigger suspicion on a different character. It will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat. The author switches Points of View from thrid person then goes inside The Wizard's (the killer) twisted world, only giving you chopped up bits and peices of what The Wizard is up to and doing. I would really recommend this book to anyone who has a love for mysteries and suspense novels. Kudos to the author!

My new favorite author

This book was great. Well written and very clever. I enjoyed it so much that as soon as I was done, I went looking for all of this author's books. I am half way thru False Faces, and it is equally well-written. Can't wait to read the rest of his books. His books are much better than the over-rated James Patterson.....

Holds the attention of most discerning reader

Am almost one-half way through and do not have a clue to the killer. Good dialogue in a NYC setting. The type of book you do not want to finish because the next book you read may not be as good. Let's hear more from this author. Bravo

Hypnosis among friends leads to a murderer set loose on them

----- PERFECT ANGEL Seth Margolis Avon, Mar 1997, $23.00, 352 pp.