Reviewed by Anna Lynn

 

TITLE:  Redemption

SERIES: The Protectors #8

AUTHOR: Sloane Kennedy

NARRATOR: Michael Dean

PUBLISHER: SK Publishing, LLC

LENGTH: 8 hours and 7 minutes

RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2020

BLURB:

My job is to save lives. But what if the one that needs saving is the one I was sent to take?

At 33 years old, Phoenix Jones once had a stellar military career ahead of him. But when tragedy struck his family, he walked away from the path he’d chosen to be there for the one who needed him most. Except fate is a bitch and when she once again takes Phoenix’s future in the cruelest of ways, he must find a new path.

When a former army buddy introduces him to Ronan Grisham, the leader of an underground vigilante group, Phoenix knows he’s found a new family and nothing and no one is going to take that from him again. So when Ronan asks him to shadow a young man who participated in a brutal crime against Ronan’s husband, Seth, when he was a child and appears to be targeting him again, Phoenix doesn’t even hesitate for a second.

Even knowing what he must do if the young man proves to have gone back to his old ways.

Because family is everything…

I can’t come back from what I did. I’m not sure I even want to…

An ugly childhood left Levi Deming with little to do but dream of a day when he’d be free of his tormenters so he could carve out a simple life for himself, preferably somewhere far away from the family who never let him forget he was less than human. But one terrible choice at the tender age of 16 changed everything…

Wracked with guilt for the role he played during a home invasion gone horribly wrong, a now 24-year-old Levi is trying to piece together a life where he can maybe do a little bit of good, even knowing it won’t make up for the lives he helped take and it definitely won’t give back the future he stole from the young man whose agonized screams still haunt him night after night. If it were only about him, he’d walk into the nearest police station and happily tell them to lock him up and throw away the key.

But it isn’t just about him anymore…

I expected to find a hardened criminal. What I found was something else entirely…

With Ronan’s orders to terminate young Levi if he so much as even jaywalks, Phoenix expects an easy job with one clear outcome. But when a violent encounter forces Phoenix to interact with Levi, he quickly realizes the case might not be as black and white as he thought. Instead of finding a criminal with no conscience, Phoenix discovers a young man battling impossible odds and near crippling guilt.

When his feelings of disgust and anger begin to fade and turn into something else, the would-be hitman is forced to make a terrible decision between the family he needs and the young man more intent on seeking judgement than redemption.

Trigger warning: This audiobook contains multiple triggers which could also be considered spoilers. It can be read as a stand-alone story – no cliffhangers.

The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be listened to in order, but it is not required. You can find the correct order at the beginning of each audiobook. I’ve also bundled all my series in the correct listening order under the title of A Family Chosen: The Protectors and Barrettis.

REVIEW:

This is the 8^th book in the series The Protectors by Ms. Sloane Kennedy. It is voiced by Mr. Michael Dean. . The series features strong Alpha Male characters who have gone through life-changing situations in their lives. It might have happened to them or to those they loved, but it changed them forever. They are not only strong, very capable men but also men who are not afraid to show their vulnerability especially when it comes to the people they love.

 

This group of Protectors is led by Dr. Ronan Grisham whose life was forever changed due to the tragic circumstances that involved the death of his boyfriend. What happened paved the way for the creation of this underground vigilante group that metes out justice to those who have somehow escaped the hands of it.  He has found all these men due to the help of men who have helped him too. These men helped him find a purpose again.

 

One of these men is Phoenix Jones. He has had a painful past, one part of it he is still living in. When Ronan called him to monitor one of the perpetrators in the home invasion on Seth’s family when he was younger, he vowed to protect the family that he has found. He considers Ronan, Seth and all his brothers in the group as his new family. After he lost his parents and sister in a tragic accident, it was only him and his niece who he has adopted since. But even after that tragedy, he never knew that another one would happen that resulted to his daughter being in a coma and might not ever wake again.

 

Levi Deming will never be able to rid himself of the guilt that he feels whenever he remembers what happened 7 years ago. Nor will he ever be able to live a normal life after an ugly childhood. It was riddled with abuse in its various forms courtesy of his brother, father and all the men he has had the misfortune of meeting when he was incarcerated for drug possession. In fact that in itself was unfortunate because he was only doing what his brother told him, to pick up his drugs. Now, he sees himself as deserving of all the things that is dealt to him, being sexually abused by a brother of the inmate who abused him in prison, being blackmailed to do a crime or else his friend in prison, Hank, will suffer the consequences of his incooperation. Living with a father who only needs him for his rent money. Taking care of the child and mother left behind by his dead brother (who was killed a few years back). Except for Henry, his nephew, he sees all these things as due him because of what he did 7 years ago, because of what he allowed to happen 7 years ago. He is punishing himself for all the bad things he did, not because he wanted to do them but because he didn’t have the guts to say NO to his brother and father.

 

What Levi went through and is going through guts me to my core. No person should go through what he did. I am in awe of Levi as well! He is still alive, he survives. He is willing to go through anything in order to protect his nephew, Henry. He is atoning for his sins, he accepts whatever punishment is dealt to him because he believes he deserves it all.

 

Mr. Michael Dean was able to put all these emotions when he voiced Levi. It is amazing how you can feel all the gut-wrenching moments that Levi went through when he relives all those events in his nightmare. Mr. Dean is one of the best voice actors I have ever had the privilege of listening to. Ms. Sloane Kennedy’s materials are just right for him. Congratulations to you both for bring into life characters that are wonderfully-written and molded.

RATING:

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