Vengeance Follows. Finished 9-3-16, 3.5/5 stars, fiction. 247 pages, pub. 2013

A young man loses the true love of his life and seeks vengeance from the man he holds responsible for his wife’s death. Told with elegant simplicity, this novel of literary suspense is a tragic story of love and loss that ultimately reveals the cruelty of human nature and the healing power of forgiveness.

Sam and Sophie’s idyllic life of Parisian cafés, fine wine, and romantic passion is torn apart when Sophie is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. Then Sophie reveals something that happened years before they met—a horrific event that changed her life and left her wounded in ways no one knew. She’s found peace in the years since, she swears to Sam. But then she’s gone, and Sam finds only pain.

Bereft and alone, he leaves the City of Light and seeks solace in a small French village where no one knows him or his past. Troubled in heart and mind, he knows one man is responsible for Sophie’s death. Sam cannot live without confronting him and holding him accountable for his past crimes.

And so Sam travels to America, to a charming little Ohio town where lights twinkle on the snow in winter and fairs shimmer in the summer heat. Here, Sam will seek his revenge—and find retribution for his lost love in a way he could never imagine . . .

Sam loses the love of his life and blames one man. After her death he heads to a small Ohio village to plan his revenge.  What he finds is town full of people who can help him heal, if only he would let them.

Chestnut Falls, based on the lovely Chagrin Falls where I take most out-of-town guests, is lovely.  Lax brought the village and the people to life. I fell in love with the friends Sam made and their stories.  My only problem was I didn’t quite buy into the quest for vengeance, so Sam was a mystery to me.

This is sure to appeal to lovers of charming villages and small town life. It even adds a sophisticated air since Sam spent years in Paris writing about wine.  Sounds like a perfect job to me 🙂

The publisher generously sent this one to me and is my third book in my 30 books in 30 days challenge and you can read more about it here.