Gideon's Angel

Gideon's Angel by Clifford Beal

1653: The long and bloody English Civil War is at an end. King Charles is dead and Oliver Cromwell rules the land as king in all but name. Richard Treadwell, an exiled royalist officer and soldier-for-hire to the King of France and his all-powerful advisor, the wily Cardinal Mazarin, burns with revenge for those who deprived him of his family and fortune. He decides upon a self-appointed mission to return to England in secret and assassinate the new Lord Protector. Once back on English soil however, he learns that his is not the only plot in motion.

A secret army run by a deluded Puritan is bent on the same quest, guided by the Devil’s hand. When demonic entities are summoned, Treadwell finds himself in a desperate turnaround: he must save Cromwell to save England from a literal descent into Hell. But first he has to contend with a wife he left in Devon who believes she’s a widow, and a furious Paris mistress who has trailed him to England, jeopardising everything. Treadwell needs allies fast. Can he convince the man sent to forcibly drag him back to Cardinal Mazarin? A young king’s musketeer named d’Artagnan.

In the masses of releases last year, the attention of Gideon's Angel kind of escaped me. Whenever there is the mentioning of the supernatural esepcially in the backdrop of historical fantasy I always try to be at the frontline. Luckily the fine people of Solaris kindly provided me with a review copy. Gideon's Angel is written by Clifford Beal who has been the former editor-in-chief of Jane’s Defence Weekly in London and has worked as an international journalist for over 20 years. Gideon's Angel is Clifford Beal's first book out by Solaris, it is set in an alternate history of Engeland where a supernatural element, read: Demons and the likes make an appearance, this book could only turn out for the better, and it did! I am having my fingers crossed to see more of his works to be published. 

Gideon's Angel opens up with a direct focus on the main protagonist Richard Treadwell in a fight for his survival and to proof his innocence. Richard has a past within the English court, he once a trusted and loyal officer to King Charles right until the moment that Cromwell staged his coup where he assassinated King Charles. After this Richard was sent into exile to France, where he is no currently fighting for his life. Soon after this though Richard is contacted by Cardinal Mazarin, Mazarin has one task for Richard, try to finds out a who has closed a deal with the Devil. Richard finds himself now torn between a lot of decisions but decides to travel to England, he does have his own mind set on getting rid of Cromwell. However things do soon start to change as Richard is confronted with the supernatural side of this story. The synopsis might deliver a pretty straightforward story, but eventhough it's a short book, Clifford Beal nicely broadens the whole story of Gideon's Angel as soon as Richard sets foot on English soil. Since Richard has been exiled and if he is captured on English soil will make his life forfeit. His situation is utter precarious and his partly hot headed nature doesn't make it that much easier to stay unnoticed. Richard does draw the attention of certain people, Gideon Fludd, that make his life that more difficult but this also offered a new view upon Richard's task. Maybe he fighting for the wrong ideals as he starts to realize who Gideon or actually what Gideon is... Clifford Beal has managed to create a very powerful and very interesting storyline in Gideon's Angel. I was very impressed that with the beginning of the story it look rather natural and ordinary with the historical backdrop but then all of a sudden he spins his story in the supernatural direction, good stuff. 

As for the main protagonist in Gideon's Angel, Richard Treadwell, I think Clifford Beal couldn't have written up a better one. Richard is a man with a past, he has fought numerous battles on either the British soil or on continental Europe and this has left him with a lot of experience and somewhat weary of it all. But Richard still has that spark of determination going on to seek justice for his exile. These explanations might paint him as a die-hard soldier only with the muscle, but when Richard sets foot on in England, he is confronted by his wife and this added a nice few layers of complexity to his character, broadening the scope of the story and showing that Richard is more than just a sword for hire. He feel partly obliged to his wife and perhaps wishes that certain things hadn't happened the way they did. Richard is painted for me in the lines of an antihero, he came to kill a king, but now has to safe his life to stop the End of Days from dawning. Along his journey Richard meets up with many different characters, both fictional and based on true facts. For starters there is Billy Chard, Clifford Beal weaves a great sense around this character, Billy is a very strong secondary character that at certain moments even starts to overshine Richard's character. BIlly is a determined companion to Richard and even though they don't know each other through and through like old friends there "young" friendship should say enough, and if I were ever in a nasty situation I would like to see Billy have my back. With the addition of Billy, Clifford Beal also introduces a more humorous aspect to the book in terms of dialogues and witty remarks. Another addition to the secondary cast is one that we know of the Three Musketeer d'Artagnan, but he is far from shown in the way that we have come to know him from other popular media, he is a bit more on the pessimistic side in terms of his character but still his expertise with the blade does come to show in full artistical fights. 

What for me makes or breaks alternate history books is how the author brings over the setting of his story. I must say that I was impressed with how Clifford Beal executed his story. It reads away very easily and I only later found out that this is his second book... It feel like I am reading the words of an veteran author (not to talk it down in anyway, but it is very fine writing). Gideon's Angel is one of those books that pulls you in and doesn't let you go until you finish the last page and then you wish there was more to read. Clifford Beal writes his story in in a clear and crisp manner but allowing for a lot of exploration in side tracks and even with writing to the point you aren't missing out on any details at all. The whole English War setting with the Militia was brought over in clear detailing, I have to admit that I aren't 100% familiar with all the details but it felt like I was present in the 1660's. 

Now what separates Gideon's Angel from the rest of many different Alternate History books is the supernatural element. From the synopsis of the book you can make out that Richard finds himself in the dealings with the Devil. I have read some UF stories in which dealing with the devil were made that turned out to be standard stuff, not really giving much extra to the story, but in the case of Gideon's Angel this supernatural threat works full color. Especially when you consider the earlier proposed premise with just RIchard Threadwell that now finds himself batteling the supernatural, in setting up to introduce the Devil, Clifford Beal carefully layers his story revealing bit by bit more as to who is the possible individual that is in league with the Devil. Nearing the ending of the book it comes down to one spectacular finale and everything falls into place, with the help of a flaming sword though! This last scene really brought me to the edge of my seat and it was written in such a cool way that I read it 4 times directly after each other and I can still imagine the details in the back of my mind, really, really cool. 

With Gideon's Angel, Clifford Beal shows that he is definitely an author to look out to in the feature. Gideon's Angel isn't just another alternate history book, it is much more. Clifford Beal perfectly blends in the natural with the supernatural and shows that the Devil and other of his demonspawn can also feature in alternate history and doesn't only have to make an appearance in urban fantasy. Clifford Beal introduces the reader to an well fleshed out character cast, both the protagonist of Gideon's Angel, Richard Treadwell as well as the secondary characters feel fully developed and aren't just simple husks, the great characterization combined with the interesting story and plottwists (though the major one is revealed in the synopsis, you are still in for quite a surprise nearing the ending of the book) make this book a sure-fire winner. And lets not forget to stress out the cool thing once again blending the natural with the supernatural and final showdown, superb.