By Heidi Simmons
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Falling Angel
By William Hjortsberg
Fiction
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The Halloween holiday actually has very little to do with evil, but no matter what the time of year, it’s “evil” that terrifies us most. Perhaps it’s because evil is usually attributed to one powerful source. The Devil. In William Hjortsberg’s Falling Angel (Open Road Media, 264 pages) the devil is looking for a lost “soul” he wants back.
Harry Angel is a small-time private investigator hired by the mysterious Louis Cyphre to find Johnny Favorite, a popular singer from the forties, who disappeared after returning from WWII. Cyphre had a deal with Favorite and simply wants to know if the crooner is dead or alive. It’s been sixteen years since he was last seen, when Angel tries to pick up Favorite’s trail.
Set in 1959 New York, Angel’s search quickly leads him into a dark world of Voodoo and Black Magic. What should have been a simple missing person case becomes quite complicated. From Park Avenue to Harlem, Angel gets closer to understanding what happened to Favorite.
Angel turns out to be a very good detective. He finds Favorite’s doctor, old band members and his fortune-teller. As Angel investigates those who knew Favorite, they end up dying horrible, ritualistic deaths. Angel feels he is somehow responsible for their demise but can’t figure out who is doing the killing. He suspects Cyphre. The victims all wear jewelry that bears a pentagram. He learns it is a symbol that represents the devil.
Local cops want to know why the dead all have Angel’s business card and what his connection to the victims is all about. But like a good PI he won’t say. Angel is beginning to believe it is all a set up and he’s being framed. Angel is haunted by Cyphre in his dreams and knows Cyphre is up to something bizarre.
Like a father, Cyphre patiently encourages Angel to stay on the case to find Favorite.
Angel discovers Favorite had a lover that died recently, but has a 17 year-old daughter, Epiphany Proudfoot. Although she never knew her father, she knows Favorite was a powerful source of evil that could summon the devil – and he wasn’t a very nice person either.
Proudfoot, like her mother, is a Voodoo priestess. She’s aware of the evil lurking about and is afraid she may be in danger. Angel and Proudfoot become lovers.
Angel gets personally caught up in the mystery and eventually comes face to face with Favorite in a most unusual way.
You might want to skip this paragraph if you plan to read the book or see the movie adaptation. The author makes it no secret that Louis Cyphre is really Lucifer and that Johnny Favorite sold his soul to him for fame and fortune. It quickly becomes clear that Cyphre is seeking Favorite to collect on the debt. Here’s the spoiler alert and what makes Falling Angel so compelling: Angel has been hired by the devil to find himself. Angel is Favorite. Using the black arts, Favorite tried to out smart the devil and for sixteen years he got away with it. Angel is sickened when he realizes he has been having sex with his daughter!
Author Hjortsberg tells a terrifying, straightforward story of a hardboiled PI who gets in way over his head. Hjortsberg does not complicate the plot or intentionally throw in unnecessary red herrings to put the reader off the scent. He tells it like it is — delivering clue after clue foreshowing exactly who Angel really is.
Falling Angel is an engaging read. Hjortsberg’s prose are fluid, descriptive and lean. With short chapters and intriguing characters, it’s hard to put down the unfolding supernatural mystery.
New York is a colorful and interesting character in the story. Angel moves about the city with detailed familiarity and confidence. He witnesses a Voodoo ritual in Central Park and photographs a black mass in an abandoned subway station.
Hjortsberg’s story does not hold back. We get a fascinating look into the practice of Voodoo and the horrors of black magic. Angel is a sympathetic gumshoe. He seems to be the antithesis of Favorite — until he realizes he is pure evil.
If there is a theme in Hjortsberg book, it might be simply that the devil is happy to make a deal with a willing participant. But be prepared, you can run but he’ll eventually find you, take your soul and destroy your life even if you were his “Favorite.” Maybe we are all “falling” angels desperate for redemption; afraid to look into a mirror in fear we may see who we really are.
It is easy to say, “The devil made me do it.” If he exists, he is likely willing to take credit for all the bad things we say and do. From the beginning of written history, in cultures all around the world, the nature of good and evil has been considered and contemplated. It seems the devil has become the perfect scapegoat for our own despicable behavior. And that is horrifying!
