Sensual and intellectual, “Angelology” is a terrifically clever thriller — more Eco than Brown, without the cloudy sentimentalism of New Age encomiums or Catholic treatises. It makes no apologies for its devices, and none are necessary. How else would it be possible to bring together the angels of the Bible and Apocrypha, the myth of Orpheus, Bulgarian geography, medieval monastics, the Rockefellers, Nazis, nuns and musicology? And how splendid that it has happened.
These details are brought to mind by Ms. Trussoni’s first novel, “Angelology,” a class-obsessed, scholarship-spouting, minutiae-strewn thrill ride that follows the “Da Vinci Code” model as loftily as it can. In fathoming the grandiosity of Ms. Trussoni’s escapism, maybe it helps to recall the world from which she had to escape.
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This novel is neck deep in mumbo jumbo and will do its tireless best to conflate fact and fiction. Obscure theories? Nonexistent historical events? Exact anatomical details about otherworldly beings? Complaints about the naysayers who have “distorted angelic reality”? Yes, “Angelology” has them all.
Confused? Never fear, dear reader, Angelology is in the TBR pile. In the not too distant future I will offer what I am sure will be the definitive take on this polarizing novel …