58 pages • 1-hour read
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels: A Novel
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Ethics of True Crime
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, death by suicide, and emotional abuse.
The premise of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is based on the popularity of true crime. A fan of the genre herself, Hallett explores the public fascination with real-life criminal cases. Writing for The Guardian, the author emphasized that “[w]hat drives so many of us to consume true crime is a need to understand the extremes of humanity from the safe distance of the page or headphone” (Hallett, Janice. “Writing Wrongs: How True Crime Authors Can Fall Victim to Tragedy.” The Guardian, 13. Jan 2023). She also delves into the ethically contentious implications of using real tragedies as a source of entertainment.
Amanda’s investigation of the Alperton Angels case underlines true crime’s potential exploitation of victims. The author emphasizes that Holly and Jonah were highly vulnerable minors. Consequently, Amanda’s ruthless pursuit of them feels uncomfortable. Her determination to get to the truth disregards Holly and Jonah’s desire for privacy and a fresh start. Amanda’s lack of consideration for the victims in the case is echoed in her editor’s repeated emphasis on the importance of locating and interviewing the now-grown baby. Neither Pippa nor Amanda shows concern for the psychological impact of an 18-year-old suddenly discovering that they were at the center of a horrific massacre. Through the characters’ single-minded focus on the story, Hallett highlights that writing about a real tragedy can inflict further trauma on the survivors.
Another ethical issue that the novel highlights is the risk of sensationalism in true-crime narratives. Through Pippa’s character, Hallett presents the true-crime publishing industry as pressurizing authors to devise sensational angles on old crimes to meet the public’s insatiable appetite for new material. Craig Turner, therefore, creates a tenuous narrative suggesting that Dennis Nilsen’s murders were an omen of the 1980s AIDS crisis. The excitement that Minnie Davis’s account of eerie similarities between Myra Hindley and Rose West caused demonstrates the lack of fresh slants on crimes that have been scrutinized repeatedly. The discovery that the exciting new material is a hoax only confirms how the subject matter has already been exhausted. Significantly, both Craig’s and Minnie’s books focus on the offenders rather than the victims, highlighting the risk of fetishizing the perpetrators of murder and violent crime.
The novel also explores the toll that investigating true crime takes on authors. Hallett has stated that The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels was partially inspired by the experience of Michelle McNamara, author of the acclaimed true-crime book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. Referencing the adverse impact that researching the Golden Gate Killer took on McNamara’s health, Hallett observed that “for those who write in this genre, a ‘safe distance’ can be hard to find” (Hallett). The narrative emphasizes this point in the trajectory of Amanda’s and Oliver’s characters. Both become so unhealthily absorbed in the dark subject matter of their research that they eventually “become” the story.
Hallett’s novel underscores that true crime can be exploitative and harmful to victims and risks sensationalizing the dark side of human nature. However, when handled responsibly, the genre can illuminate the struggles of victims and survivors and explore the societal factors that contribute to crime. For example, the Alperton Angels case highlights the failures of the foster care system and the factors that can make individuals vulnerable to cults and other forms of coercive control. Ultimately, the ethics of true crime depend on the intent and execution of the work. Respectful storytelling, careful research, and a commitment to avoiding harm are crucial considerations.
The Elusive Nature of the Truth
Gabriel Angelis’s narrative, presenting himself and others as angels, lies at the heart of the novel. As Amanda pursues the truth behind the Alperton Angels case, she encounters an entire web of constructed or distorted narratives that stand in her way and only intensify the veil of secrecy surrounding events. The novel emphasizes that unlike objective facts, which can be measured or proven, truth—especially in human experiences and storytelling—is harder to grasp since there is rarely one definitive version of events.
In addition to the death of key witnesses and conflicting news reports, the protagonist encounters multiple characters who recount the same events with contradictory details. Amanda must, therefore, try to identify who is a reliable narrator. Don Makepeace’s anecdote about the yellow Mini Clubman demonstrates how the truth of an event is often subject to individual interpretation. While some perceive the incident as evidence of the supernatural, Amanda finds a potential logical explanation for the car’s disappearance. Hallett illustrates the phenomenon of confirmation bias through the interview with Jonah, whose continued insistence that Gabriel is an angel and that the baby is the antichrist reflects his perception of reality.
