Web Of Angels

BOOK: Web of Angels

AUTHOR: Lilian Nattel

GRADE: C+

As I sit down to write this review, I’m conflicted. On one hand, Lilian Nattel’s account of a community struggling with the aftermath of a pregnant teen’s tragic suicide and a mother’s secret life with Dissociative Identity Disorder is grippingly and current. On the other hand, Web Of Angels is by far the single most disturbing book I’ve come across yet (and – trust me, I read a lot of crazy titles). When I say disturbing, I mean I had to refuse the urge to skip over parts and frequently found myself putting the text down and staring blankly into space as my brain tried to process the trauma of what I had just read.

Web of Angels begins with the tragic suicide of a pregnant teen – a family friend of Sharon Lewis. Lewis is a devoted mother of three and a loving wife. She’s also concealing a havoc-wreaking secret: she has Dissociative Identity Disorder and has up to five multiple personalities living inside her. Her ability to keep everything under wraps is shattered with this young woman’s suicide. The teen’s sister is dating Sharon’s oldest son. Sharon takes this girl under her wings and discovers a horrific secret of a degree of sexual abuse in the girl’s family that is unfathomable. She also discovers that this young woman also certainly suffers from the same condition she does – DID. Can this knowledge save the young girl and the community? Or will it destroy everyone in the process? That’s the question at the base of this novel.

The answer will haunt you for days. It certainly still haunts me at times.

This brings me back to the question of grading. Did I enjoy Web of Angels? No. Was it well researched and written? Essentially – yes. Would I recommend it? Not likely. In fact, I snatched the book out of my mother’s hand before she could open it (telling her emphatically that she can’t handle the book). So, in the end it’s your call – but don’t say I didn’t warn you!