Rating: 
Summary: NOT A NOVELIZATION
Review: I HAVE THE STRANGE HABIT OF TRACKING DOWN THE BOOKS FROM MOVIES THAT I'VE REALLY ENJOYED. SOMETIMES THEY ARE NOVELIZATIONS (READ: BARELY FLESHED OUT SCREENPLAYS) BUT MOST TIMES THEY'RE THE SOURCE BOOK. THE GOOD NEWS HERE IS THAT THIS IS THE SOURCE NOVEL (FROM 1978) AND NOT A NOVELIZATION (OF THE 1987 MOVIE). IT WAS AMUSING TO PUT FACES (ROURKE, DE NIRO, BONET, RAMPLING) TO THE CHARACTERS AS I WAS READING. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT MURDER MYSTERY THAT KEPT ME HOOKED THE ENTIRE TIME EVEN THOUGH I KNOW HOW THE STORY ENDS. SHAME ON THE SYNOPSIS ABOVE FOR GIVING AWAY THE ENDING. YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE, NOW READ THE BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable Read
Review: I have to say most of the comments by the reviewers here are true! It's a powerful book. The fast pace of the book keeps readers turning the pages, until at the end they all suddenly hit and shocked. But maybe the revelation could have been delivered more effectively. Maybe the effect would be even more shocking if it covered more details and elaborated more on the narrator's reactions and reflections. But in any case, its originality and tasty blend of suspense and horror against the dark background make the book an undoubted classic.
Rating:
Summary: THANK GOD IT'S BACK!
Review: I read this book when it was first issued - late 70's, early 80's? And I was so hungry for more that I wrote the author and the publisher wanting to know who this man was. Needless to say I never got a response and have been checking periodically for more of his works.I decided to give it one more try on Amazon and low and behold here it is!. I still have my original copy and it's all brown pages and bent edges, but it is an ultimate classic for me. For those who saw the movie, you have to read the book. Talk about horror! That subway scene still makes me shiver... I live in New York and I often wondered if there some condemned subway platform where rituals were held. Found myself staring out the subway windows as I rode the train trying to catch a peak. This book is a flawless classic and is still standing the test of time. Even the great and scary Stephen King has only tapped danced around the power of this book and that happened only once --- with The Shining. I always said the greatest horror is of the mind and Fallen Angel is one man's fateful niaive journey into his own with a whole lot of meaty sinister characters and the ultimate plot twist thrown in. Nearly two decades later it still blows me away. And that is the ultimate test of a true horror! How many times have I read this book --- at least ten and the rush is always as sweet as the first time.
Rating:
Summary: Very noire
Review: If you are a fan of B/W mysteries, a.k.a. Bogie & the bunch, then read Falling Angel. It does a really good job of entwining a film noire theme with a supernatural edge. Harry Angel is the hard boiled PI in search of a missing client, and his soul, among other things. There are twists & turns taking place in the novel that for whatever reason, Angel Heart left out. Read the book before you watch the movie. You'll be glad that you did.
Rating:
Summary: A Metaphysical Mystery with the Atmospher of "Chinatown"
Review: If you liked atmospheric texture, decadence, and plot twists of Polanski's classic movie "Chinatown," you'll love this novel. Besides playing with the conventions of Chandleresque hard-boiled fiction, film-noire doomedness, and Magical Realism turned horrific, William Hjortsberg crafts a novel that folds in upon itself to illustrate that the observer is the observed. A parable of non-dualism that raises the hair on the back of your neck. P.S.: This novel was the subject of an interesting academic analysis in Stefano Tani's "The Doomed Detective" published by Southern Illinois University Press (now out-of-print).
Rating:
Summary: So good, I read it in a day
Review: If you saw the movie Angel Heart, read the book anyway. Hjortsberg wrote the screen play for Angel Heart, but both the book and the movie can stand alone. His detailed descriptions of 1950's New York add to the fast-paced plot and make you feel like you are being carried along with Harry Angel while he unravels his own doom. I knew how the story ended from the movie, but the book took the whole Mephisto genre to a new level.
Rating: 
Summary: greatly exceeded my expectations -- four and a half stars
Review: It is difficult to review FALLING ANGEL without giving too much away, but here goes:
Basically I bought this book on a whim, having seen the film which it inspired (and which it would be better not to name, although even having seen the film I did enjoy the novel immensely). In short, the book greatly exceeded my expectations, being both more entertaining and more literary than I ever would have expected from a novel of the mystery or suspense genre. Hjortsberg's writing is the epitome of unpretentious intelligence. For example, every short chapter advances the story in some way, with the precision of a well-written short story. Often, seemingly casual details of the setting or a character turn out to be subtle bits of foreshadowing. Another reviewer has praised the evocative descriptions of post-war New York. I was simply compelled at every point in this novel to keep reading, not because of some cheap cliff-hanger ending to a chapter, but because the plot was always getting thicker, juicier, and definitely creepier.
Of all the books I have bought in the last few years this is the one that was the best reward for taking chances on unknown books or authors (and the consolation for all the ones that were disappointments). Whether you call it horror, mystery, suspense or just simply literature, FALLING ANGEL is a great read.
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: It's almost impossible to discuss Falling Angel without giving away plot points, so let's just say that this is one of the strangest, craftiest horror novels ever written. What starts out as just another hardboiled private-eye mystery set in the 1940's becomes, by the end of the story, a complicated, metaphysical examination of sin and identity. Every horror fan owes it to himself to read this book at least once. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Fallen Angel: a crescendo of horror, violence and detection
Review: Its no wonder Alan Parker decided to turn this in to a film. From a sleepy, jazzy start in 50's America the book gently and twists and turns into a crescendo of horror, violence and detection with one of the best plot twists I can remember. The storyline takes the classic sam spade detective novel and adds a bit of Stephen King with subtle flashes of the exorcist. I sat motionless through all the end credits of the film and I could not put the book down. Simply superb
Rating:
Summary: Impossible to ignore
Review: Oh, my God, this is the best book I have ever read. Brilliant and awesome
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