Concrete Angel
Published on 23. July 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-940610-38-2 (ISBN)
Description
Nominated for the Anthony and Macavity Award Evil doesn't always live next door. Sometimes it lives right in your own home. Eve Moran has always wanted "things," her powers of seduction impossible to resist for those who come in contact with her toxic allure. And over the course of her life, she has proven both inventive and tenacious in getting and keeping whatever such things catch her eye, whether they are jewelry, money, or men. Eve lies, steals, cheats, swindles, and is even willing to take a life, paying little heed to the cost of her actions on those who love her and depend on her. Her daughter, Christine, compelled by love, dependency, and circumstance, is caught up in her mother's deceptions, unwilling to accept the viciousness that runs in her family's blood. It's only when Christine's three-year old brother, Ryan, begins to prove useful to her mother, and Christine sees a horrific pattern repeating itself, that she finds the courage and means to bring an end to Eve's tyranny.
Concrete Angel centers around a family torn apart by a mother straight out of "Mommie Dearest", and her resilient young daughter who discovers that survival can mean fighting the closest evil imaginable.
Concrete Angel centers around a family torn apart by a mother straight out of "Mommie Dearest", and her resilient young daughter who discovers that survival can mean fighting the closest evil imaginable.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for CONCRETE ANGEL: "With cool, compelling prose, CONCRETE ANGEL reveals the menace that lurks beneath a mother's charming facade. An absorbing novel by an unusually fine writer." --Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winning author of CHINA LAKE andTHE MEMORY COLLECTOR "(An) enthralling, dark debut novel...It's a potent and at times poignant combination. Those who enjoy suspenseful, atmospheric family drama will find much to love here." --Library Journal (starred review) "Christine's mother Eve is sharp, beautiful, charismatic... and a murderous sociopath. Their complicated and heartbreaking relationship is explored in CONCRETE ANGEL -- a riveting depiction of family ties and how they can bind, ensnare, strangle." --Alison Gaylin, USA Today bestselling author "CONCRETE ANGEL is debut novelist Patti Abbott's exquisitely rendered character study of a manipulative mother over two decades. Eve is a woman obsessed -- but how will our narrator, Eve's only daughter, respond as her childhood innocence is taken away? Abbott exhibits a pitch-perfect precision with both language and setting in capturing the tragic world of a mid-century Pennsylvania family." --Edgar Award-winning author Naomi Hirahara "This is a gripping psychological thriller...will draw fans of the late Ruth Rendell as well as Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train." --Booklist "A fresh, original voice telling a story that's probably, in broad outline if not detail, more common than we know. But what detail! From the opening sentence, a grabber." --SJ Rozan, Edgar-winning author (as Sam Cabot) of SKIN OF THE WOLF "The characters in Abbott's debut novel are fully realized." --Kirkus Reviews "CONCRETE ANGEL is a culmination of her very best and is not to be missed." --Criminal Element "It's one of these novels that makes it so easy to turn the pages that it'll keep you under its spell past dinner and bed time." --Dead End Follies "CONCRETE ANGEL is a noir novel unlike anything you've ever read. Abbott has a new voice that's both chilling and shocking." --Sandra Scoppetone, award-winning author of the Lauren Laurano seriesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 139 mm
Weight
382 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-940610-38-2 (9781940610382)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Patricia Abbott is the author of more than 100 stories in print, online, and in various anthologies, including Needle Mag, The Thrilling Detective, Plots With Guns, Spinetingler, and ThugLit. In 2009 she won a Derringer Award for her story My Hero. She is the author of two ebooks of stories: Monkey Justice and Home Invasion (through Snubnose Press). She is the coeditor of Discount Noir (Unteed Reads). She makes her home in Detroit.