A little different than the first book in this series – The Angel of Meridian still has that comfortable feeling as well. This time Hyde takes us to a lot more locations and I felt like we were almost circumnavigating the globe throughout. If you’re familiar with James Rollins or any other relic-hunting type book this one will feel similar to you, but it also takes a turn that even I wasn’t expecting. Much like the first book – where the cover made it look like a horror book instead of an adventure tale. This time I’m expecting an adventure tale… not the… (okay, no spoilers here, but other reviewers do talk about it).
The start of this book (and if I remember correctly The Devil’s Bible) had a lot of religion in it. Almost too much for me, but it ended up, like before, being just part of the set up and the overall “vibe” of the book. Hyde uses religion to set the stage (and also, religion is the home of thousands of relics and stories over the years so it makes sense to base it there). What I will say is that you can tell that Hyde puts a lot of time and energy into researching the topics, history, and the religious aspects that he does put in his novels. You feel like you’re learning something without feeling like you’re being preached to. He’s able to bring these topics and this history to life without doing it in a boring way.
The Angel of Meridan was one of those book that if I’d judged it in the first 20 pages I wouldn’t have liked it, but once you really get into the book it’s really enjoyable. The character building was good, but where Hyde’s novels really shine is in the pacing and the overall “feeling” they have. They leave you on the edge of your seat while also still feeling a little comfortable. You don’t ever at any point feel completely lost, but you do feel like something could change at any moment.
Back to what I said earlier (the one where I won’t spoil the book). Hyde does mention “…an army of the dead…”, so there’s your hint. I didn’t realize just how much that one line was going to affect the book, but man did it take a turn I wasn’t expecting.
Another good book and another great combination of Hyde and Bennett. Gary Bennett’s narration really brings this story to life. He took the slower scenes slow to draw them out and made the action and scary scenes that much more thrilling.