Redemption Road: A Novel

Image of Redemption Road: A Novel
Author(s): 
Release Date: 
May 2, 2016
Publisher/Imprint: 
Thomas Dunne Books
Pages: 
432
Reviewed by: 

Detective Elizabeth Black is proud of being a cop and follows the law to a T. She is in this line of work all because of Officer Adrian Wall, a man who saved her life when she was 17 and who is considered a hero—that is until the body of Julia Strange is found murdered with evidence pointing to Adrian. Elizabeth believes in Adrian's innocence and stops at nothing to verify this, turning her fellow officers against her. Despite her assertions, he is incarcerated.

Now, 13 years later, Adrian is released, a broken man from suffering unspeakable horrors under the hand of the warden's henchmen. The night he is freed, Adrian is patronizing a local bar near the penitentiary when he is confronted by Julia's son, Gideon. An infant at his mother's death, which turned his father into a bumbling drunk, Gideon is consumed with hate. It is his intention to kill Adrian. The owner, quick to respond, shoots the young man before he can gun down Adrian.

Minutes later, the warden along with his guards and the police are ready to throw Adrian back into prison, unwilling to listen to the tavern owner's recount of the incident.

Elizabeth, though suspended, rushes to the scene even, not letting the suspension stop her from investigating Gideon's shooting. She holds a soft spot for the motherless boy and has taken him under her wing as his father is no longer able to care for himself, let alone his son.

Now Elizabeth worries about Channing. The state police want to incarcerate Elizabeth for what they consider a gangland slaying of the men who destroyed Channing's innocence, but Channing is Elizabeth's only concern.

Between visiting Gideon in the hospital where he is surviving the bullet wound, Elizabeth befriends Channing while hoping to prove Adrian is not guilty. She feels isolated in her quest for the truth, though her partner, Charlie Beckett, seemingly concerned about her, is one she can trust. Or can she?

Pandemonium strikes when another woman is found placed like a sacrifice on the altar of the abandoned church where Elizabeth's father used to be the preacher. Of course, everyone considers this is Adrian's doing, but Elizabeth knows it is not.

Throughout the novel, the killer speaks, revealing his personality without any disclosure of his identity. The following displays his madness: 

            He knew people came to the church . . . so he knew someone would find the body. But it made him sick to see the police there. No one else could understand the reasons or its purpose, the void in his heart it filled so perfectly.           
            And the girl on the altar?
            She was his, too, but not as much as the others he'd chosen, not with cops looking at her and touching her and speculating. She should be in the stillness and the dark, and he hated what was happening behind the shards of stained glass: the bright lights and jaded cops, the medical examiner going about his dull, grim business. They would never grasp the reasons she'd died or why he'd chosen her or the incentive to let her be found. She was so much more than they could ever understand, not a woman or a body or a piece of some puzzle.
            In death, she was a child.
            At the end, they all were.

This fast-paced, suspenseful tale reveals massive greed and corruption within the judicial and penal systems. Betrayal and condemnation abound with insanity showcased as well as personal inner strength and belief in oneself.