Bad Book Review 07 (The Guardian Chapter 08) · 10:34pm Jul 21st, 2019
Welcome back to another chapter look through of Lia Scott Price's The Guardian.
In a our last chapter review, we were finally introduced to the mysterious man in black responsible for the deaths: Gabriel. Gabriel convinced a grieving Lupe to let him help her be free of the pain and go to a better place by stabbing herself in the stomach with a butcher knife.
Chapter eight starts with an ("about") six year old boy waking up from a nightmare and crying out for his mom. We are introduced to his mother, Christina Urbain, and then learn that the boy's name is Joseph. Joseph tells that he had a nightmare and doesn't want to talk about it, but mentions that someone died.
Actually, it looks like there's a bit of awkward phrasing here. Christina tucks Joseph back in, kisses him on the forehead, and turns a lamp on for him. After this, Joseph mentions that someone died.
"I'll leave this on for you." She turned off the light and opened the bedroom door.
While it is meant to indicate she turned on the lamp, and was telling that she was going to leave it on for him before turning off the overhead light, it reads like she was saying she would leave a light on, then immediately turned it off, regardless. It would be better if they separated in some way to make it clear she was referring to the lamp. Say, by having the comment be with the moment she turned on the lamp, or having her motion toward it when saying that. Then add in her getting up and moving over to the switch to turn off the overhead light. Or just not have her comment. She could turn on the lamp, turn off the main light, then have the story mention that the lamp was still on.
Getting back to the story.
Joseph mentions he misses his dad, asks if he is with the angels, then mentions that his dad told him to pray to his guardian angel.
As I asked before in part one, do people actually do that? Is there a group of Christians where they are taught to pray specifically to guardian angels? This is still not something I have heard of anywhere outside of this book.
After the two say good night, and it is pointed out that Joseph has his hands folded in prayer, we end the scene.
The scene changes back to Lupe's house, her body being brought out. Kirkland is chewing out Cameron for jumping in front of the guns, and asking how he was unhurt, but Cameron doesn't give him a straight answer, only stating "I wasn't wearing a vest." Cameron makes a remark about Kirkland being super human, then tells him not to play hero.
"I don't need another suicide on my hands!"
We have a paragraph where Kirkland thinks something in one sentence, then murmurs something in the next.
Cameron looks Kirkland in the face and says "It's not a suicide."
It's like he's reading my thoughts again.....Kirkland thought as he felt chills up his spine.
...
Based off of what? The things Kirkland thought (and "murmured") was how Cameron was pissing him off and to wipe the smirk off his face. However, before thinking that, Cameron literally says, "I don't need another suicide on my hands!" That makes it read like Cameron is responding to the last thing Kirkland said.
When the comment about Cameron reading Kirkland's mind before, it was a bit ambiguous. Yes, he could have been responding to Kirkland's thought of wondering if there was a connection, but could just as easily responding to the comment about it being a coincidence. Here, the comment makes no sense. Cameron's response makes absolutely perfect sense in regards to what Kirkland said with no influence from his thoughts. The paragraph with the thoughts could be outright removed, and it would make no change in the conversation.
Kirkland asks what Cameron means, and Cameron replies they're murders. Then...
"Come on man, don't fuck with me. I'm not in the mood."
"How can these possibly be murders?" Kirkland paced up and down the sidewalk rapidly. "This is pissing me off." He thought as he suppressed the urge to scream at Cameron.
Okay, so, I can get why "Don't fuck with me" and "how can these be murders" end up as two different paragraphs. However, there needs to be something that makes it clear that both are being said by Kirkland. Something that shows he's saying the first, then goes on to continue the next.
Traditionally, when a person is talking and there are two separate paragraphs, the first one ends without having the quotation marks on it.
"Come on, man, don't fuck with me. I'm not in the mood.
"How can these possibly be murders?"
However, not everyone knows that. Which is why, if I can help it, I try to add something to indicate the person still doing the talking.
So, if I were to write this:
"Come on< man," Kirkland huffed. "Don't fuck with me."
He motioned toward the covered body
"How can these possibly be murders?"
To me, that ties it together enough to make it clear that Kirkland is stalking in both paragraphs.
Cameron tells Kirkland that the man in the pictures was seen, then tells him to calm down. One of the neighbors heard the scream and saw Gabriel leave Lupe's house.
That's all one paragraph, by the way. Cameron mentions Gabriel, comments on Kirkland being pissed off, then goes back to talking about Gabriel being seen leaving the house.
Although... why would he be seen? Just like why did he leave by car in one of the earlier chapters? We see him just sort of appear inside places seemingly out of nowhere twice, and have him disappear to escape Cameron chasing him once. So, if that is the case, if he is able to appear and disappear from a place as he likes, then why is he leaving in such a way as to be noticed? Especially in this last case? If he can just make himself appear in Lupe's house, then why would he just walk out the front door?
Admittedly, I probably wouldn't be thinking about this as much if I wasn't analyzing, but now that I am, it sticks out incredibly. An action needed to advance the plot, but creates a bit of an issue with the story in the process.
Getting back to the story: Kirkland asks if the man has been ID'ed and Cameron replies he knows who it is. Kirkland asks about this and Cameron replies, "He's not a man." This annoys Kirkland as they get into the car.
We then switch to a scene change where Kirkland is driving, meaning it picks up almost right after it leaves off. We learn that it's three in the morning, and that Kirkland is tired and irritable both because of the time and because of everything going on. Cameron comments how he knew Kirkland wouldn't believe him, which Kirkland doesn't, then tells Kirkland that the killer is "...a seraphim. An angel of mercy."
Cameron asks about Kirkland know about archangels, which he does, then about guardian angels, which Kirkland calls "fairy tales." Still, he pulls over, because, "This I gotta hear."
Here, Cameron explains that Gabriel is a rogue guardian angel, and Kirkland is skeptical.
Cameron looked dead serious. "He preys on the weak, the despairing. He can't actually kill them, so he makes them kill themselves, gives them the means to do it--his form of a mercy killing."
Kirkland expresses his skepticism, Cameron gets mad. Kirkland decides that his partner is delusional and to talk to Materas. Cameron indicates that he is going to stop Gabriel, because he is a guardian angel as well.
The chapter ends with:
Cameron ignored Kirkland's stunned, disbelieving look. He was staring at the moon. It glowed and eerie blood red.
Cue dramatic music, and lightening flash... Oddly a bit predictable that Cameron would be one too, but sometimes writing in a story and likable characters, a reasonably good plot otherwise, make any predictable qualities tolerable. I heard that for some people, Happy Death Day was very predictable at times but still quite good due to the acting involved!
This doesn't seem like an otherwise engaging plot, but maybe you like it for "So bad it's entertaining" reasons... This also has Urban Fantasy vibes to it. With a lot of sex just based on the summery I have in my head about what it's about! I could be wrong but it does have that vibe!