Reviews
THE DEVIL'S REDHEAD tells the story of two 'for life' lovers, Dan Abatangelo and Shel Beaudry, whose adventures as the last of the independent 'gentleman' marijuana smugglers ('no violence - it's all about the money') comes to an abrupt end with their arrest in Las Vegas. Dan pleads guilty and receives a ten-year sentence in exchange for a more lenient term for his girlfriend, Shel, the tragic redhead of the book's title. Released from prison, Shel struggles to keep her life on track without Dan's emotional support. Succumbing to a weakness for 'strays' she becomes the sole caregiver of Frank Maas, a psychologically scarred and unstable loner on the fringes of a crime ring operating in the delta. Sensing Shel's growing distance as Dan's release from prison is imminent, Frank plans a quick, ill-conceived score, hoping with money in hand to persuade Shel to disappear with him. The plan backfires miserably, enmeshing Frank, Shel and Dan in a brutal war with a sophisticated and vicious rival Mexican syndicate, an inferno they cannot hope to survive.Written with depth and intensity and moments of explosive violence, THE DEVIL'S REDHEAD is above all a soulful love story about the endurance of forgiveness and the power of two people to redeem the past together.
'Full of action, dark and brutal, this is a splendid evocation of West Coast crime and split loyalties that resonates long after the final page is turned, and it reveals a major new voice.'
Maxim Jakobowski
THE GUARDIAN
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