Redeemer - A Novel

For the past year, Detective Kristen Cauldron has been grappling with the disappearance of her 8-year-old daughter - and the case has grown cold. Returning to work on the force after a year off, Cauldron finds herself working with a new partner and on a new case to catch a serial killer - an experience that will push her to the edge of sanity. He calls himself "Redeemer." His religious delusions justify his elaborate murders. Using medieval practices, he takes the "lost causes" of the world and "redeems" them - making their souls ready to stand before God. His motivation? Not vigilante justice or righteous judgment, but deliverance - saving unknown future victims from cruelty, as well as redeeming the criminals from eternal damnation. Redeemer selects Cauldron, based on her previous background, to be his vessel for revealing the scheme behind his "ministry." When Redeemer discovers Cauldron's history, he boldly pledges to her that he can find out what happened to her daughter. Cauldron is secretly caught between duty and hope, concealing it even from Hawkins, her partner who she has come to trust. "Redeemer" is a vivid examination of a man's toxic faith and hyper-religiosity, a mother's heart-wrenching loss and compulsion to discover her daughter's fate, a healing and often humorous bond between partners, and a riveting police investigation into this serial killer's psyche and symbolic crimes. When Redeemer and Kristen finally come face to face, the obsession to know the truth about her daughter threatens to destroy everything she holds close to her heart. ABOUT THE AUTHORJeffery S. Williams worked as a journalist and freelance writer before becoming a high school and college English instructor. He lives in Fresno, California. He has previously written two award-winning novels, "Pirate Spirit" and "Who's To Blame?"