The Angel of Death
The Forensic Mysteries
Alane Ferguson

Puffin (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-14-241087-X (014241087X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-14-241087-5 (9780142410875)
Publication Date: February 2008
List Price: $6.99

Review: Angel of Death is a great book by Alane Ferguson. It is part of the “Forensic Mystery Series”. It is the second in the series. In this book, Cameryn Mahoney shows great bravery while dealing with a murder like never seen before. She has many problems in her own life, but is still willing to solve a mystery that can completely destroy her emotionally. Alane Ferguson brings in a great twist in the end that will leave you speechless with your mouth hanging open.

This mystery is about a murder that leaves forensic scientists, the coroner, and the coroner’s assistant desperately searching for clues. Cameryn’s old English teacher is found dead in his own bed. But, there is something exceptionally weird about his body. It seems as if he had been cooked alive. His eyes were missing from its sockets, but it seems that they exploded right out of the sockets. Cameryn had seen a dog’s carcass similar to this earlier that day. She believed this had something to do with the dog. The boy who had discovered the body was Kyle O’Neil, the most popular kid in school. Through the case, while Cameryn is interrogating Kyle, she starts to like him and he starts to like her. The romance continues and their feelings for each other increase. Cameryn’s best friend Lyric encourages her to go out with Kyle. This turns out to be a bad choice. In many ways it is wrong. Lyric’s relationship with Cameryn weakens during this case and while going out Kyle. The romance between Kyle and Cameryn causes her to reveal the secret that her mother had vanished and is now in contact with her again. Soon Cameryn finds herself suspecting Kyle’s father for the murder. She snoops around Kyle’s house while he is away. She finds bones in a chicken coop that belongs to Kyle’s father. She sends a picture of the bones to a forensic scientist who reveals that they are animal bones. He sees something in the picture and asks Cameryn to send him a picture of it. She does that and soon finds out she may be staring at the murder weapon used to kill her old English teacher. It is a giant microwave beam called a klystron tube. It can fry anything through anything. The killer could have killed the man from outside the house. Suddenly, Cameryn feels a hand touch her shoulder …

This book was great because the mystery keeps pointing to different places. First it seemed someone had done it, Then, when Cameryn is about to finalize this assumption, it points to someone else. Finally in the end Cameryn only finds the killer with luck, and by luck I mean bad luck. The description was fantastic. You feel as if it is your job to solve the mystery. Your mind will try to piece together the mystery while you are reading the story. In the end, the twist will boggle your mind leaving you speechless. I thought this book is going to be like a typical mystery book, but I was proven wrong.

Review written by Vaibhav, Age 12, Grade 7. Date of review: April 2009.

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