Customer Reviews

The Devil's Redhead

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Dan Abatangelo is a drug dealer who smuggles marijuana into the country from Asia. While on a jaunt to Las Vegas, he meets Shel Beaudry, a card dealer in one of the casinos. They run off together, fall in love and live happily ever after until they both get busted for the drug smuggling. Ten years later, Dan is released from prison and searches for Shel who has gotten herself involved in a relationship with a mentally imbalanced man and a criminal organization. Dan must try to rescue her from this complicated living arrangement while trying to keep both of them alive. It proves to be a near impossible task.
David Corbet has written an epic novel rich in characterizations. However, I question the need for the sheer size of this volume. It is 370 pages long, yet, reads like a work of much greater length. True, we get to know the main characters very, very well. But nothing happens for many pages as we concentrate on detail after detail in almost every scene. The pacing is, therefore, lethargic. Nonetheless, the writing is strong and sure, as well as, the characters so realistic that these positives outweigh the negatives thereby allowing for a rewarding reading experience.

THE DEVIL'S REDHEAD is a violent tale, beautifully told.
The writing flows. The pace never falters. At its tender
heart, this is a story of love, loss and reconciliation.

Opening line: "He blew into Las Vegas the first week of
spring, primed to hit the tables, sniff the wildlife and,
basically, cat around."

That's Danny Abatangelo, freelance photographer and
wildcat smuggler of Thai marijuana since college days. His
motto: "No guns, no gangsters, it's only money." Then he

meets Shel, a knockout redhead, and they slam together
like a couple of magnets.

Danny wants out of the drug trade. Everybody's moving in
-- Cubans, Marielitos, Vietnamese, Colombians, Mexicans,
the Mob. No more room for someone like Danny, who's in it
for kicks. End of an era.

He sets up one last job as a nest egg for retirement. What
follows is a harrowing sequence of events, resulting in
near-total destruction of everything Danny and Shel hoped
for.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Until Corbett came along,the only crime writer who could guide me through such violent material without setting me up for nightmares was James Lee Burke. Good company, those two!

For information about Corbett and his novels, check out his website:www.davidcorbettauthor.com.

Pat Browning, author of FULL CIRCLE

A great noir in the tradition of David Goodis and the masters. Here is a writer who knows just what he is talking about, presumably based on his years as a genuine PI in the Bay area. His dialogue is superb, tough, surprising and unsentimental, and his convoluted revenge and counter-revenge tale reminds you of Elmore Leonard at his best, except you have a feeling any of Corbett's characters could have had Leonard's for lunch. His characters do surprising things, just like real people, and you desperately want them to get past their own blind spots and weaknesses, as they get swept up into a Central California Delta drug war with racial overtones--rednecks vs. Mexicans. You desperately want the couple to get back together after their separate ordeals, worthy of Odysseus. It's a book you can learn from, about Spanish slang, about the changes that have taken the drug trade down several notches in viciousness, about the whole fascinating industrial Delta region itself--I read the book with a map by my side. It was compulsive and fun and ought to get a nod or two as best first novel.

Corbett's writing is exceptional and his story lines not only entertain but get you thinking. I discover him through his second book, "Done for a Dime." I picked it up in a little bookstore in Pacific Grove CA. The jacket described a mystery about a jazz legend in and around the East Bay of SF/Bay Area Ca where I live. Another great story. The "Devil's Redhead," lived up to my expectation in every way.

Short review here.

The Devil's Redhead was a breath of fresh air. I'm not much of a fan of this genre - the prison/revenge thriller, Ex-Con needs to go out and make good, etc... Nonetheless, this book floored me. Its not very often than a writer speaks TRUTH about the human condition. Early on in the book, the author discusses Shel's co-dependant relationship with a petty, mental-defective criminal named Frank. The paragraph talking about the role of a "Good Samaritan" details some of the truth I'm talking about. Its not only true, but beautifully written.

Yeah, the book is a crime thriller but it manages to sidestep almost every cliche of the genre. Despite their foibles and criminal tendancies, you care about these people, and fiercely at that.

I picked up David Corbett's First Novel, The Devil's Redhead, on a whim and I was very plesantly surprised with the choice. This is one of those rare novels that contains all aspects of a good novel without bogging down or taking away from the main story line. There's action, violence, suspense, love, romance, loyalty, and more, all weaving together to create a fine story that all readers will enjoy.

