Review by Kristy Bratton

When Remy Chandler, a Boston private investigator, follows up on the routine infidelity case of Peter Mountgomery he discovers, with the help of his friend, Homicide Detective Mulvehill, that not all is as it seems. And, oh yeah, he’s an Angel. Remy has shed his angelic nature and assumed his human guise so that he may live among the mortals he so admires. Enter Israfil, the Angel of Death, who has decided to pull a Remy and take a sabbatical from transporting earthly souls to their final destination in hopes to find his own piece of Paradise. Israfil’s angelic presence has taken the body of a dying human and merged the two entities with less than stellar effects.

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse has an abundance of richly written characters, though not to overwhelm you, as they are as vastly different from each other that they blend into the tapestry of what author Tom Sniegoski has created, or better defined as the intricate brushwork of a Cathedrial ceiling painting of Angelic proportions. Remy - previous Warrior Angel Remiel, his wife Madeline and their dog Marlowe, Israfil the Angel of Death, Nathanuel the leader of the Seraphim, Sariel the leader of the Grigori - decadent fallen Angels: The Watchers, Francis - former Guardian Angel, Lazarus, and Detective Mulvehill. Mix in with that the Black Choir (rejects of both Heaven and Hell), the Five Sacred Scrolls, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and you got one hell of a ride!

There are few authors who genuinely possess the talent to not only create a world which is realistic but also characters so multifaceted, and layered with angst and pathos. One who can add new twists and turns and provide a fresh look at the most simplistic of things or intricacies of subject. Tom, best known for his Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel works and more recently with his original The Fallen book series (brought to film by the ABC Family Channel) now takes Urban Fantasy to a higher level mixed with the hard-nosed detective genre of Mickey Spillane and the humor of Hellboy.

Full of action and suspense and tender moments, there is a unique love triangle in this story between Remy, Madeline (who is dying of cancer) and Remy’s love for humanity. There are a cornucopia of Angels despising what God has created on earth while others revel in its debauchery and still others who chose to live among us. The dead are not dying, souls are not being collected and there are conspirators at every turn. Heaven is becoming a very lonely place with all these angels here on earth and the dominion of man is at the brink of existence. But can Remy turn his back on the one woman he has truly loved to bring death and deliverance back to the world he has come to know and adore in return and avert the Apocalypse?