The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

It seems that Lucinda doesn't want me to get too far ahead of her on this project because for any gift giving occasion she gives me a book that isn't on our list. At least she chooses books that I want to read. For my birthday she gave me The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It is his third book in a series that includes The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game. Somehow this book acts as a direct sequel to The Shadow of the Wind and as a prequel to The Angel's Game which itself was a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind. I've read both of those books and would very highly recommend The Shadow of the Wind to just about anyone... that book is easily in my top 50 and was one of the best books I had read for quite some time when I read it a couple of years ago.

That book is about a young guy, Daniel Sempere, that lives in Spain after World War II and discovers a book that he completely loves, when he tries to learn more about the author he unravels this mystery about the author who has pretty much disappeared along with his works. That book had everything. It had thrills, romance, comedy, some scary parts, a great mystery, and it was about how readers interact with books that they love.

The follow up, The Angel's Game, was about an author, David Martin , in Spain during the 1920's that is in love with a woman (who turns out to be Daniel's mother) and who makes a deal with a mysterious character (that most likely is the devil) so that he can become successful. That book wasn't quite as good, but still was very enjoyable and was a bit darker in tone than the first book.

Now The Prisoner of Heaven links both of these two previous stories together a bit more closely. It involves Daniel learning a story about David that casts doubt on whether or not anything in The Angel's Game is actually true and hints at a conspiracy against Daniel by an old enemy of David's.

I enjoyed the book, but unlike the other two books, this one doesn't really tell a complete story and is nowhere near as complex. It actually feels like half a book and leaves the reader hanging at the end. There isn't a cliffhanger or anything, but most of the plot threads that are begun are not closed at all. The only thing really accomplished is that the two previous books are more closely tied together to each other and the reader doesn't know what's true or not from the previous book. The Shadow of the Wind is an A+, The Angels Game is a B+, and The Prisoner of Heaven is a B-. Hopefully a fourth book will follow soon that will tie up some of the loose ends.