The plot of the novel centers around Dan Abatangelo, a former smuggler jailed for several years, and his quest to reunite with his former love, Shel, a dazzling redhead whom he met before his sentence. She is involved with another low level smuggler who creates a dangerous situation for everyone involved when he rips off the wrong person. The violence and danger escalate with every turn and the suspense is kept a high levels.

Corbett has written a fine novel that will satisfy several different types of readers. If you're looking for a book that covers all the bases, The Devil's Redhead is a good choice for you.

Don't let the slight silliness of the title fool you. This is not your average crime novel. David Corbett is a writer of deep compassion who recognizes that people are not simply good or bad, and that in order for love to be genuine, it does not necessarily have to be healthy. If you are intrigued by exploring the complexities of the human psyche, human relationships, what makes us fall in love, and even what we'll do for love, this is the novel for you. But you'll have to get past a certain squeamishness you might naturally have for descriptions--very vivid, well-written ones at that--of badly decomposing bodies.

Whether we own up to it or not, many of us have a fascination with the flawed hero. Some of us might take it to the extreme by writing to inmates on death row, sending them money and declaring they are our soulmates. Others, like me, simply pick up a book like this one to read the steadily calm, yet feverish account of Dan Abatangelo, (whose surname appropriately means 'fallen angel' in Italian)and his redhead, Shel.

Apart from the main characters in this tale of love, brutal crime and quasi-redemption, the novel is salted with many other characters, characters we know because they reflect the dark, self-destructive side of ourselves or people we've come across somewhere along the line.

In addition, as a writer myself, I can attest to what a Herculean labor it was for the author to pass on his reflections of human nature without becoming maudlin or cliche. The fact that he was a private investigator comes through in his keen observations about people's 'little clues' -in their gestures, their chosen words, and even their haircuts.

Apart from all of this, Corbett dedicated this novel to his deceased wife, who passed away far too young, and only six weeks after this novel was accepted for publication. I can't help but think, romantic reader that I am, that there's something of that tragic, but loving experience reflected in his descriptions of his two main characters.

Oh, pick it up and read it for heaven's sakes. It'll make you think and make you feel.

Review by author of Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece

I picked up this book for about 2 bucks at a used book store. I loved it from the first couple of paragraphs, it always kept my attention.

In his debut novel, David Corbett has created a gritty love story entering the underground drug manufacturing world where life is cheap. Set in the California Delta region, it's a story that is filled with violence, betrayal, suspicion and tragedy. Throughout all of this are a far from innocent couple who are desperate to escape this scene to resume their lives.

Dan Abatangelo and Shel Beaudry fell in love almost the instant they met one night in a Vegas casino, but there was something Dan had to get off his chest before he would let their relationship progress past that first attraction. He wanted to come clean with Shel over the fact that he was a major drug smuggler and would understand if she decided to run. She stays.

When he finally gets busted, Dan gets 10 years in an Arizona prison. He chooses a tougher sentence in exchange for a shorter prison term for Shel. By the time he gets out, Shel has gotten herself involved with a loser crankhead and is hopelessly entwined with the Akers brothers, a redneck family who operate a methamphetamine lab. Things are just starting to go south for Shel when an all out war break out between the brothers and a group of Mexicans who are looking to move in on the operation, leaving her stuck in the middle where she is used as a bargaining chip.

While Dan finds himself on the periphery of this crime war, there are many reasons for him to not get involved with some amazingly gruesome scenes taking place as the battle for drug supremacy takes place. But his one reason for persevering wins out giving us hope for a triumphant ending. Before that can take place, though, he has to find a way to break through the defences of a veritable fortress while watching his back for the revenge-seeking Mexicans.

There is a pervading sense of desperation to the story that is tinged with a creeping sense of hopelessness. It seems that no matter how hard Dan tries to find a way to get to Shel his attempts always managed to get frustrated. David Corbett has done an excellent job first up in creating a compelling story that had me unable to guess which way it was headed next.

love, loyalty, betrayal, and murder are all fully examined in the Devils Redhead. a detailed desription of the meth trade and its concomitant gangs coupled with some vivid vignettes of east contra costa and solano county california scenes spice up this emotional and psycological crime thriller. it takes graham greene-like psychological investigations and puts them on a roller coaster. at times you will feel euphoric when protagonists dan abantagelo and shel beaudry unite and then you will cringe and be nauseous when the book lays out a torture or murder scene. good read. recommend steel nerves and an empty stomach before reading. this guy can write.