TWO GOOD MEN

Do the aftereffects of a brutal crime ever end?

Dr. Richard Raynes suffers under the shared custody agreement with his ex-wife, Caroline. His children are increasingly distant and seem happy with Pete, the new stepdad who makes Dick feel like an outsider. When his sister, Dee, frantically calls him with the news that her neighbor Otis Parsons is out of prison, Dick feels compelled to act. Twelve years ago, Parsons raped the young brother of Dee’s boyfriend, Joe. He sent Dee a taunting letter from prison upon the birth of her son, Jesse, 11 years ago. Now that Parsons is back on the street, that letter feels like a threat. Dick does act, and cleverly. Knowing of Parsons’ peanut allergy, he leverages that knowledge into murder. Flown in from D.C. to assist Sheriff Barton in his investigation of Parsons’ death, dogged FBI agent Steve Patterson finds several details at the murder scene suspicious and feels compelled to investigate. Although Redfearn’s thriller involves several violent acts, its focus is psychological, primarily following Steve’s pursuit and Dick’s struggles to avoid arrest as his guilt wrestles with his love for his sister and with the haunting, seemingly incongruous memory of Parsons helping him save his mother’s life. When Steve begins dating Denise Raynes, who has her own harrowing crime backstory, his relationship with his kids inexplicably improves. Short chapters add pace and facilitate the novel’s multiple shifts of focus, which extend to a handful of secondary characters. The plot is somewhat herky-jerky, but the novel asks compelling and provocative questions.

A brisk and gritty thriller with a strong psychological undercurrent.