 First edition | |
| Author | William Hjortsberg |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |
Publication date | 1978 |
| Media type | |
| OCLC | 873367495 |
| Preceded by | 'Toro! Toro! Toro! (1974) |
| Followed by | 'Tales & Fables (1985) |
Falling Angel is a 1978 horror novel by American writer William Hjortsberg. Written in a hardboiled detective style with supernatural themes, it was adapted into the 1987 film Angel Heart.[1]
Johnny Favorite, a popular crooner before and during the Second World War, has not been seen or heard of since he was critically wounded during a 1943 Luftwaffe raid on Allied forces in Tunisia. In 1959, private investigator Harry Angel is hired to locate him on behalf of a mysterious client who calls himself Louis Cyphre. During his investigation, Angel finds himself enmeshed in a disturbing occult milieu.
The book was adapted into a 1987 mystery-thriller film entitled Angel Heart starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet.[1] It was also adapted into an opera by J. Mark Scearce to a libretto by Lucy Thurber.[2] Titled Falling Angel, it premiered at the Brevard Music Center on June 30, 2016,[3][4] after having initially been commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York.[2] The novel was serialized in digest version in Playboy magazine in 1978, winner of Playboy Editorial Award for Best Major Work.[5]
A sequel, Angel's Inferno, was published posthumously in 2020.[6][7]