Redemption - Hardcover

Fast, Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151004552 ISBN 13: 9780151004553

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999

Synopsis

Finding a love that he has never known with much younger Elizabeth, a woman he saved from killing herself, seventy-eight-year-old Ike Goldman is stunned when she is arrested for her husband's murder, in an intricately woven tapestry of suspense, love, and revenge. 75,000 first printing. Lit Guild.

About this title

About the Author

Howard Fast's most recent novel is An Independent Woman. He has written more than forty books, including the novels Spartacus, Citizen Tom Paine, April Morning, and The Immigrant's Daughter. His books have been translated into eighty-two languages and have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. He has received numerous awards, including an Emmy Award, a National Jewish Book Award, and the Schomburg Award for Race Relations. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Reviews

Veteran author of more than 40 books, octogenarian Fast (Spartacus; The Immigrants) pastes together courtroom drama with a May-December romance in this eminently readable but equally forgettable novel. Elizabeth Hopper is about to jump off the George Washington Bridge when retired Columbia Law professor Ike Goldman intervenes. Despite differences in age (he's 78, she's 47), religion (he's Jewish, she's convent-raised Catholic) and vocation (his is contract law, hers art history), they fall in love while sharing the Sunday New York Times, takeout from Zabar's and his Riverside Drive apartment. After two months, Ike proposes. Then Liz is arrested for the murder of her ex-husband, a violently abusive, dishonest investment banker. Though Ike loyally pulls together a defense team and support group from former students and colleagues, in his heart he cannot stop questioning her innocence. Poetic and courtroom justice triumph with satisfying if not always credible certainty as the black female public defender puts the aggressive prosecutor to shame. While the story is laid out with competence, the development is thin, especially the courtroom scenes. And the character portrayal is dangerously facile: Liz's evil ex-husband is nearly a caricature, the real murderer is a convenient walk-on. Even Ike lacks complexity: he is another of Fast's righteous heroes, Liz another good woman who just needs a man to protect her. Threatening their love, and the story's pace, is Fast's penchant for inner dialogue, which makes the reader yearn for the muscular prose and fiery idealism of Fast's early work. Literary Guild selection. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A courtroom drama, courtesy of the tireless civil libertarian and novelist, whose recent home runs include The Trial of Abigail Goodman (1993), about the anti-abortion movement; and An Independent Woman (1997), a sixth-volume wrap-up of the Immigrants series. Seventy-eight-year-old Ike Goldman, a retired Columbia University contract law professor, has been a widower for three years when he saves a 40ish woman from jumping off the George Washington Bridge, takes her home, lets her sleep over, treats her to a fairly fancy dinner the next night, and, despite all reason, quickly finds himself falling in love. As it happens, Elizabeth Hopper is the estranged wife of multimillionaire William Sedgwick Hopper, a Wall Street partner neck-deep in scandal. The story moves along sedately in Fast's most relaxed style ever, with the author of Citizen Tom Paine and Freedom Road plainly enjoying and indulging himself in this smoked salmon of romantic fantasy, adding plot dollops to keep the reader alert. A depressed artist terrified of her husband, Elizabeth took a part-time job as a shoe clerk right after the annulment came through. She calls herself a battered woman who wants to help other battered women. But is this the whole truth? Within six weeks Ike wants to marry her, and she agrees to his proposal. But then, three days after her acceptance, detectives appear at Ike's door with a search warrant: William Hopper has been shot to death, and Liz is jailed for the homicide. Subsequently, Ike spends $100,000 hiring a female criminal lawyer to defend his love, who has been indicted on essentially circumstantial evidence. The eponymous redemption will not result from anyone's change in character, but rather from an event out of left field involving a previously unknown character. Readable, though far from stylish and not as gripping as some of our lawyer novelists. Still, Fast's followers wont be disappointed. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Once again, Fast (An Independent Woman, LJ 6/15/97) shares his belief in the strength of true love in the midst of murder and courtroom drama. Isaac Goldman's and Elizabeth Hopper's lives converge on the George Washington Bridge. It is 3:30 in the morning when Isaac (78) drives across the bridge and sees Liz (47) as she prepares to jump. His decision to stop not only saves Liz's life but brings love and devotion to the retired, widowed Isaac. Yet as Liz and Isaac's love grows, Liz is charged with the murder of her ex-husband. Fast's fast-paced story of love at any age and his indictment of a legal system that takes too many short cuts will be greeted warmly by his steadfast readers and is a wonderful introduction for those who are just discovering him.
-AAnnelle R. Huggins, Memphis State Univ. Libs., TN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0151004552
• ISBN 13: 9780151004553
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288