Eagles and Angels

Rating:
Summary: complex, lovely, and a little scary
Review: Eagles and Angels offers big themes, mutable characters and a narrative voice as punchy as our coke-addled tour guide, Max.
Through flashbacks and dispatches from the present-tense, Max leads us through an intricate story of unrequited love and international intrigue - but proves an unreliable narrator. He's a moral relativist, sometimes cruel, and someone who well understands the power of information, and the fun in hoarding it.
The book's other characters are as intriguing as Max - realistic in their reliance on emotion over logic, the rapidity with which their feelings change, and their ability to be obnoxious. Jessie, for example, often seems a "silly cow" (per Clara's assessment) - and I found myself periodically wishing that I could give Max a good punch in the mouth.
I found this to be a highly enjoyable book - visceral, thought-provoking, ambitious - and recommend it highly.
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