Rating: 
Summary: A very disappointing story
Review: There are some interesting plot elements here, but not nearly enough to make this a good story. The characters are all stereotypes, and rather uninteresting and unattractive ones at that. The plot is implausible and full of inconsistencies. Most of all, the narrator - and one assumes therefore the author - is pretentious throughout.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Concept, Poor Execution
Review: I loved the idea of using blood as a commodity, and making class distinctions based on 'pure' blood. Also, the vision of the development of a virus-plagued future society was quite eerie. I could see how we are moving down that path today. However, I found Kerr's writing style stilted, and the overuse of footnotes annoying. Also, the narrator's tiresome and long-winded monologues were boring and unnecessary. Better luck next time, Mr. Kerr.
Rating:
Summary: Too Many Words Too Many Digressions
Review: The book's editor and publisher failed badly in not cutting this one done. A short story at best if the filler was removed. The author was allowed to play "Mr. Science" going off on tangents explaining what entropy is etc. This distracted greatly from the (short) story. I was also very annoying. I can get better explanations of scientific phenomenon from a physics book if I want it.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting Science Fiction Thriller!
Review: Honestly, I did not know what to expect when someone on the SF-Lit internet group recommended this book. I was unaware of Phillip Kerr. What we have here is an engrossing, tightly plotted science fictional thriller. It is set in a future society where blood is a cherished and valuable resource. Kerr must be aplauded for his depth of characterization, swiftly moving plot and science. No, it wasn't boring, I have read alot of science fiction over the years and this ranks as one of the best I have read. I was really sad when the book ended because I left the world that Kerr had created for me. I hope he continues to write science fiction. The book was not marketed as science fiction but surely was. One of the most engrossing and engaging books that I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Makes you think...
Review: I really enjoyed reading Second Angel, and Kerr must be commended on the level of detailed commentary he brings to the story line, which adds a degree of scientific credibility. The plot has everything I find appealing in a sci-fi novel: a dystopian nightmare society divided between a minority technocrat elite and a majority plague-ridden populace, set in a post-apocalyptic future where global cooling has taken grip. Yes, the book is somewhat slow to start off with, but your patience will be rewarded with what must be one of the best concluding chapters ever in a sci-fi novel.
Rating:
Summary: not only sci-fi thriller...
Review: The Second Angel is one of the best books i have ever read. It combined an interesting and creative story with SO much information. I'm not a big fiction fan, and i thought it would be boring and unrealistic, but it was VERY interesting. This book is the only fiction book i've ever read with footnotes! He puts so much information into it, from the hierarchy of angels to how blood works to Descartes' ontological argument for the existence of God! I loved it, and if you like to learn and be entertained at the same time, you will too!
Rating: 
Summary: Boring!
Review: I have enjoyed all books by Philip Kerr so far. But certainly not this one. Basically the idea may be good. But when you read the novel, you find that the characters are mere cartoon characters - they are not credible and shaped in the bizarre way that we know from computer games. The action, too, resembles the way through different levels in a computer dungeon rather than a virtual sf reality. And then, the action is so often interrupted by lengthy and boring scientific explanations, which, in addition, get more boring by scores of long and uninteresting footnotes. If you expect social criticism, you will not find it. Good science fiction always mirrors our problems in this world. This book does not. Let's hope for a better novel next time, Philip.
Rating: 
Summary: The Second Angel is a helluva read!
Review: In 2069, the world has succumbed to blood plagues with an elite of clean bloods, living in high-security enclaves. On the Moon man has built sex hotels, the largest bank of clean blood & penal colonies. Law-abiding crypto-designer Dallas goes renegade when he cannot save his own family. Prison life on the Moon is grim with a wondrous world of interconnected physical & mechanical medical life. Images of fearsomely familiar futures when pandemics have infected 80% of the population. "The Second Angel" entices us a bit further down some of the roads we've already started along, both medically & technologically. A good if desparate yarn. .............
Rating:
Summary: Tedious Read
Review: Having been a fan of Kerr's previous novels, I was left disappointed with this one. I didn't care about any of the characters, in fact, I couldn't remember who was whom when I'd leave the book overnight and picked it up again the next day! The lack of emotion of the main character after losing his wife and child were just plain not believable. No grief, nothing, just plain indifference. I found the author's research explaining just about every new technical or futuristic twist too tedious to read...too much blah blah blah after a while. If you're interested in this type of sci-fi, try out James Halperin's "The First Immortal", you'll get far more punch for your money.
Rating:
Summary: Different
Review: This book is half way between a sci-fi movie and a comic book. And a mixture of a thriller and science fiction. It is not for those people that need everything to be precise and consistent in a book. But if you admit the inconsistent bits and pieces, you will turn page after page.
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