Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade.
What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together. As jealousy, greed, and paranoia take hold, the group is torn apart by their inner demons, threatening to turn their angelic encounter into a descent into hell.
I’ve seen at least one or two reviews of Daniel Kraus’s latest brilliant novel, ANGEL DOWN, that emulated the book’s completely unique style within the review.
And don’t think I didn’t consider it. Alas, I am blessed with neither the writing chops or the confidence, so you’ll just get the usual format from me.
Because ANGEL DOWN? It’s an entire book written as one long sentence.
*mind explodes*
It’s such a strange concept that the first time I heard about it, I kind of chalked it up to a misunderstanding on my part. Surely a whole-ass novel cannot be just one sentence? Right?
Wrong. It is. And it’s weird. It takes some getting used to, for sure. And there are some periods sprinkled throughout the book, but they’re embedded in the dialogue. Here’s a random passage to illustrate what I mean:
and so Bagger says, “The kid’s right. So’s Veck. We don’t mop up this mess, Reis is going to find out. If he gets replaced, that only makes it worse. He’s not going to drift peacefully out to sea, you know? He’ll drag us down with him. He’ll make his last act sticking us with court-martials,” a threat that descends until Popkin hurls it away like the tongue,
ANGEL DOWN is a World War I novel, and it is every bit as grueling, brutal, bloody, and horrific as you can possibly imagine. The men in this book are going through hell, and Kraus would like to invite you to tag along.
Private Cyril Bagger is something of a hustler. A swindler. A card shark. He’s a pretty terrible soldier & he likes it that way. He’s got a heart of gold but it’s buried under crusty layer of grave dirt. He goes to great lengths to stay out of the worst of the combat, and if that means digging mass graves, then that’s what it means.
He’s a part of the Army’s 43rd Division, known as the Butcher Birds. Cyril forms a pretty special-yet-reluctant bond with one Lewis Arno, a boy who is all of fourteen. Lewis lied about his age to get into the Army, and Cyril begrudgingly (yet lovingly) looks after the kid. They read Tarzan novels together (Lewis can’t read), and yeah, just something about this relationship felt like the heart & soul of the book for me.
BUT THEN THE SCREAMING STARTS.
Or more accurately, the screaming had already started & will not stop. It’s believed that a US soldier has been injured horribly off in the distance, and so it falls to Cyril & the Butcher Birds to go and um, take care of the problem. To make the screaming stop.
Only, instead of finding a fallen soldier, they find a beautiful, ethereal woman. She doesn’t speak. And well, pretty soon the soldiers come to realize that this is a literal, actual fallen angel.
Things go unbelievably sideways from this point forward. This group of men have as many differences as similarities, but prior to their discovery, they were at least ostensibly united by the same goal. But their trust in one another (which was somewhat shaky with some of the group) quickly begins to erode, as does their sanity.
It’s almost like this fallen angel lays bare all of their worst qualities. Their anxieties, their jealousy, their wrath, their rage. It gets fucking messy, in other words.
The writing style in ANGEL DOWN creates a sense of urgency to the story. A panicky feeling would kind of settle over me every time I picked up this book. There’s a harrowing, hellish, grimy atmosphere that Kraus really leans into. This is a book that gets under your skin in a lot of ways.
Cyril Bagger is an incredible protagonist to guide you through this bloody mess. He’s incredibly self-aware, charming when he needs to be, funny, reflective, and buried under layers of grime & bravado, he’s a halfway decent human being.
I’ve got such a long way to go through Daniel Kraus’s backlist, and I’m making it a priority. But of course I couldn’t resist the SHINY NEW THING & needed to dive into ANGEL DOWN as soon as I could. And unsurprisingly, I loved it. Kraus is an author that really just goes for it, takes some really big swings. I can’t wait to see what’s next from him! I know he’s got PARTIALLY DEVOURED coming soon, a nonfiction book about “Night of the Living Dead.” But super excited to see what other kinds of stories he’s working on too. He’s for sure become one of my favorite authors & I thought ANGEL DOWN was outstanding!
Grimdark Dad 