Contrition

Unsurprisingly to those of you who have read my last dozen reviews this is yet another FirstReads book from GoodReads, forged in the furnace of randomness and tempered with an increasingly surprising tolerance for the inane.

This title though requires little tolerance on the reader's part. While the packaging is nothing fanciful, the cover is adequate and represents the contents reasonably well. Despite the fact that this was an unedited advance copy the text itself left little to be corrected. It's a fairly tightly wound ball of string, to coin a phrase.

At its heart (or more appropriately, soul) Contrition is a crime drama with a very well executed supernatural element. I religiously refuse to even read the back of the book before starting so when things started to go rather odd about a third of the way in I was intrigued. One is very gently and naturally introduced to elements of woo-oooo-ooooo (cue the theremin music) and it all comes across as fairly believable. In a broad sense this is the way the preternatural should be represented in fiction, as just a thin veneer to the story that leaves the skeleton of the narrative intact.

Flipping to the constructive for a moment there are a few foibles. Our protagonist is a police officer and at various points during the story he employs interrogation tactics that would not fool a five-year-old. Similarly, for the most part the supernatural elements were well played but the injudicious use of certain words with a negative connotation like 'psychic' or 'channeling' broke the spell from time to time. The author is subtle but should be aware of the impact that just a single word can have on the reader.

To sum up, Contrition is a delightfully suspenseful work that at times consumes the reader's attention entirely and one is lost in the printed page. Luckily for all the dogs waiting patiently for their supper this effect is relatively transient but it is a testament to the dramatic construction that they should wait even a few minutes longer for their kibble. Hirsch's work is a rare gem in a genre that usually earns very critical reviews from this observer. ( )

I had to find the eBook version sent as a PDF to read for a review (LibraryThing). Ad I started reading, not sure if this is considered Christian fiction (Thriller), but had a few profane words used that could have tainted the story if it falls under this genre.

I cannot pinpoint why I am not liking this book so far. There's numerous characters but still unable to put the pieces together. Not sure if it is the scenes, pace, flow, or even the plot because it is written fairly well as far as editing. I keep making pit stops to read this novel from start to finish.

I appreciate the book; but the cover does fit the storyline and why I was interested in the read. (I hope it gets better since I am only a fourth done so far). Further I read, I saw some things I liked and found myself laughing out loud, or wondering what is going on with Peter Toche's case and will he be able to mesh the pieces together eventually. I do like the fact that Peter has a special gift to play back events to help solve this supernatural case. There is some wording in the novel I highlighted and enjoyed; ah-moments or thought-provoking.

Adrienna Turner
Author of "The Day Begins with Christ"
www.dream4more.org (Dream4More Reviews) ( )

A fishing town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast probably isn’t the first setting that springs to mind when you think of a site for a confrontation between immortals serving the forces of Good and Evil. Robert E. Hirsch has used this unlikely setting to good effect in his moody, psychological horror tale.

Mild plot spoilers follow.

An elderly Catholic brother finds a young girl ritualistically murdered under a crucifix in his attic. Things get weirder from there. Shortly thereafter, a young man named Tristan St. Germain – surely a reference to the infamous historical figure of the Comte de St. Germain – arrives in town, naked and with no memories. Soon more people in town are brutally murdered. The lead detective assigned to the investigation is Peter Toche, a local man haunted by another case involving a murdered child and with his own secrets. Toche is assisted by the enigmatic Tristan and Father Joseph, the local parish priest, a good but flawed man. I don’t want to reveal too much about the killer – his identity is known to the reader almost from the outset, but it’s his motives that remain mysterious. Suffice it to say that his past and murderous intentions are deeply intertwined with Tristan’s history.

The small, Mississippi Gulf Coast fishing village of Gulf Springs is well painted, its inhabitants genuinely interesting and lending a great deal of verisimilitude to the setting. Many of the secondary characters seem almost as richly portrayed as the major ones, further helping the setting to really come alive. Characterization is one of Hirsch’s strengths here.

This isn’t the easiest novel to pigeon-hole into a genre. On the face of it, it’s a hunt for a serial killer who is terrorizing a small town, but the supernatural and religious overtones and themes that drive the plot ensure that CONTRITION is no ordinary serial killer novel. The supernatural is overt here; it’s subtle at times, but there’s no denying the importance (and prevalence) of a number of supernatural elements. CONTRITION is also filled with Catholic imagery, but it’s evocative rather than oppressive and not, I think, an impediment for non-Catholic readers. This is certainly not an orthodox catholic kind of cosmology, but it works well here. The themes of contrition, confession, and atonement – key Catholic concepts – underlay the plot and drive the actions of the protagonists throughout the novel. There is plenty of action and violence in CONTRITION – some of it absolutely brutal – but this is no gorefest.

As much as I enjoyed the novel, I must admit that CONTRITION is, at times, a little slow moving. It’s a slow build toward resolution, and at times it’s a little fuzzy exactly what’s going on. Ultimately it’s neither non-stop action nor slow philosophical musing; it’s both, at various points in the story, though it’s not without its flaws. Pacing is sometimes off, and let’s face it, the novel’s themes and supernatural elements can be heavy-handed at times. CONTRITION is by no means a bad book, and I recommended it for those who enjoy psychological thrillers infused with both religious and supernatural elements.

Review copyright © 2013 J. Andrew Byers ( )

Overall was a pretty good read although the religious aspects I am sure won't be for a lot of people. I did enjoy the book and it was a fast paced read. Would definetly consider reading another book by this author. ( )

Won this book on Library Thing and found it to be pretty good. However, as others have said there are a few issues ... one is the rapid point of view shifts - often from one paragraph to the next. While I could follow along OK, at first it was a little jarring to realize whose thoughts we were dealing with at any given time. Also, the final show-down seemed anti-climactic given the huge lead-up throughout the story and it felt rather flat as an overall scene. And then it just ended right there - abruptly, almost as if the author had trouble thinking of a suitable way to wrap everything up. Still, it was an interesting read with a decent plot. ( )