Book Review: The Devil's Redhead

Reviewed By: Donna M - RAM

The Devil's Redhead     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
David Corbett
Class/Genre:   Mystery

Dan Abatangelo and the woman of his dreams - beautiful, red-headed Shel Beaudry, are involved a business smuggling Thai marijuana. No gangsters, no guns, no one gets hurt. The drug business means they can exist, having each other means they can feel alive. However, the drug scene is changing, becoming less about peace and love, and more about power and hate. Dan and Shel have decided on one last big score to act as a nest egg for their future but things don’t work out as planned and they’re arrested. To protect Shel and his friends, Dan takes the fall and serves ten long years in jail. Only thoughts of Shel keep him optimistic during those years, but ten years is a long time, things change. The drugs business has become an ugly, violent war. The gangsters and guns have taken over. Shel is in her own personal prison with a man called Frank Maas.

I loved this book. It's dark, bleak, violent and hopeless. But it's also the opposite of all those things. There's an overriding sense of the power of hope and the ability of love to turn petty, weak, fallible people into something better. The writing is lush and resonant, but it's also realistic and often shocking. It's not a book for the faint-hearted, with its matter of fact descriptions of the results of senseless violence. The characters are wonderful. I couldn’t get this book out of my mind for ages.

Donna M - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Donna M - RAM