The Guardian Angel

A Film by Arto Halonen


REVIEWS IN ITALY

 L´angelo senza volto, published in October 2020, has been well received in Italy. Thriller Nord's review, for instance, praises the novel as "enchanting, fascinating, and terribly seductive" and singles out its "in-depth psychological analysis of the different characters." 

The Guardian Angel is a fascinating psychological thriller based on true events, involving hypnosis murders that shocked Denmark in the 1950s. The book has been translated into several languages, the latest in Italian as “L´angelo senza volto – The Guardian Angel.

 

L´angelo senza volto
Di Kevin Frazier & Arto Halonen

 


 

THRILLER NORD 

From: https://thrillernord.it/langelo-senza-volto/
Review: Loredana Cescutti 

This book immediately had the same effect on me as a hypnosis session.

From the start the reading experience is damned bewitching, fascinating and terribly seductive. At the same time it also exudes a certain deceptiveness that sneaks up on the reader. This is perceptible as something dark that the reader is unable to escape. In the same way that the various characters in turn feel deceived, manipulated and treated like obedient puppets, you, dear reader, realize that sometimes your will and your thoughts are reoriented in a subtle way, to distract your attention from what's really going on.

The beauty of this novel lies in the fact that it's able to keep you enchanted during its pages by completely eliminating the perception of time. This ability can certainly be attributed to the extremely agile writing, with just a hint of humor that nevertheless hits the mark every time, and to the quite in-depth psychological analysis of the different characters, whom the reader is able to perceive as real people of flesh and bone.

It's hard to sense the four hands that wrote the book because of the clear ability of the two authors. There is great harmony in their writing and meticulous research, the result of many years of work on the true history that inspired the writing. Approximately 90% is historically true and 10% is fictional. These two aspects come together to give life to a story that's both interesting and disturbing, and that brings to light a serious case. The case established an important precedent in jurisprudence, a precedent that until then would never have been taken into consideration.

At this point I hope I've led you into a trance. I can only give you a suggestion that will remain indelible in your mind, and that I will seal by counting backwards until one.

With the voice of a snake charmer, The Guardian Angel will call to you one by one, and you will not be able to resist him,
because your will shall be completely annihilated by this powerful story.

 

 

 

VIVERE TRA LE RIGHE

From: http://viveretralerighe.blogspot.com/2020/10/review-party-langelo-senza-volto-di.html
Review: Vivere Tra Le Righe

A reading experience that's full of emotions.
As always I don’t want to include spoilers in my reviews, and for this reason I find it quite difficult when I talk about a novel that has thrilled me so much and that, within its plot, contains one twist after another: what I can certainly reveal is that the writing style used in the story is very dry and objective at some moments, those most charged with tension, but that the style can also become fluid and (it should be said) hypnotic when needed.

If you loved, as I did, the Lars Kepler novels that beat out their competitors on the bestseller lists ten years ago, you'll be very pleased to hear about this new story, which also takes place in the far north of Europe, immersed in the cold atmosphere of a fascinating Copenhagen...

 

THE READINGS LOVE  

From: https://thereadingslove.blogspot.com/2020/10/recensione-langelo-senza-volto-di-kevin-frazier-arto-halonen.html
Review: Raffaella

The narration is engaging and exciting, the pace is quite tight, without too many descriptions if not the minimum necessary, and transmits to the reader a sense of inner disturbance that gradually increases with the reading and with the awareness that this is a story that really happened.

If you are a fan of Northern European thrillers, immerse yourself in this haunting and gripping psychological thriller, in its battle of minds and wills.

 

 

 

 

MILANONERA

From: https://www.milanonera.com/langelo-selza-volto-kevin-frazier-arto-halonen/
Review: Marinella Giuni

This is the charm of The Guardian Angel: a compelling psychological investigation that explores the most hidden aspects of the human mind, showing how it can be controlled and manipulated.

 

THE MAD OTTER

From: https://www.the-mad-otter.it/index.php/2020/10/06/review-party-recensione-di-langelo-senza-volto-di-kevin-frazier-e-arto-halonen/
Review: Tiziana

It's thrilling to know that Frazier and Halonen's book is inspired by real events. They've orchestrated a wonderful psychological thriller, which constantly leaves you in suspense due to the unpredictability of the story.

