Book Read: Dark Angel by David Klass
Quick summary- Jeff, a seventeen year old teenager, is devasted by the expected release of his brother, Troy, from prison. Troy had been convicted of murdering a boy with a knife and had left Jeff's family for a few years. Jeff's life had been hitherto peaceful but everthing starts to go haywire once his brother comes back. People start to treat him differently, some in fear and some in hatred. Troy tries to find his place in the society and his new friendliness gains the trust of many poeple in the community. Jeff on the other hand feels that his brother has not changed a bit. Just when all seems calm, another murder occurs and Jeff is taken in fopr questioning. Everthing that have been happening slowly piece together to show the whole picture of the murder. And soon, Jeff would be faced with the ultimate choice. To kill and forget or not to kill and forgive.

When I compare my own life to that of the Jeff's, I feel a great affinity to Jeff. In the novel, Jeff is the only one who believes that Troy has not changed but no one takes his word for it, because of their own misguided experiences with Troy, where Troy puts up a facade to gain their acceptance. I feel that this has happened many times to me to. In school, teachers are naturally drawn to students who have pleased them. I remember that in Primary school, I had a teacher who liked students who did exceptionally well in their exams but did not seem to spare as much liking to students who were mediocre. Once, I got into a disagreement with one of my classmates who had always been in the top class. Our little quarrel culminated into an explosive episode where my classmate used a pair of scissors to cut a hole in my uniform. I, of course, reported it to this teacher but she looked as if nothing had gone wrong. She merely gave a short discourse about it to my classmate and snap! Nothing had happened! Then, after a few days, it happened again. This time, I went to the teacher with two holes in my shirt. Shocked, she finally took action and changed his seating arrangement. It just goes to show that people assume to much. This teacher assumed that since my classmate was a favourite of hers, he would change once he had been through some scolding. In the novel, everyone except Jeff assumed that since Troy had put on a pleasant and morally-upright facade, he would never be the suspect once he had done his time in jail.

If I were to write an ending to this novel, it would go like this- "I still return to the riverbank occasionally. Standing at the spot that I last saw Troy, I feel a great sense of unrest. The man whom I knew as my brother. What had happened to him? Had he managed to cheat death just like I cheated him? Or was he looking down at me now, laughing at my guilt?" I have changed the paragraph as I feel that the final paragraph at in the story seemed out of place. I mean it did have some literary meaning, since everything returned to normal just like it was at the start of the novel before Troy's arrival. However, I would like to highlight that incidents lke this do not just pass and go as would everday situations. No matter how much Jeff tries to forget this incident, I don't thing it will ever disappear totally without leaving behind a deep scar.

I think that the climax of this book is during the confrontation between the two brothers on the riverbank. Armed with a gun, Jeff could give in to his misery and pull the trigger that would end his brother's cruel life. Armed with a persuasive tongue, Troy could convince his brother to drop the gun and let him escape or fire at him and become a murderer like Troy was. It is during this point of the story where Jeff makes the ultimate decision himself, to judge whether someone who was so evil deserved to live another day or pass judgement by pulling the trigger. Many things would have crossed Jeff's mind. On one side were the misery and shame Troy had brought him. On the other was whether his conscience would allow him to live on as the murderer he himself would have chosen to be. However, Jeff chose neither. He shot injured Troy's knee. Unlike killing Troy or just letting him go, he allowed his brother to choose his own path. Troy could now choose whether to allow the authorities to take him in or die escaping. Jeff managed to cheat Troy in his own psychological game.

The title of the book is definitely a good one. In my opinion, angel refers to Troy while dark refers to the darkness which still resided in his heart. The words "Angel", which is otherwise known as "light", and "Dark" are contradictory. This can represent Troy, who lives throughout the book as a being of "light", but still had the "Dark" murderous self within him. Troy started out as a good kid, as explained in a flashback in the novel. However, by commiting the supreme act of evil, he murdered a young boy. Later on, after being released from jail, Troy acts as if he had changed for the better, acting like an angel in front of everyone but darkness still lingered in his soul. So by naming the book Dark Angel, David Klass is effectively refering to Troy, who lives in both worlds.

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