Book Review: a season for redemption by Ronald S. Barak

2010
http://aseasonforredemption.com
509 pages
Gander House Publishers
ISBN# 978-0-9827590-0-4

a season for redemption – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh,

Repeat

Thwap. Thwap. Mmm, the silencer worked great. In one clean move, he pocketed his gun and caught her before she fell to the ground. He also managed to get her keys, open the door, and quickly get the two of them inside the townhouse. He set he down. No pulse. He went back outside, turning on a flashlight he extracted from his pocket. No blood that he could see anywhere. He picked up her briefcase, went back inside, closed the door and confirmed that it was locked. He put the briefcase on the entry table. He then picked Alistair up, carried her into the bedroom and set her down on the bed. Now I know where they got the expression dead weight. He undressed her, scattered her clothes about the room and went about his business. Twenty minutes later, satisfied with the way things looked, and how smoothly this had gone, he quietly took his leave. Perfect. If I don't dawdle, I can still catch the second half of the Lakers-Wizards game. And it would have been "perfect," too. If not for the one slight drop of blood on the front porch he had missed - and the pair of eyes that peered out at him from the nearby shadows as he departed.'

It's early 2009. DC Detective Frank Lotello has just been informed that U.S. Senator Jane Alistair has been murdered and raped, in that order. Within just a few short days he will learn of the murder and rape of Dr. Jody DiMarco, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, and the murder of Derrick Johnson, Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission. As the task force is formed and proceeds to put the evidence together, one person speaks out, giving the force and the DA the perfect person to pin the murders on. That person is Cliff Norman.

Norman built his small electronic business from just he and his wife into a company employing around 100. He bought his wife a beautiful home and the two decided to start a family, their first child being a baby boy they named Ryan. Then the recession hit. Norman lost his business, his home and due to an illness whose treatment was not covered by his insurance, he lost his son. This literally drove Norman into an apparent state of off-balance. He took his frustrations outside Capitol Hill, yelling to anyone and everyone who would listen, exactly what the corrupt politicians had done to him - and what he has now done to them. This is what the DA perceived as Norman's admission to the murders giving him what he believed would be an open and shut case. Public Defender Leah Klein believes different and with the help of Lotello she hopes to prove Norman either innocent or guilty of justifiable homicide.

As I read a season for redemption I found myself actually picturing some of the characters as real people. Ronald S. Barak has given them the personalities that even seem familiar opening my eyes to the real possibility that the events that take place in this story are not only possible but also probable (sadly, Gabby Giffords and Jared Loughner). And I loved his honesty in his "Author's Note" which says "While to some extent derived from real-world facts, events, conditions and principles of law, as to which the author has taken certain liberties, this is strictly a work of fiction - more or less. Except of course if the satirical shoe fits, resemblance to any real persons is purely coincidental. The names of characters have been changed to protect the innocent - and the guilty." As you read a season for redemption, I feel sure you too will be able to relate to the characters.

This is also a very educational book. I've never been a juror for a murder trial and pray I never have to be, but if that situation ever comes up, I want to re-read a season for redemption in hopes of understanding the true meaning of `beyond a shadow of doubt' and even possibly `justifiable homicide.' This is a book that I feel everyone who is being affected by the recession - and feels any disdain for our political representatives - should read. Just maybe it will help us all pull together to make a difference and have some of the corruption removed from our government.

by Martha S. Cheves