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Midnight Angels: A Novel |  | Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 16043
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
ASIN: B0036S4CUC
Publication Date: June 23, 2010
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Product Description
In the secret passageways of one of the world’s most majestic cities, an American woman must risk everything to keep the long-lost work of a Renaissance master from falling into the hands of thieves.
In Midnight Angels, acclaimed author Lorenzo Carcaterra returns with a gripping new novel of suspense, revealing a fascinating world where art and crime rendezvous in the shadows, where rumors swirl of undiscovered masterpieces lost to the ages and hidden throughout Europe, and where some will do anything to possess these priceless treasures.
Kate Westcott has come to the beautiful city of Florence to study the masterly Michelangelo, whose work has inspired centuries of admiration, adoration, even lust. Of course she already knows more about him than most art historians, thanks to her guardian and mentor, Professor Richard Dylan Edwards. A preeminent Michelangelo scholar—and a member of the mysterious Vittoria Society—Edwards has devoted his life to chasing down lost and stolen works of art and returning them to their rightful owners.
Exploring the cobbled streets of the Renaissance city with fellow art student Marco Scudarti, Kate feels the pull of destiny. And when the two uncover a secret chamber in a corridor sealed since the time of the Medicis, they make a stunning discovery: Michelangelo’s Midnight Angels—three small, exquisite sculptures long rumored to exist but never before seen. It is the find of a lifetime—and the beginning of their nightmare.
Pursued by operatives of the most heinous criminals, under suspicion from the elite Rome Art Squad, and navigating the underground network of the Vittoria Society, Kate must use all her cunning to elude capture. From the halls of the Uffizi to the Piazza Santa Croce, across the Ponte Vecchio and under the shadow of the Duomo, Kate and Marco race to preserve and protect not only Michelangelo’s work but also their lives.
Midnight Angels is a thrilling, page-turning novel in which Lorenzo Carcaterra evokes an Italian setting so intimate and sensual that it seems to live and breathe along with his characters.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 who knew? September 1, 2010
Michael P. Walsh (Jiangmen, China)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When did the "religious artifact quest thriller" become a genre? As the great John Gardner once observed: in order to write junk fiction, one must have an authentic junk mind.
 MIDNIGHT ANGELS is loads of fun and packed with serious tension August 16, 2010
Bookreporter.com (New York, New York)
"...the Raven may have bitten off a bigger bite than even he can swallow --- two desperate men and a young woman out to claim her destiny. That's a powerful force to push back against."
The young woman is Kate Wescott, and she has a dangerous legacy, one that she views as a daunting challenge. Her parents died when she was a small child in an attempt to preserve that legacy. And her guardian, Professor Richard Dylan Edwards, has been keeping it alive ever since. Now, as a university student, is Kate ready to claim her destiny?
Recently arrived in Florence, Italy, Kate prepares to continue her art studies, with a heavy emphasis on Michelangelo. She loves Florence with the passion her parents did. She cherishes their memory, believing them to be nearly saints for what she views as their selfless pursuit of lost or stolen masterpieces. Professor Edwards has perpetuated that belief.
The Wescotts formed the Vittoria Society in order to do just that, with their goal to return the recovered art to its rightful or intended owner. In the early days of the Society, things hummed along smoothly. Then one of their own, a young man named David, turned against them. Faced with the prospect of amassing a huge fortune, he simply couldn't resist the temptation to sell whatever he found. So he formed his own society, The Immortals, and transformed himself into the Raven. What followed were years of bloody battles essentially between good and evil.
For the decades the Vittoria Society and The Immortals have both existed, whenever they clash, they leave bodies in their wake. Now the time for a final showdown has come. While Kate doesn't know for certain that she is intended to succeed Professor Edwards as the next leader of the Vittoria Society, she does realize that she is more than a simple university student majoring in art history. She also is aware that a showdown is imminent.
With her new-found friend Marco Scudarti, Kate spawns a plan to trace what she hopes will be a previously unknown piece of sculpture. So far, everything she has learned gives her confidence that she is close. And she isn't the only one who believes that. The Immortals are right on her heels as she and Marco dash through the cobbled streets, in and out of the Uffizi, across the Ponte Vecchio, and around the Boboli Gardens in their efforts to elude the Raven and stay alive. But all this activity hasn't escaped the eyes of the police. Into the fray comes Detective Rumore of the Rome Art Squad --- an elite group of hand-picked policemen representing the best of the best. So, with all these factions at play, it's easy to see how gunfire and mayhem erupt all over the Renaissance city.
It doesn't take long before collectors and criminals alike catch wind of a new discovery: Michelangelo's fabled Midnight Angels. Suddenly, Kate and Marco can't make a move without stalkers, kidnappers and common thieves in hot pursuit.
MIDNIGHT ANGELS is loads of fun and packed with serious tension. Chock-full of thrilling chase scenes, Lorenzo Carcaterra's latest is sure to please mystery fans as well as travel hounds, history lovers and art aficionados.
Major disappointment August 5, 2010
Stephen Kalman (Hawley, Pa USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I loved Street Boys. Gangster was another favorite. The list of books by this author that I've recommended goes on and on. I saw this book at the airport bookstore and needed a book for a long flight. OK, I thought, easy winner even at full price. What a mistake! It was so bad I gave up and tried watching the movie. That was worse, so I went back to the book just to pass the time.
The plot revolves around a young woman who is both groomed for her task of uncovering lost art works and woefully unprepared for the people she's certain to meet in the process. She makes friends with the wrong people, and fails to trust those she should. She moves from one implausible risky situation to another with miraculous luck. Guards who should be watchful are distracted; doors that should be heavily secured are opened by or for her. Plots within plots, cross and doublecross form the background tapestry. Secret passages that certainly don't exist and twisted history (along with a few verifiable tidbits) make the plotting too hard to swallow.
I'm willing to suspend normal levels of disbelief for a good plot. This one asked me to do that way too many times for a plot that was barely able to tie most of its threads together.
Give this one a pass.
 Great Book by a great author July 22, 2010
Alex Ricard (Sault Ste. Marie, ON Canada)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Great book by a great author. I've read all of Lorenzo Carcaterra's books (Both Fiction & Non-Fiction) and would recommend them to anybody who enjoys a good crime story.
marginal July 21, 2010
BeachReader (Delaware)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was soooo looking forward to this book - Florence, my favorite European city -- and art. What a combination! I even BOUGHT the book, and I rarely buy fiction.
Well, I was greatly disappointed. The plot and premise were just plain ridiculous. So many stupid things were done by the characters. Kate was such a lightweight and all of a sudden she was thrust into something for which she was ill-prepared. Murder and mayhem in the streets of Florence. COME ON, now!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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