REDEMPTION POINT is a stunning sequel to the fabulous Crimson Lake. I was thrilled to once again read about disgraced ex-police Ted Conkaffey and his private detective partner/ convicted murderer Amanda Pharrell. Yes, they are truly an odd duo. And, I've not even told you all about the cats and geese...

I found the first book to be addictive and couldn't wait to read the sequel. And, this book is even better than the first book. For one thing, we finally start to see a light in the tunnel for poor Ted. Being accused of abducting a young girl and then released because of lack of evidence isn't really making him innocent in the public's eyes. Vice versa, he can hardly leave the house.

REDEMPTION POINT may be the book that finally grants Ted his redemption. If he and Amanda survive the cases they work on of course. It's thrilling straight through and also heartwarming. The only parts I had a problem with was the diary entries where a pedophile wrote about his urges. Those parts were hard to get through. Also, Candice Fox decided to break my heart towards the end of the book when we finally learn the truth about the death of the young bartenders.

I recommend this series with all my heart and I'm longing for the next book in the series.

I want to thank Arrow Publishing for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

Fortsatt bra story som funkar. Spännande och intressant att mest fokus ligger på huvudkaraktärernas problem och inte på brottet de skall lösa. Som i första boken är det lite too much med den kvinnliga huvudkaraktären samt att det måste läggas till en knarkkung till storyn. ( )

I enjoyed Crimson Lake, but Redemption Point outshines the first book. I feel dismay that both Ted and Amanda must encounter danger and brutal beatings in each book. Lee Child does the same with Jack Reacher, as well as several other writers do for the main character. Too many beatings would kill the average character. Dale Bingley, Claire’s father, enters the story and hangs around Ted’s house trying to solve the mystery of Claire’s abduction. A new detective, Pip Sweeney, enters the story as she leads her first murder investigation. Two bartenders at a low-class bar, Barking Frog Inn, have been killed and the father of the young man has hired Amanda and Ted to find the killer. So many adventures with Ted and Amanda and Dale. So many clues that only Amanda follows and finds herself in the hands of killers. The scenery entertains and educates the reader about Australia. One learns of the peccadilloes of the rich. A fun detective story. Waiting to read the third book of the series and maybe have some questions answered. ( )

This was a very good book and so I gave it an appropriate number of stars, but I’ll be honest; it was waaay to dark for me. ( )

This is the second book in the “Crimson Lake” book series.

Ted Conkaffey, 39, divorced after eight years and a former cop in Sydney, having served five years a drug squad detective. He has recently relocated to Crimson Lake outside of Cairns in Queenslands. He went to that remote spot in an attempt at anonymity after being released from an eight-month stint in prison for the rape and murder of 13-year-old Claire Bingley. Ted had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but couldn’t prove his innocence. Nor, however, could the court prove his guilt, and the charge had been rendered as “no billing.” But while the Office of Public Prosecutions couldn’t find enough evidence to convict Ted, the public needed no such proof; he was guilty in their eyes. As soon as people found out who he was, he was reviled as a violent pedophile. As Ted mused, “When an accusation like that comes into your life, it never leaves.”

He did manage to convince a reporter of his innocence however, and Fabiana Grisham, who started a podcast called “Innocent Ted.” Fabiana asked Ted to come to Sydney to appear on a program and take questions, and he agreed, because, after all, friends were hard to come by. He also agreed - he needed the money - to be interviewed on the program “Stories and Lies,” not really cognizant of the fact that they were much more interested in lies than stories, because sensationalism meant better ratings. Ted’s first girlfriend - they barely even kissed - has come forth with a new and totally baseless story that Ted tried to molest her younger sister. Ted laments how the “relentless vines” from his “tangled, barbed life” keep “creeping around my angles, my wrists, trying to drag me back.” If anyone ever doubted his guilt before, now they would half remember some other accusation that might have been covered up or suppressed.

In Crimson Lake, Ted has been working as a private investigator with Amanda Pharrell for the past six months. Amanda had served eight years in prison for stabbing a seventeen-year-old schoolmate to death. As Ted explains, and as we learned in the first book, it was done in self-defense, but “like my crime hers was a one-way ticket out of the ‘normal’ world.”

Ted and Amanda have been hired to look into a double murder committed at a bar called the Barking Frog Inn, where two young bar employees were gunned down shortly after closing time. The official investigation is being led by DI Philippa “Pip” Sweeney, but she is new on the job and needs the help of Ted and Amanda. Pip is fascinated by Amanda, and in awe of her investigative prowess.

A woman confesses to the crime, but Ted and Amanda know right away she is not actually guilty - she either is trying to protect someone, or her conscious mind has been warped by grief. So they continue their investigation.

Meanwhile, Ted, never free of harassment over his alleged crime, is visited at night and attacked by Dale Bingley, Claire’s father. Ted had previously given Dale some information about who might have actually committed the crime against Claire, and Dale insists Ted help him chase down this mysterious man.

In alternate chapters, we read excerpts from the diary of the man who did rape and kill Claire Bingley. This man considers Ted his “hero” for taking the rap and allowing him to be free.

Tension escalates dramatically at the end of the book, when all the plot threads come together in a dramatic, and deadly, denouement.

Evaluation: As in the first book in this series, we track the development of three stories. Nevertheless, it was not difficult to follow them, and it was rewarding to learn how they were connected. Ted and Amanda are great characters, and I can’t wait to read the third books in this trilogy series. ( )