The story of two souls meant for each other, but separated by two coincidental forces that just happen to be there: nope, not exactly. The Devil’s Redhead by David Corbett mixes a little bit of gruesome action scenes with a sappy romance story to give you a bittersweet treat. He puts a whole new genre into romance and takes action and thriller to a masterpiece only available by Ballantine Books.

Danny Abatangelo is a man caught along with his wife for trafficking drugs. Both get sent to jail, but Abatangelo is the man who was actually involved in this business. After ten years in jail, he tries desperately to reintroduce himself to love by finding his wife, who only got three years in prison, but to his dismay, he finds that not only has she found a new man by the name of Frank, but she’s about to send him into a wild chase.

This wild chase all begins with Frank, the most idiotic and senile loser that Corbett could so vividly create. He isn’t the smartest fellow, and because of him, the love triangle gets sent in the middle of Armageddon. Thus, starting the bloodshed of the Apocalypse.

The classic race against time with the turncoat in every chapter tells you truly of no hint of what to expect. You’re left in the dark just enough to make it seem like you got the handle of things, but things pop in, things bleed out, and turmoil is let loose. Sure scenes get too gory, but the imagery cast on the book is so delicious, you taste the blood coming from the book’s victims. Here and there, you lose focus, and sit in idle, but it isn’t short before the magic starts – the rampage of killing. The onslaught madhouse massacre. At times you’re left wondering if the hunt for love is worth it: “something broke inside her then, a tension wire in heart, snapping” but no matter what, you continue onward, running along side the characters, cheering the heroes on, whoever they may be (373).

Don’t stick with brain freak books like The Da Vinci Code. Skip past the trivial pursuit by Mr. Brown and go straight to the madness, take a couch, and read The Devil’s Redhead. It will comfort your need for violence.
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Book Review Assignment
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Honestly, this book is something worth reading. I wouldn't proclaim it the best book in the world, as my book review made it seem, but it is a book with enough action and enough about the love story to get you through a book that was definately a good start for David Corbett. ( )

I was trying to decide whether this is a 4.5 or a 5, and I simply could not find any area in significant need of improvement - AND it's a first novel, which I believe requires slightly different judging criteria.

An added bonus for me is that the book is set where I live (East bay of SF area). I'm sure there are other novels set here that do justice to our unique places, place names, and geography, but none that bring to life the current demographics and rugged beauty that this one does. Things like Kirker Pass road - I've heard of it, of course, but now I want to actually drive it...I am curious as to what this novel's UK readership made of the setting, as I imagine that it is pretty unique.

In his poignant dedication, DC says his late wife worked hard to always bring him back to the love story as this novel developed. Her work paid off, as it's drawn in spare, heartwrenching, violent strokes and yet even the most cynical reader will never doubt for a moment that it will prevail. Without giving away the ending, it prevails in exactly the right way, with no false measure of hope, no neat wrap-up. Such an ending would betray the entire book, enmeshed as the story is in ambivalent human nature and the acts it engenders.

Who is good? Who is evil? How much of both resides in all of us? It's quite a trick to draw an over-the-hill, left-leaning journalist in one chapter and a ruthless Mexican boss in the next and leave the reader wondering who has the more exact grasp on the human condition.

This book is OOP and I bought mine used, but I encourage any crime fic fan to do the same. I've picked up DC's next 2 books and while I'm intimidated by the idea of global politics informing the plot (my grasp on politics is just about nil) I have a feeling the story will carry its burden handily. ( )