**A superb, powerful thriller from 'one of crime fiction's new stars' [Sunday Telegraph]**
John Harper has always been alone. His mother died when he was just seven years old and he was raised in New York by an aunt he barely knew. He never even made his father's acquaintance - a man who died shortly after he was born. After leaving the Big Apple as soon as he was old enough, his life consisted of one moderately successful book, a collection of affectionately received newspaper columns and a comfortable existence in Miami.
Then everything changes. A liquor store heist goes wrong - and turns John's existence on its head. It seems that his father didn't die all those years ago. In fact, he has thrived in the New York underworld. But now the man himself lies critically injured in a Manhattan hospital and it's time for father and son to meet at last . . .
**
### From Booklist
Until the day his aunt summoned him back to New York to visit his father’s deathbed, John Harper believed he was an orphan. Now, a robbery has left his father critically wounded, and John is being fed new versions of his life story. Was John’s father merely a successful businessman, as his former partner attests, or was he someone less reputable, as John’s aunt and the detective lurking around the hospital suggest. Did John’s mother and his uncle commit suicide, or were they victims of his father’s alleged gangster empire? Determined to find the truth, John summons his own powers of duplicity and delves into New York’s underworld. Ellory (Candlemoth, 2013) layers symbolism and allegory into the airtight crime narrative, constructing a foundation that holds literary weight. Atmosphere and sense of place beg a match with authors known for summoning old-school Mob mojo and manipulating settings—James Ellroy, for example, or Andrew Vachss in Two Trains Running (2005). --Christine Tran
### Review
"Outstanding noir…Ellory's burning insight into Harper's everyman insecurities drive this triller beyond sordid crime fiction into the darkess recesses of the human heart." —*Publishers Weekly*, Starred Review
Praise for *A Quiet Belief in Angels*:
"There aren't nearly enough beautifully written novels that are also great mysteries. Like *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* and *Smilla's Sense of Snow*, *A Quiet Belief in Angels* is one of them." --James Patterson
"R. J. Ellory is a uniquely gifted, passionate, and powerful writer, and the quality of his prose--every word, every sentence--hits *A Quiet Belief in Angels* far above its genre." --Alan Furst
"*A Quiet Belief in Angels* is a rich, powerful, evocative novel of great psychological depth." --Jonathan Kellerman
Description:
**A superb, powerful thriller from 'one of crime fiction's new stars' [Sunday Telegraph]** John Harper has always been alone. His mother died when he was just seven years old and he was raised in New York by an aunt he barely knew. He never even made his father's acquaintance - a man who died shortly after he was born. After leaving the Big Apple as soon as he was old enough, his life consisted of one moderately successful book, a collection of affectionately received newspaper columns and a comfortable existence in Miami. Then everything changes. A liquor store heist goes wrong - and turns John's existence on its head. It seems that his father didn't die all those years ago. In fact, he has thrived in the New York underworld. But now the man himself lies critically injured in a Manhattan hospital and it's time for father and son to meet at last . . . ** ### From Booklist Until the day his aunt summoned him back to New York to visit his father’s deathbed, John Harper believed he was an orphan. Now, a robbery has left his father critically wounded, and John is being fed new versions of his life story. Was John’s father merely a successful businessman, as his former partner attests, or was he someone less reputable, as John’s aunt and the detective lurking around the hospital suggest. Did John’s mother and his uncle commit suicide, or were they victims of his father’s alleged gangster empire? Determined to find the truth, John summons his own powers of duplicity and delves into New York’s underworld. Ellory (Candlemoth, 2013) layers symbolism and allegory into the airtight crime narrative, constructing a foundation that holds literary weight. Atmosphere and sense of place beg a match with authors known for summoning old-school Mob mojo and manipulating settings—James Ellroy, for example, or Andrew Vachss in Two Trains Running (2005). --Christine Tran ### Review "Outstanding noir…Ellory's burning insight into Harper's everyman insecurities drive this triller beyond sordid crime fiction into the darkess recesses of the human heart." —*Publishers Weekly*, Starred Review Praise for *A Quiet Belief in Angels*: "There aren't nearly enough beautifully written novels that are also great mysteries. Like *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* and *Smilla's Sense of Snow*, *A Quiet Belief in Angels* is one of them." --James Patterson "R. J. Ellory is a uniquely gifted, passionate, and powerful writer, and the quality of his prose--every word, every sentence--hits *A Quiet Belief in Angels* far above its genre." --Alan Furst "*A Quiet Belief in Angels* is a rich, powerful, evocative novel of great psychological depth." --Jonathan Kellerman