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NIGHT ANGEL by Kate Green

NIGHT ANGEL

By

Pub Date: Feb. 15th, 1989
Publisher: Delacorte

A Jungian approach to Haight Ashbury, early 70's Berkeley group-living, and the darker self. Back then, Maggie, Jesse, Lora, Dennis, Rob, Quinn, Cody, Sandy, Peter, and Lily shared a house, drugs, lovers and almost everything else. Peter, Lily, and Sandy (surprisingly) OD'd, and Jesse disappeared. Fifteen years later, Lora died in a boating accident and when her remains bobbled up a year after, everyone reconvened--even the corpse! Soon Lora is dead for real, and brother Rob and husband Dennis suspect each other; Dennis' present lover Jesse, an artist/witch, is framed; and Maggie, trying to piece together the tale, is continually threatened: phone calls, snipers, booby-trapped car, etc. As masks peel away, true identities emerge: FBI informers, with arms-and-drug-runners among them. Several deaths later, Maggie and Jesse--the good forces of light--confront the dark force of evil in a backyard, neon-illuminated ritual engagement. Interesting and effective use of Jung's shadow self, myth, and superstition--primarily as tantalizing clues. A strong, imaginative hard-cover debut (following the paperback Shattered Moon) that treats voodoo, magic, and death with the seriousness they deserve.