The Devil's Redhead: A Novel

By David Corbett

An ex-con risks his freedom and his life to rekindle an old love affair.

They call him Bad Dan, the Man Who Can. A talented photographer who makes his living smuggling premium Thai marijuana into the States, he meets Shel at a Las Vegas blackjack table, and falls instantly in love. After two years of whirlwind passion, they are living in California and plotting a final score. But in his haste to escape the con life, Dan makes a fatal mistake. The score goes sour, and Dan agrees to a ten-year stint to buy a light sentence for the woman he loves.

When he emerges from jail, Dan's freewheeling spirit is gone. His parole bars him from consorting with known felons, but no power on earth can keep him away from Shel. Attempting to reconnect with her draws them both back into the smuggling game, where the only things hotter than their passion are the tempers of the men who want them dead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784083731

David Corbett

David Corbett is the author of four previous novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book), Blood of Paradise (nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar), and Do They Know I’m Running? In January 2013 he published a comprehensive textbook on the craft of characterization, The Art of Character. His short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, with pieces twice selected for the book series Best American Mystery Stories. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, Narrative, MovieMaker, Bright Lights, Writer’s Digest, and numerous other venues. For more, visit www.davidcorbett.com.

Reviews for The Devil's Redhead

[mikedraper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Devil's Redhead" will entertain readers by the unusual actions of the protagonist.Danny Abatangelo is a freelance photographer and also a smuggler. He has an entire crew bringing in drugs to the west coast area.One night he is celebrating in Las Vegas and meets Shel Beaudre a redheaded card dealer with a magnetic personality. The two hit if off immediately and eventually end up back at the west coast. He explains his life to Shel but promises yes for marijuana but no to guns or gangsters.On what was to be his last run, he gets caught and when he won't give up his crew, he's sentenced to ten years. Agents still try to get him to turn on his partner and use Danny's sick mother as a promise to see her if he'd rat on his friend but Danny is true to his friends so does the entire ten years.Shel seemed so terrific but she gets out of prison after five years and eventually meets another man, Frank Maas. Frank is a needy person and is into drugs and robbery. He suffers a tragedy about his former wife and child and Shel feels that Frank relies on her and she can't see past him.The first part of the story is interesting and suspenseful. Part two deals with Frank working with a group of Mexicans against a biker gang. Frank is in the middle of this and when Danny arrives to rescue Shel, the Mexicans want to use her as a hostage.Danny is an ethical man and his unfulfilled love makes a good story line. The warfare between the Mexicans and the biker and his gang is a bit of a stretch.All and all, a story with action and suspense that provides a good read.

[raymondp_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story of two souls meant for each other, but separated by two coincidental forces that just happen to be there: nope, not exactly. The Devil’s Redhead by David Corbett mixes a little bit of gruesome action scenes with a sappy romance story to give you a bittersweet treat. He puts a whole new genre into romance and takes action and thriller to a masterpiece only available by Ballantine Books. Danny Abatangelo is a man caught along with his wife for trafficking drugs. Both get sent to jail, but Abatangelo is the man who was actually involved in this business. After ten years in jail, he tries desperately to reintroduce himself to love by finding his wife, who only got three years in prison, but to his dismay, he finds that not only has she found a new man by the name of Frank, but she’s about to send him into a wild chase.This wild chase all begins with Frank, the most idiotic and senile loser that Corbett could so vividly create. He isn’t the smartest fellow, and because of him, the love triangle gets sent in the middle of Armageddon. Thus, starting the bloodshed of the Apocalypse. The classic race against time with the turncoat in every chapter tells you truly of no hint of what to expect. You’re left in the dark just enough to make it seem like you got the handle of things, but things pop in, things bleed out, and turmoil is let loose. Sure scenes get too gory, but the imagery cast on the book is so delicious, you taste the blood coming from the book’s victims. Here and there, you lose focus, and sit in idle, but it isn’t short before the magic starts – the rampage of killing. The onslaught madhouse massacre. At times you’re left wondering if the hunt for love is worth it: “something broke inside her then, a tension wire in heart, snapping” but no matter what, you continue onward, running along side the characters, cheering the heroes on, whoever they may be (373).Don’t stick with brain freak books like The Da Vinci Code. Skip past the trivial pursuit by Mr. Brown and go straight to the madness, take a couch, and read The Devil’s Redhead. It will comfort your need for violence.-----Book Review Assignment-----Honestly, this book is something worth reading. I wouldn't proclaim it the best book in the world, as my book review made it seem, but it is a book with enough action and enough about the love story to get you through a book that was definately a good start for David Corbett.

[swl_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was trying to decide whether this is a 4.5 or a 5, and I simply could not find any area in significant need of improvement - AND it's a first novel, which I believe requires slightly different judging criteria. An added bonus for me is that the book is set where I live (East bay of SF area). I'm sure there are other novels set here that do justice to our unique places, place names, and geography, but none that bring to life the current demographics and rugged beauty that this one does. Things like Kirker Pass road - I've heard of it, of course, but now I want to actually drive it...I am curious as to what this novel's UK readership made of the setting, as I imagine that it is pretty unique. In his poignant dedication, DC says his late wife worked hard to always bring him back to the love story as this novel developed. Her work paid off, as it's drawn in spare, heartwrenching, violent strokes and yet even the most cynical reader will never doubt for a moment that it will prevail. Without giving away the ending, it prevails in exactly the right way, with no false measure of hope, no neat wrap-up. Such an ending would betray the entire book, enmeshed as the story is in ambivalent human nature and the acts it engenders. Who is good? Who is evil? How much of both resides in all of us? It's quite a trick to draw an over-the-hill, left-leaning journalist in one chapter and a ruthless Mexican boss in the next and leave the reader wondering who has the more exact grasp on the human condition.This book is OOP and I bought mine used, but I encourage any crime fic fan to do the same. I've picked up DC's next 2 books and while I'm intimidated by the idea of global politics informing the plot (my grasp on politics is just about nil) I have a feeling the story will carry its burden handily.