Strong storytelling in first 'Angel'

ANGEL TIME. By Anne Rice. Knopf. 274 pages. $25.95.

Anne Rice has traded in vampires for angels.

"Angel Time" is the first book in her new "Songs of the Seraphim" series, and while the surface features may differ, the underlying theme remains familiar: an alienated being racked with despair longs for deeper meaning.

Growing up in New Orleans, Toby O'Dare was a devout Catholic until circumstances drove him out of his home and away from the church.

Now he earns his living as a highly accomplished assassin. In his spare time, he plays the lute, reads Thomas Aquinas and visits the Mission of San Juan Capistrano.

O'Dare, however, is not at peace with himself, and he believes the world would be a better place if he died.

Following his most recent assignment, O'Dare encounters a seraph, Malchiah, who arrives in response to a casually murmured prayer and offers O'Dare a chance at redemption. Together, they travel to 13th-century England, where O'Dare uses his skills to protect a Jewish couple wrongly accused of poisoning their child.

"Angel Time" claims to be part metaphysical thriller, but it succeeds more clearly as historical fiction. Rice paints a detailed picture of England in the period and populates it with characters who struggle in a world dominated by superstition as much as faith.

In 2005, Rice announced her intention to only "write for the Lord," and there is nothing subtle about the religious aspect of the novel.

O'Dare's rejection of the church and his return to the fold mirror Rice's own spiritual journey. But Rice also expresses the hope that the book will appeal to "readers of all faiths, or no faith at all."

She succeeds in that goal. Rice is, after all, a remarkable storyteller, and "Angel Time" is strong enough to carry the additional weight of Rice's underlying message.