Elizabeth Black is a hero. She is a cop who single-handedly rescued a young girl from a locked cellar and shot two brutal kidnappers dead. But she's also a cop with a history, a woman with a secret. And she's not the only one.

Adrian Wall is finally free after thirteen years of torture and abuse. In the very first room he walks into, a boy with a gun is waiting to avenge the death of his mother. But that is the least of Adrian's problems.
He was safer in prison.
And deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen. It is not the first to be found.

This is a town on the brink.

This is Redemption Road.

This book has been on my kindle unread for over a year due to illness and other problems that made me unable to concentrate but it was well worth the wait!!!!! EXCELLENT. I am going to buy a hard copy for my friend for his birthday next month.

Regret that I lost access to this book when I had to replace my broken kindle. Many thanks for the opportunity and apologies.

I thought Redemption Road was very good, and for much of its length I thought it was really excellent.

It's a tough, often brutal crime novel whose plot, looked at coldly in retrospect, sounds like a million others: troubled cop has been involved in an incident for which she is under investigation for possible murder; an ex-cop for whom she still has feelings is released from jail after a hideous 14-year stretch for a crime he may not have committed; violence and murder ensue, as do corrupt officials, suspicion of betrayal…and so on. In fact it is so well done that I was completely gripped much of the time and it felt original and fresh. It is brilliantly written and structured, with believable, flawed characters and a terrific, oppressive atmosphere and sense of place. The plot emerges very cleverly and moves at a decent pace but there is also real depth of characterisation and some genuine thought about the nature of guilt and the choices we make.

I did think things got just a bit overwrought and implausible toward the end and the book could perhaps have done with a little trimming, but that's a tiny niggle, really and it's still a 5-star read for me. This is a very good book indeed, whose style and structure could teach a lot of aspiring crime writers a few things about how to create a gripping story and fine characters without resorting to hyperbole and absurd "twists." Very warmly recommended.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy of Redemption Road, something more than a police procedural set in North Carolina.

Adrian Walls is released from prison after serving 13 years for the second degree murder of Julia Strange and when he gets out he is met by her 14 year old son, Gideon, with a gun in his hand. Detective Elizabeth Black has always believed Adrian is innocent so she is keen to protect him when another body is found on the evening of his release, killed in the same way as Julia. Unfortunately her powers are limited as she is suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into her rescue of Channing Shore and the death of her 2 rapists.

Wow! What a read. Redemption Road is a violent, brutal novel and not for the faint hearted but if you have the fortitude Mr Hart's beautiful writing, lyricism, strong characterisation and intricate plotting will hold you spellbound. It truly is a slice of small town Americana and rings very true (knowledge gained from my avid watching of true crime documentaries). I started reading and didn't put it down until I finished.

The plot hooked me from the start with its sense of not having the full story and more to come. All the plotlines are gradually teased out as the novel progresses but it is not a slow book. Each revelation leads to more twists and turns until you have no idea where any of it is going. This is not a criticism as it is easy to follow, more an admiration of Mr Hart's skill in producing the unexpected.

The characterisation is strong as well. Elizabeth Black is a complicated woman with her good points, bad points and vices. I can't expand much on that without spoilers but I found her fascinating. My jury is out on Adrian Walls as I didn't find him as convincing but he is, nevertheless, a strong character. All the characters are well drawn, including the minor ones so it makes for a powerful read.

I particularly liked the portrayal of the police department's actions. They have a very realistic, hardline approach which we don't see too often in crime fiction. Obviously, given the high profile nature of the crimes, there are politics behind most of their decisions but the speed and hardness of them makes a real impact.

The novel has to end somewhere but I felt the ending was a bit tame and saccharine in comparison with what has gone before.

I don't feel I have done justice in this review to the nuanced, richly textured excellence of Redemption Road so I suggest you try it yourself.

Wow, how has Hart slipped under my reader's radar till now? This is a fine, fine book that takes many of the tropes of crime fiction and turns them through a strange alchemy into something intense and literary that looks into the heart of what is worst and best in men's souls.

To come to this expecting merely a twisty, turny thriller is to do this book a huge disservice: it does have that acute grip that made me want to never stop reading but it is more profound and courageous than that. It reminded me of James Lee Burke, not so much in stylistics but in that deft blend of complex moral vision that penetrates both characters and landscape. It also has a touch of Steinbeck about it especially in the almost mythic way that our characters come to stand for so much more than just their individual selves, especially in the epilogue.

Sensitive readers should know that there are disturbing scenes of torture and violence but it's never gratuitous, always written with integrity and purpose.

A brilliant book, then, which left me emotionally wrung-out by the time I got to the end, but which also had me searching out Hart's back-catalogue. A masterful reinvention of the crime novel giving it a literary makeover.

This is a dark, focused book exploring character and searching motives and trust - the highest priority and virtue being disinterested motherly love : children are protected and forgiven; but suspended cop, Elizabeth, is at end of her tether the day a man she knew was innocent , a former cop, gets out of jail. Her instincts about him were right when he was on trial 13 years ago, just as her instincts about her estranged father, a man of the cloth, and bent cops around her are. The drive for redemption lurks underneath the torturous story leading to a shocking denouement - I could hardly wait to see what was coming - I got more than bargained for

Really liked this book. I want to read more of his books