''Falling Angel'' is a

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

horror novel Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defi ...

by American writer

William Hjortsberg William Reinhold "Gatz" Hjortsberg (February 23, 1941 – April 22, 2017) was an American novelist and screenwriter, who wrote the screenplay of the film ''Legend (1985 film), Legend''. His novel ''Falling Angel'' was the basis for the film ''An ...

. Written in a

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

detective style with supernatural themes, it was adapted into the

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

film '' Angel Heart''.

Background

''Falling Angel'' came out to a muted reception in hardback in 1978, but gained a much wider audience the following year with its paperback release. It was eventually followed by ''Angel's Inferno'', published posthumously in 2020, in which Harry Angel attempts to make sense of his past and track down his greatest enemy.

Plot

The plot unrolls in New York state in 1959. Down and out

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...

Harry Angel is hired by a mysterious client, Louis Cyphre, via the law firm of Herman Winesap, to find a missing

crooner A crooner is a singer who performs with a smooth, intimate style that originated in the 1920s. The crooning style was made possible by better microphones that picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to acce ...

named Johnny Favorite. Johnny Favorite rose to swift fame before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but has not been seen since he was critically wounded during a 1943

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

raid on Allied forces in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, after which he was returned to the US in a vegetative state. Cyphre has received information that Favorite may be a patient at the Emma Dodd Harvest Memorial Clinic in Poughkeepsie, but has not been allowed access to him. After some investigation, Angel discovers that Favorite was indeed a patient at the clinic, but was released into the care of a man called Edward Kelly. Angel searches New York for Kelly and the rest of Favorite's old friends, an investigation that leads him into a disturbing

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

milieu. He learns that Favorite's girlfriend, Margaret Krusemark, is an occultist and practitioner of black magic, as was Favorite himself; legend has it that the crooner once conjured the Devil during a Black Mass. As one by one, Favorite's old associates are murdered during the course of the enquiry, Angel begins to fear that he is being framed for their deaths. Finally, Angel is confronted with the truth: that he himself is Johnny Favorite. Having summoned the Devil during a Black Mass and agreed to trade his soul for fame and success in the music business, he rose to fame as a singer, but his career was cut short by the war. Left with amnesia after his injury in 1943, and with the help of his friends, he has reinvented himself in order to escape his contract with Louis Cyphre - or Lucifer. Since then, Cyphre has been tracking him, killing all his old friends and leading him to this moment of discovery. The book culminates in Angel's arrest for the murders, for which there is conclusive evidence of his guilt.

Reception

The novel was enthusiastically received on publication. Rafe McGregor describes ''Falling Angel'' as "exemplary occult detection."

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

is quoted as having described it: "as if Raymond Chandler had written ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

''."

Adaptations

The book was adapted into a 1987 mystery-thriller film entitled '' Angel Heart'' starring

Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. ( ; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former professional Boxing, boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading actor, leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. In a Mickey Rourke filmogra ...

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

, and

Lisa Bonet Lilakoi Moon (born Lisa Michelle Bonet ; November 16, 1967) is an American actress. She portrayed Denise Huxtable on the sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), for which she earned widespread acclaim and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Aw ...

. It was also adapted into an opera by J. Mark Scearce to a libretto by Lucy Thurber. Titled ''Falling Angel'', it premiered at the Brevard Music Center on June 30, 2016, after having initially been commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York. The novel was serialized in digest version in ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' magazine in 1978, winner of Playboy Editorial Award for Best Major Work.

References

{{reflist 1978 American novels 1970s horror novels American horror novels American thriller novels American detective novels American crime novels Hardboiled crime novels Speculative crime and thriller fiction novels Fiction set in 1959 Novels set in the 1950s Novels about missing people Fiction about the Devil Deal with the Devil Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Playboy Works originally published in literary magazines American novels adapted into films Horror novels adapted into films American novels adapted into operas Harcourt (publisher) books