Angel's Inferno by William Hjortsberg

 

(pb; 2018: sequel to Falling Angel)

From the back cover

“Private investigator Harry Angel is in a jam. Handcuffed in his apartment along with the cops and a corpse, he stands accused of violently murdering three people. The good news is he knows who did it. But in order to exonerate himself, Harry must first make his escape—and figure out his own identity.

“With the authorities hot on his heels, Harry travels from New York and Boston to Paris and the Vatican in search of an elusive stage magician. Eventually piecing together his mysterious past, he descends into the dark world of the occult. And very soon he will have vengeance upon the devil himself.”

 

Review

Angel’s Inferno picks up in the same scene where its prequel, Falling Angel, ends—if you’ve read Falling Angel, or seen its resulting 1987 film Angel Heart, you know what that scene looks like. After Angel escapes from police custody, accused of murders he may or may not have committed, he goes down another dark, increasingly ambitious rabbit hole littered with more death, voodoo, music, regret, and famous, real-life personalities (Ada “Bricktop” Smith, William S. Burroughs, Kenny Clarke, others).This time out, though, Angel’s head isn’t the only one on the main chopping block.

Angel’s is an excellent, more-intense-than-its-source-novel read, one with—like its prequel—full of effectively foreshadowed, character-based twists and not-quite-revelations. Great book, one of my favorite reads this year.

Angel Heart by Alan Parker

 

(1986; unpublished screenplay for the 1987 film)

Review

Parker’s unpublished screenplay for the 1987 film which he directed is as gritty, darkly sly, occasionally grisly and pulpy as its source material, William Hjortsberg’s 1978 pulp novel Falling Angel. Parker’s screenplay is vivid in its engaging-all-senses writing, one of the better screenplays I’ve read. It distills Hjortsberg’s increasingly sinister, walls-closing-in-on-Harry-Angel claustrophobia into a palpable and effective cinematic work, one that is reflected in the resulting film that mixes horror and noir. 

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The film was released stateside on March 6, 1987. As mentioned above, Alan Parker directed the film from his screenplay.

Mickey Rourke played Harry Angel. Robert DeNiro played Louis Cyphre. Lisa Bonet played Evageline Proudfoot. Charlotte Rampling played Margaret Krusemark.

Stocker Fontelieu played Ethan Krusemark. Brownie McGhee played Toots Sweet. Michael Higgins played Dr. Fowler. Charles Gordone played Spider Simpson. Dann Florek played Herman Winesapp.

Pruitt Taylor Vince played Det. Deimos. Eliot Keener played Det. Sterne.

Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg

(pb; 1978) 

 From the back cover

 "Louis Cyphre had a fiendish smile and flaunted some bizarre fetishes. So what. The fat price Cyphre was paying for a routine missing-persons assignment convinced Harry Angel to shake off his customary shivers about Cyphre's weird ways. "But Harry's pay turned to blood as each of his leads dissolved into a dizzying nightmare of black magic and gory murders. And the more he sought the terrifying shadow of the long lost Johnny Favorite, the closer he came to chasing his own." 

Review

Set in 1959, Falling Angel is an original, über clever, supernaturally flavored private dick novel. It's tightly characterized and written, oozy and often bloody with neo-noir-esque shadows and characters who are cursed, but don't know it yet. Falling Angel has one minor flaw. Hjortsberg, perhaps too clever for his own good, tips his hand a bit early on the final revelations of the book, at least for this (sometimes) sharp-eyed reader. Despite this minor flaw, pulp and horror aficionados should check out this landmark crossover work.  Followed by Angel's Inferno.

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The resulting film, retitled Angel Heart, graced stateside screens on March 6, 1987. Mickey Rourke played Harry Angel. Robert DeNiro played Louis Cyphre. Lisa Bonet played Evangeline Proudfoot. Charlotte Rampling played Margaret Krusemark. Stocker Fontelieu played Ethan Krusemark. Brownie McGhee played Toots Sweet. Michael Higgins played Dr. Fowler. Charles Gordone played Spider Simpson. Dann Florek played Herman Winesapp. Pruitt Taylor Vince played Det. Deimos. Eliot Keener played Det. Sterne. Alan Parker scripted and directed the film.