Angelmaker

481 pages

English language

Published Jan. 8, 2012 by Alfred A. Knopf.

OCLC Number:
743039748

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4 stars (12 reviews)

Avoiding the lifestyle of his late gangster father by working as a clock repairman, Joe Spork fixes an unusual device that turns out to be a former secret agent's doomsday machine and incurs the wrath of the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator.

1 edition

Review of 'Angelmaker' on Goodreads

2 stars

In an alternate, present-day London, Joe Spork--clock repairman and son of a legendary gangster--accepts a commission to repair an old automaton. Unknowingly, he sets in motion an impending disaster, which is the culmination of a decades-old battle between a British Intelligence agent and a brutal Southeast Asian dictator.

This is not my typical style of reading. I don't usually go in for humor, but Nick Harkaway is the son of the Grandmaster of Espionage himself, John le Carré, so I wanted to see what the son could do with speculative fiction.

In general, the strengths of this novel are mostly in the dialog. The banter is witty and hilarious. The characters are adequate and serve their purpose, save the protagonist himself, who goes through an unbelievable metamorphosis from anonymous geek to popular hero even though he doesn't possess any of the skills to do so. And, unfortunately, the narrative is …

Review of 'Angelmaker' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A London watch-maker named Joe has a lot of fun saving the world from a villain wishing to destroy it, while the British secret services are unknowingly assisting the villain. A fun book to read, absolutely. The one part I found annoying is that the villain is supposed to use an invention by a scientist who invented some sort of a universal truth machine hoping that if everybody will always know the truth this will prevent wars and other abuses. There is a bit of anti-science bias there, I thought. Again though, a totally enjoyable book.

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Subjects

  • Repairing
  • Weapons of mass destruction
  • Older women
  • End of the world
  • Psychopaths
  • Fathers and sons
  • Dictators
  • Fiction
  • Children of gangsters
  • Clocks and watches
  • Good and evil