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Contract With an Angel is the Andrew M. Greeley novel that takes the Dickens "Christmas Carol" structure and runs it through Chicago Catholic intellectual machinery. Raymond Anthony Neenan is a brutal corporate-takeover specialist whose life has burned the bridges around him. A Seraph named Michael (yes, that Michael) arrives to fix him before he dies, with one year of negotiations available.
Greeley's strengths are the Chicago texture, the Catholic theological background, and the dialogue, which carries his particular journalist-priest voice. The redemption arc is signposted from the first chapter and runs exactly where you expect.
Three stars. A pleasant late-Greeley. Recommended to fans of his voice; the book delivers what its readers expect with no surprises.
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