The Black Angel Audiobook By Cornell Woolrich cover art

The Black Angel

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The Black Angel

By: Cornell Woolrich
Narrated by: Hillary Huber
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In this classic crime novel and hypnotic thriller, a panic-stricken young wife races against time to prove that her convicted husband did not murder his mistress. Writing in first person from the wife’s viewpoint, Woolrich evokes her love and anguish and, finally, desperation as she becomes an avenging angel in her attempt to rescue her husband from execution.

©1943 Cornell Woolrich, renewed 1971 and 1982 by THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., as executor of the estate of Cornell Woolrich (P)2012 AudioGO Crime Crime Fiction Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Noir Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Marriage Suspense

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After hearing about Cornell Woolrich in the forward of another book I decided to give him a try. What an incredible story, full of all the good things of classic noir with a slight twist of naïveté to give it extra tension.

I don’t know if this book was ever adapted to the screen but, if not, it should have been. I see Lana Turner as Alberta and maybe Van Johnson as Kirk. Fill in your favorites for your own mental movie.

I don’t often enjoy American female narrators but Hillary Huber gives a standout performance worthy of an Audie. I believe I’ve heard her before in a similar book and enjoyed that one immensely also.

I’ll be listening to another Woolrich story immediately after I hit submit and have high hopes it’ll be every bit as good as this one was.

Enjoy your day!

Wow, that was a great listen.

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I always look for the old noir and enjoy them. This is not a fast paced shoot em up if that's what you're after, and though this may not be the best Cornell Woolrich, it is still good. Told from the women's viewpoint it is different from many of that era. The Narrator is very good and a new "voice", at least to me. A couple of the episodes/scenes could have moved a little more briskly but I like the chance to soak in some little details about the life and surroundings of that time. Woolrich tries different approaches in his many novels and maybe the "Black Series" will all show up in audio. If so I will continue with them. Personally I tire of the fast shoot em ups that are repetitious. enough with the gun play, give us more of the psychological approach Woolrich attempts. (The best Noir in my opinion is the existential variety like They Shoot Horses Don't They and less the detective story.) There is still the neophyte "detective" element in over their head and you can second guess her actions and think how you'd have done otherwise. I hope at some point they record Rear Window, a short story that is every bit as tense as the Hitchcock film even though you know the story, a small masterpiece.

enjoy old noir

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She was his wife. She thought he loved her. He used to call her Angel 👼 Face. Now he sits rotting in jail, falsely accused of killing his mistress. And that’s just the beginning...

This is my first exposure to Cornell Woolrich, a magnificent author from a bygone era. Apparently he was considered one of the masters of the Noir genre and indeed I would agree! (He was cute, too!!)

I thoroughly enjoyed this hypnotic tale told through the voice of the Angel Face herself, with breathtaking narration by Hillary Huber who completely embodies the role. I was transported back to another place and time (NYC, circa 1920’s or 30’s) so much so that when I left my SF apartment to walk down downtown Post Street, for a moment ( or so) I thought that I myself was Angel Face walking into the little city holes-in-the-walls (Starbucks, actually!) on my next errand to avenge my husband and prove his innocence.

If you like audio noir, you mustn’t miss this one. I highly recommend it...

MORE, PLEASE...

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First, this audiobook makes one wonder why Hillary Huber decided to accept the narrator job. She's outstanding, and I will look for other works that she's done.
The story and writing, on the other hand, approach lousy. Okay, it gets there, all the way to lousy, I'll go on and say it. The chapter breaks (or better put, lack thereof) are a real mess. Some chapters are nearly two hours long, with many changes of scenes and themes along the way (where chapter breaks should have been)...

And, PLAUSIBILITY is a real problem with this story. The narrative almost comes off like something some kids at summer camp came up with while roasting marshmallows and weaving yarns around the campfire. Actions by police make no sense; Alberta would certainly have been arrested for tampering with evidence at one point in the story. But the cops didn't even mention it!

Then, perhaps the most annoying thing about The Black Angel is the reader/listener doesn't ever get a description of Alberta--the main character for cryin' out loud! Basically, one needs to just come up with a "gray woman" place holder, hoping at some point we can learn what Alberta looks like... hair color, hair length and style, eye color, how tall, etc., but no... it never comes. And the closest thing to her attire we get is the "arch of her shoe and silk clad ankle" at one point. We learn close to the end of the book that she was wearing a dress. All this action, in a dress! That's fine--I get that... but: What color was the dress? What was the basic design? She walked long distances and ran at times in what were apparently high heels, but no description (or complaint on the main character's part) is ever noted.

Woolrich does have some clever metaphors along the way, and some not so clever and outright forced ones. Just "decent" metaphors; nothing like Raymond Chandler's Marlowe, or Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer (the latter the prince of metaphor in my opinion)... but they're... at times worth a grin.

If you're annoyed by implausible and unlikely plots, you'll go nuts with this one. The only saving grace in my opinion is Hillary Huber's perfect production.

GREAT performance, less than great story...

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