Title: Forgive Me, Alex
Author: Lane Diamond
Publisher: Evolved Publishing
About the Book: Tony Hooper stands in
shadow across the street, one amongst many in the crowd of curiosity-hounds
gathered to watch a monster’s release. Seventeen years after Mitchell Norton,
“the devil,” terrorized Algonquin, Illinois on a spree of kidnapping, torture
and murder, the authorities release the butcher from psychiatric
prison.
Tony longs to charge across
the street to destroy Norton—no remorse—as if stepping on a cockroach. Only
sheer force of will prevents his doing so.
“The devil” walks the world
again. What shall Tony do about it? Aye, what indeed.
After all, this is what he
does. It’s who he is. “The devil” himself long ago made Tony into this hunter of
monsters. What a sweet twist of fate this is, that he may still, finally,
administer justice.
Will FBI Special Agent
Linda Monroe stop him? She owes him her life, so how can she possibly put an end
to his?
Tony Hooper and Mitchell
Norton battle for supremacy, with law enforcement always a step away, in this
story of justice and vengeance, evil and redemption, fear and courage, love and
loss.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE GIVEAWAY ON GOODREADS UNTIL AUG 31
My thoughts: This book kept me riveted! It is told through the eyes of both Tony Hooper and MItchell Norton. It starts in 1995 as Mitchell is being released from prison and goes back and forth from that time frame to 1978, when all the tragedy occurs.
I loved the way that the author draws you in to the story right away, and then slowly dishes you out the details. You know the outcome, because Mitchell was in prison for 17 years - but you don't know everything that happens in 1978 and those are the details that you are spoon-fed through out the rest of the book.
At the same time you struggle along with Tony as he wades through his memories as well as what he has become because of Mitchell. Along with Linda, the FBI agent who cut her teeth on the Norton case, and has crossed paths with Tony over the years, you hope that he is able to overcome the wall he has put up to keep people from getting too close.
I thought this was a great thriller and am looking forward to reading more by this author. Please enjoy the excerpt below from Forgive Me, Alex.
~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Novel Publicity in exchange for my review.~
About the author: I write fiction, long and short. My writings cross over many genres and focus
on diverse subjects, ranging from the mysteries of the human mind, with its
fragile psychological and emotional states, to the everyday joy and anguish of
life on Earth. Ultimately, characters move me – as both a reader and an author.
It’s all about the people. When not writing, I’m Publisher and Executive Editor
at Evolved Publishing. Connect with me
on my website, Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, or
via Evolved Publishing.
Forgive Me, Alex: An
Excerpt
Mitchell Norton, the man
I've long considered the devil, smiles atop the courthouse steps and
waves to the simmering crowd. He tilts his head back to soak in the sunshine and
cool breeze of the late spring day, the tranquility of which stands in stark
contrast to the circumstances of this event.
The mere sight of him
pushes me to the dark edge of my mind, where sanity hangs like... like... like a
balloon in a tornado!
I stand in shadow across
the street, one amongst many in the crowd of curiosity-hounds gathered to watch
a monster's release. As my face blazes, fists clench and teeth grind, I can
easily imagine the onset of a stroke, an aneurism, a pulmonary embolism, a
raging scream—
Control yourself,
Tony!
I long to charge across the
street to destroy him—no remorse—as if stepping on a cockroach. Only sheer force
of will prevents my doing so.
For seventeen years, I
assumed this day would never come. How could they
even consider releasing this vile creature, this very personification
of evil?
In 1978, Norton murdered
innocent kids who'd barely tasted of life. He tortured two of them beyond the
limits of rational imagination, for to imagine such deeds was to summon a
devilry that we dared not face. Yet the jury held him not responsible, a victim
himself to the ravages of an illness that drove him to insanity beyond our
reckoning.
He thus resides forever in
the darkest pit of my psyche, chained to me in perpetuity. Now only two choices
remain: I must cast off those chains, or yank them tight around his neck. Yes,
I must obtain satisfaction. The idiotic jury seventeen years ago, and
today's flawed court system, has left little recourse. No one else seems willing
to deliver him to justice.
I am willing. After all,
this is what I do. It's who I am. Indeed, the devil himself made me
into this hunter of monsters. What a sweet twist of fate this is, that I may
still, finally, administer justice.
He descends the stairs
toward his waiting car with an arrogant swagger, watching the small group of
protestors, the news reporters, and the police officers here to ensure a
peaceful transition, as if to challenge them. His wicked grin never
waivers.
Oh, that grin. For
seventeen years it has taunted me, punished me for my indecision, my
incompetence. I missed my chance to kill him in 1978, to remove his damned
head—simple, as if cutting a sheet of paper. It would have been a fitting end
for a monster.
Why did I let him
live?
Like whispers in a storm,
those memories only tease at me now, here at this obscene and maddening event.
I'm trying not to relive every moment of 1978. Every time I do, I feel as if
swimming in quicksand, anchored by my constant companions—sorrow and guilt. I'm
too damned tired; can't shake the confusion, the dread. I fear surrendering to
fear.
My life teems with just
such wretched ironies.
As Norton vanishes inside a
black sedan—looks like standard-issue law enforcement—I dash through the crowds
to my van. Despite this call to action, my mind again zeroes-in on memories of
1978. I recall the court proceedings, particularly the devil's own
twisted testimony, as though it were yesterday. I've only relived it ten
thousand times.
Then twenty-six, Norton was
a man-child who'd never quite grasped the nuance of adulthood. He continued to
wash dishes at a restaurant, ten years into the only job he'd ever held. He
found it comfortable and unchallenging—perfect. He harbored no great yearnings,
nor imagined exciting possibilities, nor sought lucrative rewards.
Then everything changed. He
said that was when his new life emerged, when he became more aware, even more
intelligent. He better understood the world around him. He discovered what he
called "The Purpose" in the spring of 1978, and it guided his every deed. He
claimed he became a man that year.
I remember it quite clearly
as the year he became the devil.
The words I wrote in my
diary at the time return to me, a personal anthem more relevant than
ever: Rage flows like lava through my veins. My soul slowly roasts upon the
flames. How did I ever let it come to this?
Now mortality, as it did
seventeen years ago, lingers above me like the hangman's noose. Yet it looms
more ominous than ever, as if it will drop down around my neck at any moment.
After all, I know the true Mitchell Norton. And whom shall I fear if not the
devil, the grim torturer who conquered my aspirations and left me without a
recognizable world of my own?
Or is it me that I fear?
The man I've become? The man Norton made me?
Some fancy maneuvering is
required to escape the crowds and the police at the courthouse. I manage to keep
Norton in sight, zigzagging between lanes and keeping several vehicles between
us, hanging back far enough to avoid detection without losing him. Uncertain
emotions bubble up, some indecipherable combination of dread and anticipation,
fear and excitement, vengeance and sorrow. I must know where he'll make his
home, information that has been difficult to obtain, as the authorities are
concerned with Norton's security.
Give me a
break! They should express their
security concerns not for the devil himself, but for his next
victims.
Oh yes, I know Norton too
well. He will torture, murder and dismember again. The temptation will
be too great to resist.
I saw him up close in 1978,
looked into the soul of the devil, as we waded through the blood and
gore he'd spilled. I couldn't fathom his unrepentant pleasure, the sick thrill,
his gleeful anticipation.
Now he's out of prison,
again free to call up his demons, to torture the innocent, to waltz to what he
once called his "symphony of screams."
The devil walks the world
again.
What shall I do about it?
Aye, what indeed.
Publisher/Publication Date: Evolved Publishing, March 2012 (1st published Nov 2011)
ISBN: 9781622539000
242 pages
