About ten years ago, he rolled the dice on his chances of becoming an established writer. Not bad for a guy who calls himself a recovering attorney who had a passion for writing. And then go back and read all of his others. New York Times author David Baldacci noted that Hart could “flat-out write….Read this novel. The book has received high praise from critics and readers, some calling it his best work. Hart carefully weaves a tale of vengeance, betrayal and a town that is literally on the brink. Redemption Road centers around North Carolina police detective Elizabeth Black who holds a firm belief that her mentor in law enforcement, Adam, was wrongfully convicted of a brutal murder. “This is one of the most complicated plots I have ever done, but it works very well at the end,” Hart said of his fifth New York Times bestseller thriller. With his fifth novel, he wanted to write a modern version of “The Count of Monte Cristo” but the main character was too familiar in that he was strong and capable, but not very interesting – “you know, sort of a stock character.”īut there was a minor character, Elizabeth Black, who did have a story tell, one that Hart tells in the well-written prose of Redemption Road. “By then I had months and months of work into this so I pressed on and well a year into it, I knew it wasn’t going to work.”ĭescribing himself as a “hope and grope” author since he prefers to come up with the story as he goes versus outlining the entire book, Hart said the reason the novel didn’t work is because “the fundamental flaw I found was that I wasn’t writing about the right person.” He expanded by saying that in his past novels, he always knew who he was writing about. “I wrote the first 50 pages and it wasn’t working and then I got to 150 pages and it still wasn’t working,” Hart said. He also began writing what he thought would be his fifth book, calling his publisher a year into the project and telling them that he was going to scrap it.

“I came back with the intention of being more available to them so I decided to take six months off.” I was in Austria and touring,” Hart said during a phone interview.

“What happened was we moved and I was in the midst of a book tour for my fourth book (‘Iron Horse’). However, six months turned into five years for the New York Times bestselling author who comes to visit Schuler Books Friday, May 20. John Hart’s intention was only to take a short break from writing to help his family get acclimated to their new home in Virginia. John Hart comes to Schuler Books Friday, May 20.

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