Remorseless by Will Patching

Remorseless is a gritty story of revenge and a man’s imprisonment, which alters his perceptions of morality.

Peter Leech has been in prison for half of his life for the murder of his parents and those that put him there agreed that he was a psychopath. But for the entire time, Leech has maintained his innocence and blamed his brother.

Dan Powers is a forensic psychiatrist and one of the people who advocated for his imprisonment. A shadow of his former self, Dan is battling to face reality as he mourns the death of his wife, killed in a car accident they were both involved in a few months previously.

Judy Finch is a strong woman. Well, she thinks she is until she meets Peter to assess whether or not he should be eligible for parole.

Peter develops a fixation on Judy and when he gets out into the world decides to make her his. So what if a few people stand in his way? Prison taught him to deal with his problems; permanently. Life is simple; find his brother and get his girl.

No holds barred. That’s pretty much how the book started and ended. You are taken on a rollercoaster ride of a story and very skilfully introduced to the characters and their roles. You feel Dan’s depths of despair as he battles to reconcile with the loss of his wife. You understand Judy’s frustration with her ex-husband and his treatment of their son. You try to follow the emotions and logic of Peter’s revenge-fuelled rage but can only feel nauseated at the depravity that he is willing to sink to.  

The author has very cleverly planted many seeds of doubt throughout the book as to who actually killed the parents, and at one stage you feel sorry for Peter as you are convinced his brother shammed it all to get rid of Peter and in the next instant you are fearing for the brother’s life as you learn what a psychopath Peter is. And the next thing the author turns the tables and you change your mind again.

I found the writing engrossing and even with the extreme level of violence I just kept reading one more page and one more page. No major grammatical mistakes interrupted the reading so you were able to absorb the story in its full visceral quality entirely. The descriptions had me on the edge of my seat and even though I was a little let down by the ending (I know, I know) I thought it was an interesting look at the manipulation of the system for those who claim to be rehabilitated. True, the romance aspect might have been a little contrived and the level of violence should have felled many of the characters before they actually succumbed to their injuries, but hey, it’s fiction. The one thing that I did have a strong aversion to though was the cruelty to animals.

If you are even remotely squeamish then this is definitely not for you, but if you want a gripping thriller, then here it is.

Thanks to Voracious Readers Only and the author for a complimentary copy.