A Prayer for Deliverance: An Angela Bivens Thriller

I loved this novel. I liked the way the author went 180 degrees from the crime-suspense-sleuthing theme in Sympathy for the Devil, to this thriller. Formulas get tired, and I'm glad Chambers is switching up on us--with the same characters! Great for summer read by the pool.

In A Prayer for Deliverance, Christopher Chambers resumes where the debut novel, Sympathy For the Devil, ended. FBI agent, Angela Bivens, is back in action as an inspector called in to investigate the murders of prominent African American leaders. While her superiors think the murders are the work of a well-known hate group, we find Angela dallying in the supernatural to solve the murders and bring the true assassins to justice. Specifically, she is pulled into a dark underworld of Zulu "magick" to substantiate her theories and enlists the help of a rookie sidekick (and Wicca witch) to assist in the investigation. As in the first novel, she is both supported and hindered by the FBI staff and must deal with the political powers of the agency and the bureaucracy of the Washington elite. To complicate things further, she stumbles through a newfound romance while struggling to overcome the emotional scars from her last boyfriend, a psychotic sociopath who was the evil perpetrator of her last case. As one can imagine, this book is multi-dimensional and filled with numerous plot twists and turns. There are so many characters with ulterior motives that this reviewer literally had to keep notes on who was who, their relationships to one another, and their relationships within the FBI hierarchy. This novel is extremely well written and very well researched as evidenced in the passages about South African culture and politics. However, this reviewer felt that at times the plot tangents obscured the essence of the mystery. In an attempt to make this a well-rounded novel, the author repeatedly lost this reviewer in the minutia and the surreal, dreamlike episodes that were scattered throughout the book. Angela Bivens, earmarked as an FBI super sleuth, seemed bewildered and clueless at times which elongated the story and damaged her characterization as an ingenious, diehard super agent. There were some segments in which she appeared to be as much of a victim as the targets. Perhaps this was intentional, to show her vulnerabilities, however it came off as Angela being the luckiest detective alive instead of one of the sharpest. Nonetheless, this reviewer persevered to see how the novel would conclude and was not disappointed. Overall, this was a compelling mystery and proved to be entertaining.PhyllisAPOOO BookClub, Nubian Circle Book Club

I first have to say that this review may be a little skewed, because I am a personal friend of the author. Howevere, I have read both books, and I must say that they are excellent. I never read fiction, and to get me to read fiction is like pulling teeth. These two Angela Bivins novels have been so suspenseful and so well written that they have whetted my appetite for more. Chris- when they start making movies of your novels and you really get big, don't forget the old crew. PEACE.

Whew! I liked Sympathy--it was a decent first mystery-thriller that seemed to follow the Thomas Harris Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon formula, and I read that the author's mentor was Harris. It was hard to follow some of the African American slang of the teenage victims, but it was a very intelligent and well-crafted, vivid read. In Deliverance, THIS GUY PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS! From the beginning (where we find out Agent Bivens's TERRIBLE decision) to the very end on 9-11, he throws the kitche sink at you, but hey, you take and you LOVE Getting hit with it! So many levels to this book. I don't give 5 stars usually, but, as a former law enforcement officer, I give him the stars just for the testicular fortitude to craft something that mixes Stephen King with Tom Clancy with E. Lynn Harris, and pulling it off, and with a female protagonist who has some serious issues to overcome. If the third one is about 9-11, keep this guy from revealing any of the plot to bin laden. JBS

Oft times a writer cannot repeat the success of the first novel. However, Christopher Chambers has continued the Angela Bivens series with another captivating and well-written thriller entitled A Prayer for Deliverance (APFD).We meet Angela in APFD relaxing and still recovering from injuries gained in Sympathy for Devil. Angela is summoned from her vacation to help with the investigation of a prominent Washington D.C doctor's murder. This murder is followed by more murders and the investigation takes the reader into the worlds of the supernatural, spells and African mysticism. We are reintroduced to some characters from Chambers' first novel, which adds to the continuity of the series. Additionally, Angela gets a new rogue partner, Nadia, who reminds Angela of herself as a rookie FBI agent. The reader is held captive by the book until the conclusion of this thriller.Chambers does an excellent job weaving his research into his novels. Readers who reside in the Baltimore-Washington corridor will be very familiar with the scenery in the novel. Angela Bivens is a remarkable heroine and I am looking forward to additional books from Chambers in this series.Reviewed by Robilyn Heath The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers