It’s been more than 25 years since the opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan” gave viewers a closeup look at the bullets and blood on Omaha Beach and highlighted the brutality of war in a whole new way. Until then — and even since — battles onscreen and in written works have been largely sanitized for our protection.
But here comes Daniel Kraus with a World War I military tale that will challenge everything you think you know about war novels. Angel Fall is the story of Private Cyril Bagger, a swindler, card shark, and reluctant soldier who survives a near-death experience only to be called up by his commanding officer. Bagger and four other grunts are ordered to investigate a mysterious shrieking on the battlefield and “take care of” (a.k.a euthanize) whichever wounded comrade is making the racket.
When they get close to the source of the sound, what they find is not a fellow soldier but a fallen angel — a glowing Madonna figure in a red dress and blue robe who has seemingly been struck down by artillery fire. The men realize immediately that the angel could hold the key to their salvation, and could possibly even end the war. But soon they’re battling their own demons, in the form of jealousy, greed, rage and paranoia.
Kraus’s last novel, the wildly popular Whalefall, was a breath-by-breath account of one diver trying to escape from the stomach of a whale. Angel Down, while rooted in the horrific realities of war, is an even more fantastical tale, starting on the battlefield and descending into Hell — or at least a hellish view of the military industrial complex.
Oh, and did I tell you it’s written as one continuous sentence? This novel is a brutal, breathless, unforgettable journey.
