Patrick Redmond

"Love isn't just an emotion; it's a surrender. The ultimate surrender of power. If you love someone you give them the power to hurt you more than anyone else can."

Tina adores time spent with her father out on the boat, just the two of them. She loves her father more than anything. That is, until her father unexpectedly leaves the family without a trace. Tina hardens her heart and, to protect herself, creates the perfect outer shell. Rebranded as Chrissie, she takes a job in the film show more industry. While on a shoot she briefly falls for a bartender, Jack, who lives on a boat and brings back to her the very essence of her father. One day when Jack's remarks hit too close to her tender core, Chrissie runs from him. She latches onto rich and handsome Alexander, an actor, who seems to morph himself into anything she needs him to be. But he can't be Jack and that's a problem for Chrissie. Which is a problem for Alec. Which becomes a problem for Jack.

Like the proverbial train wreck that you can't look away from, you just know this entire situation is going to bad. Really, really bad. It's a fast-paced psychological read. I found myself examining my own relationships with family and friends while reading this one, it really made me think. I was glad when it ended though because all the raw emotions on the page between Chrissie and Alec and Jack was just exhausting. show less

Another book with potential that just turned out to be a stinker. The supernatural “twist” was never really explained, just implied. Most, if not all the characters were insufferable jerks and horrible people and the homosexuality angle, while fitting with the time, was strained and dated. This one’s going back to the used bookstore.

This is a powerful psychological thriller of haunting suspense. It is set in a private boys school, Kirkston Abbey, where conformity and control are enforced through harsh rules and savage discipline. To 14-year-old Jonathan Palmer, it is a prison; a world in which he feels threatened and powerless. When he is offered the chance of escape, in the guise of an unexpected friendship, he accepts it gladly. The friendship grows into something dangerous as their games lose their innocence. In show more combining his frustrations with a nature that is far more intense and destructive than his own, Jonathan is unleashing forces more powerful than he can ever hope to control. Now, more than forty years later, journalist Tim Webber thinks he's found the key to uncovering the truth in the bleak winter term of 1954. Excellent first novel. show less

Michael Turner seems to have bounced back from the trauma of his past: in his late twenties he has everything he could want - a successful career in a legal firm, a loving girlfriend, a future that seems bright. However, when a new rich patron enters his life, everything Michael used to have seems tame in comparison to the riches now spread before him. But when Michael's girlfriend reacts badly to his new patron, Michael must make a choice - and the consequences of that choice aren't at all show more what he expected. A dark abyss of a novel, with Redmond's lens focusing on the worst side of humanity (greed, manipulation, betrayal) long enough to almost qualify it for inclusion in the 'noir' genre. Recommended. show less