Bad Book Review 15 (The Guardian, Chapter 17) · 2:08am Jul 30th, 2019

And so we reach, the final chapter. The one where everything is supposed to culminate and wrap up. In this case, both the climax, and the denouement.

A lot of pressure for FOUR PAGES, don't you think?

Last time, Gabrielle killed ten members of a prayer circle, including a missionary mother and her pregnant seventeen year old daughter (the other eight were never met), then, when Cameron arrived to investigate, abducted Christina Urbain and her son Joseph from the car.

Cameron runs down the wet street. He hears a voice call "Detective!" and turns to find Gabriel with his his arm around Christina's neck. Cameron tries to approach, and talk Gabriel into letting her go. "We're not supposed to interfere." Gabriel tightens his grip, talking about what Gabriel is missing out on, and claiming that "God's army died out a long time ago." He then acknowledges the romantic feelings between Christina and Carmael (his angel name that Gabriel calls him), by talking about how love can "...break an angel's heart......"

The grip is eased -- but not released -- when Christina gasps for air, and Gabriel continues to antagonize Cameron, claiming God does nothing but that "I can put them out of their misery." The back and forth continues for a while, with Gabriel talking about how it's better to get rid of the weak, and Cameron saying how that is not what they're supposed to do.

Cameron then mentions how what happened all that time ago -- when Gabriel had been a human -- was not Gabriel's fault, and Gabriel replies with how he saw people slaughtered and asks where their (and his) guardian angels were.

Just before Gabriel can break Christina's neck, Kirkland shows up behind him with the gun. Christina escapes (although, really, "let go" is more likely since I doubt her elbowing him would actually cause him to let go) and goes to Cameron, while Gabriel moves toward Kirkland.

Kirkland shoots him until running out of bullets, and -- in typical horror movie style (since the comparison had been brought up) -- Gabriel continues toward him. While Kirkland tries to reload, Gabriel walks up, pick him up by the throat, and throws him into some trash cans. Gabriel then continues toward Kirkland.

Cameron calls out and pulls his own gun, and shoots Gabriel as he turns to Cameron.

Again, it has no effect.

...

Cameron should have known this. He's an angel too. So, unless he had thought it was some sort of special weapon given to him by heaven (which should have been mentioned), he knew that it was going to have no effect.

Instead, they get in, start fighting, and Gabriel is able to burn Cameron. They separate, then grab pipes. Cameron is thrown against a wall, and Christina rushes for him.

Joseph comes out of hiding. Christina cries out to him, but Gabriel notices. He starts trying to call Joseph over. Christina tries to go to her son, but Cameron stops him.

"Don't worry. I'll get Joseph!" Cameron whispered.

Except... he really doesn't...

Gabriel tells Joseph about being an guardian angel, and offers to reunite Joseph with his father, but grabs Kirkland's gun, claiming that Joseph would have to help make it possible.

Christina again tries to go to her son, and Cameron continues to hold him back. He also calls out to Joseph, while picking up his own gun.

Gabriel wrapped Joseph's tiny fingers around the gun and had him look straight into the gun's barrel.
Cameron struggled to his feet and pointed his gun at Gabriel.

And while some readers might be worried about Joseph (although not many since he's not a very developed character), some of the dramatic tension of the moment is lost since we already know that shooting Gabriel doesn't do anything.

Gabriel asks if Joseph trusts him. Joseph nods, then looks Gabriel in the eyes.

Joseph's eyes locked with Gabriel's, whose expression suddenly changed. It was as if he was seeing something in Joseph's eyes, as if there is some sort of revelation, and he spent a moment watching something only he can see.
Suddenly tears started streaming down Gabriel's face.

Cameron gets ready to fire. Gabriel turns the gun Joseph is holding toward himself, saying he understands. Joseph asks if Gabriel is going home, and Gabriel says yes, but Joseph needs to help, and tells Joseph to close his eyes.

A strange, subtle white aura surrounded Joseph. He took a couple of steps back.

Gabriel shoots himself, Cameron shoots Gabriel, and Christina screams.

Joseph is unaffected by any of it ("unfazed and unhurt") Cameron finally gets up and grabs him. You know, like he said he was going to do a page ago.

As Gabriel kneels there, bleeding peacefully, children dressed in aprons with Celtic crosses on them start to appear. They move to Gabriel and touch him. He begins to burn, but doesn't cry out or anything.

Every street lamp started to explode. The wind picked up. Gabriel was engulfed in flames. Every window in the surrounding building shattered.

The others watch on.

The spirit children move away from the remains, and walk toward a light. One stops and looks back, which Cameron recognizes as a six year old, human, Gabriel.

In the light, Kirkland sees the forms of Sister Jean, the nun who burned herself alive in front of the church, and Sal, the man who had the cops shoot him to death and Cameron tried to save. They lead the children from there.

We get a scene change to police cars pulling up around the street. A radio mentions that the police have apprehended the "serial killer" and comments on the remains.

The radio was slowly drowned out by the sound of helicopter.

And with that, the story ends. If you're wondering what Gabriel saw in Joseph's eyes that made him stop, I can't tell you. The paragraphs I included are pretty much all of the description we get of it.

That's right, the whole things ends with a literary Deus Ex Machina. The killer is stopped, not because of anything that the heroes we have been following since nearly the beginning did, but because he saw something in the eyes of a child that we barely even know anything about.

I'll give a full review of the entire story in my next post.

Until then.

Ink Hoof.