Each chapter literally speaks to the heart of the reader, who feels fascinated, as if hypnotized, just like the victims of the infamous Angel. The pace is fast and the authors’ style totally involves us through accurate descriptions that induce strong emotions, such as our incredible curiosity in discovering how everything will end. There are no flaws, no flat moments: each page is one twist after another that feeds your anxiety and ensures you cannot break away without first closing the book. The Guardian Angel is one of the new releases of the moment that absolutely deserves to be discovered, for what it unleashes in the soul, so that the story becomes unforgettable.

 

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BOOKSPEDIA

From: http://bookespedia.blogspot.com/2020/10/recensione-langelo-senza-volto-di-kevin.html
Review: Da Sara 

It's a novel that can be read quickly because you're so curious to see where the story will go, even if somehow you're scared to find out.

I admit this book is very peculiar, perhaps different from the usual ones we're used to, but it was really interesting to read, full of ideas and obviously full of questions about how our mind works and how easy it is to be manipulated without even knowing it. So if you're looking for a more psychological thriller than usual, this is the novel for you.

 

TOPFIT

From: https://www.topfitpisa.it/blog/1189db-paolo-giordano-divorare-il-cielo-frasi

There are books you can't help but talk about, Until Night Is No More by Novita Amadei, The Poet and The Narrows by Michael Connelly, The Guardian Angel by Kevin Frazier and Arto Halonen, Just Before I Died by S. K. Tremayne, The Tent of Dreams by Sanja Hiblovic Regazzoni.

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CONTORNI NI NOIR

From: https://contornidinoir.it/2020/10/frazier-halonen-langelo-senza-volto/?fbclid=IwAR25nemItajs81Fn-XXw_4v26iu7KGqfAFxKHSWUe_zXd_IuT80Yru_hhUI
Review: Federica Politi

A captivating and fascinating psychological thriller inspired by murders committed under hypnosis, cases that really happened in Copenhagen in the 1950s. A novel that makes us reflect on the ways in which our mind can be controlled and manipulated.

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TIMGATE

From: https://timgate.it/tempolibero/libri/l-angelo-senza-volto-di-kevin-frazier-e-arto-halonen.vum
Review: Luciana Zompì

A two-handed book that combines the literary skills of the critic Frazier, author of novels and essays, who is already engaged in other projects with director and screenwriter Halonen.

A book full of suspense and mystery from which you won't be able to detach yourself as you pass page after page, and which insinuates a doubt as to whether the mind is controlled exclusively by the individual.

 

ROMANCE E ALTRI RIMEDI

From: https://romanceealtririmedi.wordpress.com/2020/10/06/review-party-langelo-senza-volto-di-kevin-frazier-e-arto-halonen-ed-piemme/
Review: Mara Marinucci

There is nothing better than a good psychological thriller to take your breath away and liven up a boring evening.

The Guardian Angel is an exciting thriller that you read with bated breath. Nothing is predictable in this story, with its complex and well-articulated plot, which the authors have been able to study in detail. While reading the book, I found myself involved in this subtle psychological game, one that I found disturbing at times because it is often very realistic. There are many strengths in this story. I really enjoyed the delineation of the characters and the setting but above all the plot.

Against the backdrop of 1950s Copenhagen, which the authors were able to make vivid through their not too elaborate but evocative descriptions, Olsen is looking for a cunning and dangerous criminal. With a strong, "hard" and direct style that does not get too lost in unnecessary details, the authors involve the reader right down to the last page. Is it really possible to manipulate a person's mind to the point of committing a crime? To find out, read the novel!

 

CONVENZIONALI

From: https://convenzionali.wordpress.com/2020/11/03/langelo-senza-volto/
Review: Gabriele Ottaviani

It is this disturbing story that inspires the engaging novel, in which the authors' two voices know how to blend in a solid and pleasant way, and which tells about a former Nazi collaborator, just out of prison, who commits a robbery that ends in discreet bloodshed.

The most striking thing, however, is that eyewitnesses describe the killer as being in a complete state of trance. Caused by whom, and why? Read it.

 

IL LIBRO GIALLO

- FACEBOOK GROUP

From: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1418010025190053/permalink/2842107316113643
Review: Loredana Cescutti (same writer like in Thriller Nord)

Today I am reviewing an excellent Nordic thriller for Thrillernord, a cultural association.

I would like to alert you, because "from the start the reading experience is damned bewitching, fascinating and terribly seductive. At the same time it also exude a certain deceptiveness that sneaks up on the reader. This is perceptible as something dark that the reader is unable to escape.”

Dear reader, in the same way that the various characters feel themselves deceived, manipulated and treated like obedient puppets, you realize that sometimes your will and your thoughts are subtly redirected, to distract your attention from what's really going on.

 

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