Subversive Killer
Tortured minds
Detective Elizabeth Black joined the police department 13-years after Officer Adrian Wall saved her from a suicide attempt. She has always been drawn to him, even after his release from prison for murdering his lover.
She rescues a teenager from two men who have the girl wired to a mattress in a basement. Her screams are their pleasure. The men are shot and killed but shot so many times that the state police begin investigating. Black only states that she shot the men and nothing more. Her behaviour begins to deteriorate.
Another body appears in the church where the woman Wall was convicted of killing had been placed. This new victim has been murdered in the same fashion. Is he really a killer, or as Black needs to believe – innocent? Wall is a deeply scarred man and barely communicative. What happened to him in prison?
John Hart’s characters are deep and ephemeral at the same time. You feel much while reading Redemption Road and are compelled to move forward to know much. Folding and blending just a bit at a time he brings you in and you wonder how it will all end.
~ June Lorraine
4 responses to “John Hart: Redemption Road”
I’m so glad you reviewed this book, June. I, too, thought it was beautifully done, and I reviewed it for CrimeFictionLover.com. It avoided the formulaic which so many writers lapse into! The characters were interesting and not thin, especially the main character, Elizabeth. I listened to a terrific audio version, which was followed by an interview with Hart, who said he’d written 300 pages with Elizabeth as minor character when he realized it was HER story! Quite a commitment to go back and rework everything to bring her to the fore–and so beautifully!
Hello Victoria, I also ‘read’ the audio version and was blown away by the reader who injected amazing pathos. To think Hart had to rework this book…Elizabeth was channeled through him. 🙂 Thanks for weighing in.
The reader was perfect, but then he’s an accomplished actor with the Elevator Repair Company, which did the full reading of The Great Gatsby (“GATZ”), the Broadway hit of a few years ago. This narrator played Nick Carraway.
Sounds excellent, June.