In several cases, the characters construct stories to manipulate others deliberately. Gabriel’s angel narrative was designed to dupe Holly and Jonah into involvement in a kidnapping. Don and Marie Claire then built on the false narrative that Gabriel created to cover up the assassination of the kidnappers and dispose of Christopher Shenk’s body. The mutilation of the “angels’” bodies to make it look like a mass death by suicide drew on real-life cult narratives, such as Heaven’s Gate and Jonestown. Furthermore, Don used Gabriel’s mythmaking to frame him for Harpinder Singh’s murder. While attempting to extract the truth from fabrication, Amanda also uses Gabriel’s original story to exact revenge on Oliver. The protagonist illustrates the dangerous power of storytelling, as the fictitious information she feeds Oliver through her fictional creation, Paul Cole, turns him from a skeptic into a supernatural zealot. Amanda’s shaping of Oliver’s perception by concealing specific facts while inventing others introduces a metafictional element to the novel. Her actions underscore that one is consuming a narrative carefully constructed by an author. The key difference is that fiction involves a tacit agreement where the reader is willingly manipulated by the writer.
By the end of the novel, although most elements of the Alperton Angels mystery are explained, unresolved elements remain. For example, the recurrence of the number 444 and Gabriel’s prediction that Oliver will die in an orchard cannot be rationalized. Ellie’s description of Amanda and Oliver as “[t]wo truth-seekers who destroyed each other in their race to the light” hints at the ultimate futility of seeking absolute truths (486). Hallett’s novel thus highlights that truth is not a fixed point; rather, it is a shifting concept shaped by perception, bias, and storytelling itself.
The Exploitation of Vulnerability
Hallett explores the theme of exploiting vulnerability through the lens of cult dynamics and coercive control. The author illustrates how individuals—especially those in vulnerable states—can be manipulated, broken down, and reshaped by others. Offering insight into the psychology of exploitation, the novel highlights the devastating consequences of misplaced trust.
At the heart of this theme is Gabriel, the leader of the Alperton Angels, who exerts an almost supernatural influence over nearly everyone he meets. Charismatic, persuasive, and skilled at identifying weaknesses in others, Gabriel embodies the characteristics of a cult leader. The novel conveys how impressionable teenagers Holly and Jonah were prime targets for Gabriel due to their youth and lack of a stable home environment. They were seduced not just by Gabriel’s charisma and angel narrative but also by the allure of belonging to a group that offered purpose and identity. Renaming Holly and Jonah was part of an insidious erosion of their sense of self. This process was intensified by cutting the teenagers off from outside influences and alternative viewpoints, creating a closed system where Gabriel dictated their entire reality.
The personal dynamic between Amanda and Oliver echoes the relationship between Gabriel and his followers. Revealing how Oliver once took advantage of 18-year-old Amanda’s naivety by playing a disastrous practical joke, the narrative charts the reversal of this dynamic. Amanda takes revenge through a prolonged campaign manipulating Oliver’s perception of events. This exploitation is successful because Amanda targets Oliver at a point in his life when he is experiencing personal turmoil and meets the charismatic Gabriel. Amanda’s admission that she finds the power of manipulating Oliver “exhilarating” underlines the corrupting nature of relationships created on the foundations of power and powerlessness.
The novel presents two outcomes for those trapped in exploitative relationships: escape or complete indoctrination. Holly found the strength to break free primarily due to external intervention from Ashleigh. Despite believing Gabriel’s claim that the baby was the antichrist, Holly also could not shake her underlying instinct that killing it was wrong. By contrast, Jonah and Oliver have been so profoundly influenced that they can no longer distinguish reality from the manipulator’s constructed world. Their characters illustrate that once an individual has fallen prey to deception, it is easier to remain invested in those beliefs rather than admit to being duped. In exploring the human susceptibility to manipulation, Hallett underlines that these psychological dynamics are not exclusive to cults. They are also echoed in personal relationships that involve coercive control. The novel is a reminder that when placed in the wrong hands, vulnerability can become the most dangerous weapon of all.
Unlock every key theme and why it matters
Get in-depth breakdowns of the book’s main ideas and how they connect and evolve.
- Explore how themes develop throughout the text
- Connect themes to characters, events, and symbols
- Support essays and discussions with thematic evidence