The San Francisco Bay area was the site of the kidnapping and killing of two-year-old Tanita Donner. The crime is still unsolved, and her picture is still hanging in public places. Three-year-old Danny Becker was fascinated by the little girl's picture and while riding the BART would often go stare at it. One year later, Danny's inattentive father does not notice until it is too late that his son has been kidnapped at the same stop near where the Donner child had lived.

Because of the similarity in the crimes, Detective Walt Sydowski is assigned the case. In conjunction with the FBI they start investigating either a deliberate copycat crime, or the same crazy perpetrator fixating on the anniversary theme.

In addition to the lives of the Donner family being forever changed, the author through flashbacks acquaints us with others whose lives were dramatically affected by the crime

Among them are Dr. Kate Martin who heads a support group for grieving parents of children who died violently. Funding is running out and Kate, with many unresolved grief issues herself, desperately is hoping for more funding.

Tom Reed, crime reporter and national award winner for the San Francisco Star had his life almost destroyed in the wake of the Donner killing. Acting on an anonymous tip, which the DA's office all but confirmed, he prematurely confronted a former child molester who had become a suspect. The man, claiming he had reformed, committed suicide, and his wife sued the Star for libel. Disgraced, temporarily suspended and escaping into alcohol, Tom's wife and son left him as a result.

These players set the stage, but there are many more. With such a high character count, most of them are never developed beyond what is absolutely necessary. The story line moves in a rather convoluted way, and the path is choppy. No effort is made to provide any real transition from scene to scene.

If Angels Fall would have been far more enjoyable with fewer subplots and fewer but better developed characters. Still the insight into the tortured minds of those bereaved, set within a mystery is original enough that some readers will want to check it out.

-- Thea Davis