Four days. It's what it took me to read Redemption, by the American writer John Hart. Because that's how long a book usually lasts in agile hands and eyes if it's good. The review more authoritative and professional I had already put it In the clouds. I am just one more reader and I write in this literary blog that also has its substance. Well I also raise it to the heights.

For the plot (between prison and black) and its twists, its rhythm and gear, the characters and its brilliant prose impregnated with poetry. A choral novel that gives prominence to all those characters. Driving them, universal but always forceful emotions. Betrayal, pain, love and hate, terror, madness and hope, toughness, revenge, secrets and strength of spirit. So yes. Highly recommended for lovers of Novelty or simply of the good novels.

The author

John Hart (Durham, North Carolina, 1965) used to be lawyer until one day he hung up his toga and devoted himself to literature. Has published five novels that have gotten the best reviews. Married with two daughters, he lives in North Carolina, the state where his stories take place.

Hart has won two Edgar Allan Poe awards for the best novel. He is the only one who has won them consecutively. They have compared it to Scott Turow, John Grisham or Raymond Chandler. Other books are The king of lies (2008) Iron house (2012) and No crows (2014)

Synopsis

To start we have a teenager with a gun waiting for the man who murdered his mother when he was just a baby. This man is an honest policeman who, after being wrongly convicted and after thirteen years in prison, is released.

As the central axis, a police detective. Troubled and traumatized Due to a hard past, she will have to confront him after a brutal shooting in which she has been implicated with another teenage victim.

To complicate everything, it appears a body under a sheet on the altar of an abandoned church. A body that will be more.

Characters

It is difficult to stay with one because everyone shines in their moments. They have their secrets and nooks and crannies. From the main ones to the secondary ones, which are luxurious. And of course the villains.

Elizabeth black

Maybe it's the most protagonist. I'm not usually attracted to the main female characters (we each have our flaws), but Black has managed to win me over. For his strength and way of facing his ghosts. For her determination to defend those around her at any cost. It is the character in which all the others converge. Fascinated by Adrian Wall, she will always be willing to believe in him.

Adrian wall

Expolice, is the admired hero and hated antihero when he falls from grace. His sentence will be a real hell of torture and humiliation by a cruel and ruthless over-ambitious warden and his men. But Wall manages to survive and get out, although he will not have gotten rid of him. When a crime similar to the one that landed him in jail occurs, he will be in the spotlight again. And he does not have the help of almost anyone.

Charlie becket

Is Elizabeth Black's partner. Companion and friend, he is always aware of the problems Black gets into. Is that character luxury secondary, which shines with a lot of its own light.

There are also these young victims of all the circumstances of the past and present. Channing Shore and Gideon Strange they move at the mercy of these events and only look for those who really want them. And also a old lawyer that will help Black and Wall. He is another one of those characters that make you smile of relief for the difficult moments that the protagonists continually go through.

And with the terrible prison background that distills the plot, the hateful warden and his minions are the best villains of the function. Or maybe not.

Why you have to read it

Because if. You turn the pages without noticing. The characters and their souls captivate you thanks to the prose of Hart, almost pure poetry in some passages. And because it masterfully expresses the worst and the best what can be taken out of the most painful and borderline experiences. The ones that drag you into madness and the ones that show you all the light. Y keeping the tension all the time.

I'm going for the next one from Hart.