The cover art for Angel of Darkness is by Steven Kenny.

Reviews

Green Man Review: In the early 1990's Charles de Lint wrote three novels under the pseudonym "Samuel M. Key." The name was used to signify to de Lint's readers that beneath these covers lay something very different than what they expected from the usual de Lint fare: darker, more graphic. In a word, horror. Angel of Darkness is the first of these novels, reprinted now under de Lint's own brand. It is one of the darkest novels I've read recently; and it is also one of the best. Musician Chad Baker looks to make a "different" kind of music, so he lures locals to his home studio, tortures them, and records the sounds of their cries, moans, and screams. In doing so he unwittingly unleashes an "avenging angel" more powerful than even he could have imagined. In reward, he becomes its first victim. Angel of Darkness's main theme is abuse; abuse of the physical and sexual type as well as the abuse of power. De Lint does not shy away from graphic descriptions, and that makes these abuses more horrific than more "fictional" horrors. His solution to these issues is mythologically based, but then again this is a "dark fantasy." We don't expect our novelists to come up with truly feasible solutions to society's ills, but merely to give us an ending that makes us feel better temporarily. Near the end, I was afraid that he was edging into Rose Madder territory (Stephen King's otherwise good novel of domestic abuse that was ruined by a trite ending), but he redeems himself by not falling into that "easy escape" trap. De Lint's skill in this genre is immediately noticeable. I was grabbed by the first page and dragged through such fast-paced, well-written atrocities that I was unable to look away, however disturbing the scene (and there are many). None of the characters is a complete person, but in this case "personalities" work better. It was immediately apparent who we were expected to root for, and I went right along with it. It's not a happy story; good people die and not many characters survive at all. This Angel of Darkness leaves a string of corpses in its wake, and I, for one, was glad to be along for the ride. From Mystery Scene, April 1991: Whatever de Lint's reason for not wanting his name on this book may be, it certainly isn't because it's bad; right from the start, Angel of Darkness is a grabber of a story, a real page-turner. One thing I really enjoyed about this book, and this surprises me because I'm a deeply cynical person, is the positive message it conveys. It's "violence isn't always the solution" theme, in addition to being something you rarely encounter in the macho-infested horror jungle, is delivered in a highly effective manner. Unlike lesser talents, de Lint doesn't bludgeon you over the head with his beliefs, relying instead on subtlety, and command of the language, to get his point across. From Locus Magazine, 1990: …a solid commercial effort that takes assorted conventions of the horror field and adds a healthy lagniappe. Angel of Darkness possesses something so many other mainstream horror books lack a genuine moral sensibility. Key/de Lint has performed much more than yeoman's work in transforming familiar and, indeed, potentially tiresome materials into a novel both entertaining and challenging.