ANGELOLOGY by Danielle Trussoni

I have to admit that I am sucker for a good religious-themed suspense novel. Or movie for that matter.  I find the subject matter infinitely interesting.  This tendency is what drew me to Danielle Trussoni's ANGELOLOGY which has been touted as the next DA VINCI CODE. Since I did not care for the DA VINCI CODE, I should have known that this may not be my kind of book. I read it anyway.

Sister Evangeline has lived in the St. Rose Convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration since she was 12 years old.  During her duties in the convent library and archives, Evangeline receives a strange research request from a man named Verlaine wishing to know of any existing correspondance between a former prioress and Abigail Rockefeller during the mid-1940's.  Evangeline's research of the request leads her to discover a connection between the convent and a group of scholars known as angelologists who believe that angels live among us and have been detrimental to humankind.  The search for a lost artifact that may tip the balance in the battle between humans and angels begins while Evangeline learns secrets about her own past and that of her family.

This book was so disappointing. I thought the book would build up to the introduction of the angels but they are introduced right off the bat and they couldn't be more boring or uninteresting. They sound like a bunch of petulant self-absorbed children with wings. Evangeline is by far the best and most interesting character.  However, her ultimate destiny in the story becomes so obvious by the halfway point of the book that there is no real surprise. The best part of the book by far was the story of the expedition in the 1940's to recover the special artifact. After that, everything feels sort of anti-climactic. 

Regular readers of my blog know that I do not like it when authors throw in unnecessary plot devices. Especially romances.  Trussoni seems to be trying to develop every plot device in a novelist's arsenal in order to keep our interest.  The presence of the researcher Veraline seems pretty pointless except as a possible love interest.  The book has enough going out without adding this angle.  It is distracting and adds nothing to the story. Trussoni ends the book on a semi-cliffhanger leaving open the possibility for a sequel but it feels heavy-handed and annoying. If you are going to do that, why not just call this novel "Book One of the Angelology trilogy."

BOTTOM LINE: Not recommended.  The subject matter was so interesting and the story of a race against time to find an artifact that could save humankind should have been much more exciting than it was. The book had too much going on and the "bad guys" were too cliched.  This one was a real disappointment.