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Forgiveness Dies by J.J. Hensley - A Review by Fran Joyce

I’m excited to usher in 2020 with the newest Trevor Galloway thriller, Forgiveness Dies by J.J. Hensley.

Hensley is a former police officer and former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service. His background in law enforcement brings a refreshing air of authenticity to his main character.  

This is the third installment of the gritty series featuring Trevor Galloway, a former undercover Pittsburgh Narcotics detective.  After being held captive for months, tortured and turned into an addict by a Russian drug syndicate, Galloway breaks and gives his captors information about the narcotics division. Disgraced and suffering from PTSD, Galloway has few friends left in the PPD and a fragile hold on sanity and his addiction. Unable to return to the only career he knows, he tries his hand at being an unlicensed private detective.

If you haven’t read the first two books, Hensley provides enough back story in Forgiveness Dies that you won’t be lost, but not so much that you won’t want to go back and read Bolt Action Remedy and Record Scratch.

In Forgiveness Dies, Trevor Galloway is once again a free man after the psychotic break that sent him to a psychiatric facility during his last case.

With little hope of resurrecting his career as a private investigator and only a tenuous hold on reality, he seems resigned to a medicated existence until a former secret service agent reaches out for help. Nick Van Metre asks him to consult on a security case involving a conservative presidential candidate.

Galloway receives a set of photos of the candidate which were taken without his knowledge. After initially turning down the case, he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of Nick Van Metre. Now, solving the case may be his only way to prove his innocence, but doing so will involve going off his meds and embracing his inner demons.

Leaving a trail of bodies, bullets and explosions between Pittsburgh and Savannah, Galloway, Bethany, the new woman in his life and his assorted hallucinations race to uncover the truth. Galloway must find the connection between his client’s dirty politics, illegal arms dealing, money laundering and murder. He’ll need to rely on Bethany and a healthy dose of snark to live through this mess.

J. Hensley is a former police officer and former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service. Hensley is the author of the crime novels RESOLVE, MEASURE TWICE, CHALK'S OUTLINE, BOLT ACTION REMEDY, RECORD SCRATCH, and several short stories. He is originally from Huntington, WV and currently resides near Savannah, Georgia.

Visit the author on Goodreads and at https://hensleybooks.wordpress.com or https://www.facebook.com/hensleybooks. Follow him on Twitter @JJHensleyauthor.

Photos courtesy of J.J. Hensley