It appears that the writer had intended to get her dressed and overlooked this detail, as did editors.Hart’s facility with setting is lush and matchless the violence in this novel, thoroughly visceral, tipped my “ick” button a couple of times, and for this reason and others, I may not return to his work. In addition, there is a place in the story-I won’t spoil the specifics-in which Liz is stark naked and leaps into a car without a stitch of clothing on, and no one finds this remarkable. He does use one very old plot device, and it, along with the subscript, which I will discuss in a minute, and the absolutely impossible denouement are the reasons the final star-and-a-half is denied. Hart is a gorgeous prose stylist, and his pacing is unbeatable. She can’t step back from this case, even when ordered by her superiors to do so. She has served as surrogate mother to Gideon since his mother’s death his father is not fit to raise a child, and so she has quietly slipped in and out of that family’s home, preparing meals, purchasing the child’s clothes. On the day Wall is released from prison, Gideon, now an adolescent, lies in wait for him, prepared to shoot the man he believes killed his mother.Īll hell breaks loose, and once more Liz is immersed in the case. Our protagonist is Elizabeth Black, a cop burdened by her profound attachment to Adrian Wall, a former cop sent to prison for a murder she is certain he did not commit, and also to Gideon, the child of the murder victim.

I rate this novel 3.5 stars and round upward. There are some partial spoilers below that give up events midway through the book, but of course the ending is kept secret so that you may find it for yourself. This title is available to the public May 3, 2016. Martin’s Press for the DRC, which I received free in return for an honest review. John Hart has loyal readers, but until a friend mentioned his name to me I had not read his work.

Redemption road by john hart