The Watchers by Jon Steele,
The Angelus Trilogy #1
Beneath Lausanne Cathedral in Switzerland lies
a secret buried before time began. A secret to angels and to men. A secret,
that is, until now…
Marc Rochat watches over the city at night from
the belfry of the cathedral. He lives in a world of shadows and beforetimes and
imaginary beings.
Katherine Taylor, call girl, is living the
dream. But she is about to find out that her real-life fairy tale is far to good
to be true.
Jay Harper, private detective, wakes in a
crummy hotel room with no memory. When the telephone rings and he’s offered a
job, he has no choice but to accept.
Three lives. One purpose. Save what’s left of
paradise, before all hell breaks loose.
The Watchers is Jon Steele’s
first book in The Angelus Trilogy, a mythical noir themed story that all start
in the Lausanne Cathedral in Switzerland. Jon Steele has worked as an
award-winning cameraman and editor for Independent Television News of London,
for over twenty years. Having become disillusioned with the Iraq war Jon put
his camera away and took up writing. With The Angelus Trilogy as a result.
It has been a while for me
since I picked up a heaven and hell kind off story so once I was offered to
review The Watchers and the sequel Angel City, I immediately said yes. What I
have found out so far is that with these type of stories you’re always in for a
surprise, as each author bends this
theme to his or her visions. And Jon Steele’s The Watchers is no exception. Jon
Steel provides a very different and unique take on an angelic themed story.
The Watchers had me from the go.
Eavery book has its own alluring sense and draws you in. The Watchers is really
unique, somehow just from the first word of the book it felt really engrossing
and I was readily absorbed into the story. From the start Jon Steele manages to
create a rich atmosphere by setting this story down in Switzerland, taking the
story to a completely different location then England or America did play on
rising my curiosity especially with the promise of angels. Another thing that
really makes The Watcher so absorbing is the way the story is written. It’s
hard to explain but the way Jon Steele rights is just magical on its own. Using
different points-of-view to highlight each of the characters that you follow,
throwing in the occasional French words and sentence all worked towards the
same goal, creating a rich and interesting story. What does fall to notice of
The Watcher is that though it has it’s occurrence of angels and the
supernatural, the book starts of not directly with a focus on this element,
instead Jon Steele first invests a lot of time and effort into setting the
story just right and telling a lot about each of the three characters (ill get
to them in a second) and of the history behind the story. With taking his time
to do this, Jon Steele managed to create a strong character driven book, but
don’t assume that it’s all about the characters, as you will learn also learn much
about the world itself, be it through the characters themselves.
The Watchers starts of with a
prologue set during World War I. After this you are switched to the present day
where you follow the stories of three characters. Marc Rochat, Katherine Taylor
and Jay Harper. Each of them has been drawn to Lausanne but none of them really
know why. Firstly there is Marc Rochat, Marc has been disabled by an accident
during his birth and besides his limping, he isn’t that bright either. Marc has
a job as a caretaker for the bells of the cathedral (think Quasimodo). From the
characters I really like Marc’s the most. Since the story is being told from
each of the perspectives of the characters you really saw how Marc perceives
the world. Marc talks to the bells, referring to one bell as Mary Magdalena,
but also talking to the statues on the belfry. Marc lives in his own world, when
he has flashbacks to the past he refers to it as “beforetimes” and these
flashback were neatly integrated that only after finishing it I knew that I was
reading about one, which added something definite special to them. Though Marc
is 21 years old, he does hold a young boyish attitude towards the world which
makes you really want to care for him. Now whether Marc is just imagining these
parts or that he really can talk to them and that they talk back, isn’t clear
but this might just be for the better because it adds just a great something
special to his character. Secondly there is Katherine Taylor who works for the
Two Hundred Club, a special club for high rollers who like some entertainment
on the side. Katherine has everything, money enough to live a life of true
luxury. However as the story progresses she finds herself in situation she
hasn’t thought of and that she might have been too naive when she got on board
the Two Hundred Club. Lastly there is Jay Harper. Who has no idea as to how he
got to Lausanne, he gets a call for a job that he cannot deny and is thrown
into a series of murder investigations. Jay only knows that he likes to watch
History Channel. All of these three characters have a very rich past that is
explored to the fullest in the earlier chapters of the book and used as a
foundation to build up a promising plot line in the end.
Now you might think that how
can a story turn towards the supernatural with angels playing a role with this
cast? Well Here you have to trust me. It will, but Jon Steele really manages to
create his own special introduction and storyline around this aspect.
Like I mentioned above the
supernatural aspect of the story really only kicks in at about two thirds of
the book. In the beginning you have Marc living his life as the caretaker
constantly on the look out for the angel that his mother said is about to pay a
visit to the Cathedral. Katharine living her call girl life and Jay
investigating a lead for the International Olympic Committee. And then its
really like a door slamming down, a “waking you up kind off slam”. Everything
is connected. With The Watcher being a character driven story telling more
about how everything is connected would spoil the story too much, it is really
something you have to experience for yourself. The lines between the natural
and supernatural are really thin...
Jon Steele manages to create
an amazingly rich, evocative and magical story with The Watchers. Lying in this
first story the focus on a set of just as amazing characters that you really
grow to care and feel for. By focussing the setting of the story onto the
characters themselves and their history, Jon Steele really managed to absorb me
into his story. The writing style of The Watchers is clear, crisp and very
engrossing. The story line itself, though some might think it is linear and
that there is not action in the beginning, feels like it is really building up
towards a something. It first deals with a lot of the world itself and then
like a slam Jon Steele throws you together with Marc, Katherine and Jay into a
rapid towards the ending. The Watchers is a perfect blend of several themes:
fantasy, science fiction and crime and detective. Jon Steele shows what is
possible when the lines of the natural and supernatural starts to blur…