About the Book- Redemption by David Baldacci
FBI consultant Amos Decker discovers that he may have made a fatal mistake when he was a rookie homicide detective. Back in his home town, he’s now compelled to discover the truth . . .Decker has returned to Burlington, Ohio, for a special reason. It would have been his daughter Molly’s fourteenth birthday. Molly was brutally murdered four years ago in their home, along with his beloved wife, Cassie, and his brother-in-law.But then Decker is tracked down by a man he’ll never forget: Meryl Hawkins, his first homicide arrest more than twelve years ago. Hawkins has been in prison serving a life sentence but was recently released due to a terminal illness.Decker now finds himself questioning what had seemed watertight evidence at the time – maybe he’d been a bit too keen to get that conviction? Could Hawkins really be innocent, as he’s always claimed?If so, the killer is still out there – with a possible connection to a new crime. As the body count rises, and Decker and his former partner Mary Lancaster dig deeper, it looks as though there’s a lot more to what they thought was a closed case.
“He got into the car thinking that people were interesting. Sometimes they just couldn’t distinguish the truth from bullshit. Sometimes they didn’t want to. It was often easier just to believe a lie.”
Read on for our review of Redemption
Our Review of Redemption
Did you just say that AMOS DECKER was wrong ? and that he failed? How dare you! ok! fine. Guess geniuses too have their weak movements. After all, Amos is also human, and though with exceptional skill 😛 So if you aren’t aware then I am a huge AMOS DECKER fan. ( are the Amos fan club invites open yet? ) but in my whole reading experience, this is the only series where I get so excited to see a side character. In fact, it is like a surprise treat every time he appears. which is ironic because by now I should be expecting the character to show up but still I get super excited and euphoric when the character turns up. Who? Melvin Mars. It is weird how I am not excited for the character per se but I kind of get a thrill when Melvin and Amos get together. It’s like Kong and Godzilla coming together not as enemies but as a tag team. Ever since Melvin was introduced in the first book of the series, I have been wide-eyed at his appearances in the following books of the series and especially when Amos and Melvin are in a scene together.
This book takes that team partnership a notch up as the author has given a bit more screen space to this awesome duo. In fact, at the risk of being a spoiler, there are actual scenes where they team up to fight. Man, I would totally pay for the ticket to see these giants taking down the enemies. By now it has become a trend of mine to rave on and on about Melvin and Amos for every book in this series ( you can check back on my reviews of the series to see how obsessed I am ) I am getting worried for myself whether I would end up writing fanfiction for Melvin and Amos and have dreams of them having kids together (snap out of it)
Ignoring my freak-out episodes, let’s move forward with the book. So basically Amos Decker has been sliding into the space that I had rented out to Jack Reacher for so long. With each book, I am getting more and more obsessed with Amos and can’t control myself when Melvin shows up ( as you might have observed by now) It is quite interesting how the author has developed the character of Melvin Mars as a star guest appearance. The author serves him to us in small doses and those are absolutely game changers. I like this unique aspect of the book.
As I said there is a bit more extended stay of Mars in this series and he obviously brings a lot with him as always. But apart from that the book brings in a fresh new story that can be read as a standalone too since the story is specific to this book. So it ends and finishes in this book itself without you having to read the whole series to understand what is happening in this book. Not that you shouldn’t read the series. you totally should and it is fantastic. Lots of sleuthing, action and one man army and Sherlock-level deductions and of course in between you also get a few football anecdotes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I totally feel that the Amos Decker series can totally fill the hole if you have one left by Jack Reacher. Though both series have their own charisma, I am a bit more partial to Amos because of the consistency with which the series has managed to outshine each book. The characters are definitely evolving and settling and making them more engaging. I just hope I don’t jinx this.
Squirrel Rating
