Josie only had the gun to frighten Curtis Rook, but his son disturbed her. One startled reflex and now he’s dead. Josie flees to Poland leaving her boyfriend Snaz to take the rap. A reformed criminal offers her refuge from the police and the chance to begin a new life, but she cannot hide from her guilt. As the stakes rise, Josie begins to realize that only her own forgiveness can set her free.
Fast-paced and original, Peter M. Parr’s contemporary take on Crime and Punishment challenges traditional ideas about guilt and redemption, and the meaning of forgiveness.
Praise for Escape To Redemption by Peter M. Parr
“…Parr’s superb understanding of the way human beings justify their sins (especially to themselves) make Josie and Snaz utterly convincing and compelling. An engrossing, realistic morality tale.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Gripped from the start, I found Escape To Redemption a real page turner. Peter Parr knows how to create believable modern day characters and conflicts, and never lets up on the tension. This is a book that will appeal to young and old, male and female.” –Mel Menzies, bestselling author, Time to Shine
“What happens when flawed but essentially decent people do something that will haunt them for the rest of their lives? Escape to Redemption is a powerful and insightful story of guilt and forgiveness. Peter Parr has a talent for suspense.- Mike Brooks, author of The Machine Society
My Review of Escape to Redemption
This is a book of twists and turns - will Josie grow up and take the blame for the killing, will Snaz keep his mouth shut and take the blame - after all he already has been in trouble with the law and he knows that Josie is way above him in society. Read the book and find out the answers and enjoy a great read at the same time. At the beginning of this novel, I disliked Josie- she was a spoiled brat who used other people and had no thought for the consequences of her actions. However, as the novel progressed and I started to understand her character, my attitude towards her changed. She is the character in this novel that changes the most and her journey is the basis of the entire story. I definitely enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to readers who enjoy a great book.
Excerpt from Escape to Redemption
Before long, Josie heard Kogut knock on her bedroom door. ‘Are you ready?’ he said from the corridor. ‘It is time to go.’
‘Arkadiusz,’ she called him by his name for the first time, uncertain if she’d got the pronunciation right.
The door opened a little and he peered around it. He’d changed into a dinner jacket and bow tie. He looked at her like a critic would a painting. She had always felt self-conscious wearing white.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t go,’ she said. ‘I’m not feeling up to meeting anyone. You go, if you like. I’ll be okay here by myself.’
He shook his head. ‘It is Christmas evening, Wigilia. There is no way I can leave you on your own. Besides, Helena and Roman are expecting us. They have prepared a meal for us both. The company will do you good.’
‘But you want me to stay in Poland,’ Josie said. ‘What if the people we’re visiting tell the police I’m staying with you?’
‘They will not tell.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Because they are my friends.’
‘Well, what if someone else sees me?’
‘You will be out of the car for less than a minute. Still, I will find a scarf for you to wear on your head. I’m sure Yvonna won’t mind if you borrow one of hers.’ He laid his hand on her arm. ‘Josephine, I promise you, I would do nothing to put your safety at risk.’
Josie followed Kogut down the steps to his black Mercedes. He carried two large bags in one hand and a magnum of wine in the other. ‘Would you hold this for me while I drive please?’ He gave her the bottle and she glanced at the label, but couldn’t read it in the dark.
‘What’s in those?’ she asked, as he placed the bags in the boot.
‘Christmas presents. The rest are already in here.’ He opened the passenger door for her, then walked around the front of the car.
When he sat beside her, Josie drew down the hem of her skirt to cover her knees. The iron gates parted ahead of them and they turned onto a tree-lined road. Through gaps in the row of tall evergreens, Josie spied townhouses and villas, though she saw none as impressive as Kogut’s. ‘Who are these people we’re going to meet?’ she asked.
‘My friends Helena and Roman, and Ola, their daughter.’
‘They don’t know what I’ve done, do they? You can’t make me see them if they know.’
‘Of course not. I explained your situation to them only in general terms.’
‘But they might find out? They might read about me in the papers, or see the news?’
‘Then I will tell them you are innocent. You are innocent,’ he added. ‘Try to relax. An evening out will do you good.’
At the end of the long tarmacked lane, they came to a barrier. Kogut lowered the window and stretched out his arm, but couldn’t quite reach the reader on the post to swipe his pass. He had to undo his seatbelt and get out of the car.
She noticed, stuck to the steering wheel, a laminated card with the word PAMIETAM written on it in a large bold font. She’d seen the same word in a frame on Kogut’s desk, and also on the mirror in the hall.
Kogut waited at the junction for a gap in the traffic. A couple of times Josie would have pulled out if she’d been driving, but Kogut hesitated.
‘What does pamietam mean?’ she asked him.
He corrected her pronunciation. ‘Pum-ien-tam. In English, it would be “I remember”. It is to remind me of who I am.’
‘You forget, do you?’ she said, perplexed.
‘Sometimes. We all forget who we are.’
After driving in the dark for ten minutes, they came to a village. Kogut stopped alongside a parked car and put the gearbox into reverse. He began backing into the space but then, shaking his head, drove forward again. Reversing once more, he started turning the wheel out again too soon. He gave up manoeuvring backwards and forwards and switched off the engine with the car still half a metre from the kerb.
‘Don’t worry about the presents, I will come back for them later, after dinner,’ he said as they got out the car. ‘You can give me the wine.’
They walked to a modern apartment block, much smarter than the one Pete’s family lived in. Josie asked Kogut, ‘What did you mean before, when you said we forget who we are?’
He stopped. ‘Look at the sky.’
She stared where he pointed, away from the town. One by one, specks of light appeared. The longer she watched, the more stars she could see.
‘There are over a hundred billion stars in the galaxy, and a hundred billion galaxies beyond our own. The light from some of them takes thousands of years to reach us, millions even.’ He breathed in deeply and finally exhaled. ‘Seventy years we live for, eighty if we are lucky. And after that, do we simply die? It would be illogical if we were nothing but flesh and bone. We have a body. We have a mind. But what we are is Spirit. Divine, eternal Spirit. Me, you...your father. Spirit never dies.’
Buy Escape to Redemption at Amazon
Susan Roberts, reviewer. Susan lives in NC when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy travelling and gardening and helping to take care of their grandson. Susan reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook.
Book info:
available formats: ebook and print (280 pages)
published: June 2016 by Roundfire Books
ISBN13:978-1785352270
genres: crime fiction, metaphysical
a free ebook was provided for this review
Get even more book news in your inbox by signing up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/mHTVL. Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon using any Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Girl Who Reads.
Posts
I'm so glad you enjoyed 'Escape To Redemption'! Thanks for taking part in the tour!
ReplyDelete