The angel Gabriel was sent to watch over New Orleans in the 1840's but loses himself to the pleasures of alcohol, absinthe, and sex.  His mistress, Anne, is found brutally murdered with all the evidence pointing at him...but he cannot remember the events of the nights due to his drug induced fog.  Since that time, this fallen angel has lived immortally in New Orleans, changing his name multiple times from John Thiroux in the 1840's to his present day Gabriel St John to hide the fact that he doesn't age.  His punishment has been to be denied love because if he touches a woman, she becomes so enamored as to drive herself to despair if she cannot be with him. 

 Sara Michaels, a forensic scientist and the great-great granddaughter of Anne is thrown together with Gabriel when her mother is murdered in the exact way that Anne had been 150 years before.  They team up to compare the two cases and the differences in how crimes were solved between then and now, but each has their own reasons for wanting to pursue the cases.  Sara hides the fact of her relation to Anne and the fact that every generation a female in her family has been brutally slain for the past 150 years, starting with Anne and ending most recently with her mother.  She hopes to find closure and understanding of her Mom's death at the same time as helping Gabriel use modern forensics to solve Anne's murder. 

Both with secrets to hide and both desperate for answers and closure, these two turn to each other.  Gabriel must suppress their attraction or risk Sara's romantic freedom and ultimately her sanity but he's more tempted by her than anyone before.  He's desperate to find out the truth about Anne's death which has haunted him for the past 150 years and riddled with guilt for possibly killing her and at the very least, not protecting her. 

This book was a bit slow to start and get rolling but once the characters begin to interact, it draws you in.  I found myself liking and hating Gabriel for his weaknesses and strengths and hoping Sara would overcome some of her fears.  On the whole this was a good book.... with characters you both love and hate.  I didn't find myself cheering or crying over either of them because neither fit the bill of good versus evil because both had aspects of each, as we all do.

October 15, 2008