Freedom's Child

Starred review from April 6, 2015
Boozing, brawling, and fierce but emotionally fragile, Freedom Oliver has been pissing away her life in witness protection like someone with nothing left to loseâuntil fate unexpectedly offers her one last long shot at redemption in this debut thriller, which hits like a beer bottle to the head. Freedom, a heavily inked redhead known in a former life as Nessa Delaney, is shaken out of her stupor slinging drinks at a biker bar in Painter, Ore., by the release from prison of her vengeance-bent brother-in-law, Matthew. Matthew is a member of the spectacularly sociopathic Delaney clan, headed by a 600-pound coke-dealing matriarch, and he lusts for payback from the woman he blames for framing him for murder. Even worse, the Delaneys may get their hands on the two now-grown children Freedom gave up for adoption, Mason and Rebekah. When Freedom learns that Rebekah has disappeared from her adoptive home in Goshen, Ky., she's but a stolen bike and Glock away from a desperate race to save the daughter she never knew. Some of the cross-country action strains credulity, but between the gutsy heroine and gale-force narrative, you'd be churlish to quibble. Agent: Claudia Ballard, William Morris Endeavor.

April 1, 2015
Twenty years after going into witness protection, a woman's violent past comes back to haunt her. Freedom Oliver tends bar at the Whammy in the remote Oregon coast town of Painter, and most nights she's behind the bar, getting blackout drunk. The local cops, particularly Officer James Mattley, know the best thing to do is take her home, not toss her in a jail cell. Mattley is familiar with the stories Freedom tells when she's drunk-and denies when she's sober-especially about her two children, Ethan and Layla, and her desperate fear of being raped. It turns out that Freedom's stories are true-though, in what turns out to be a frustrating habit of Miller's, we're given that information twice. She's really Nessa Delaney from Long Island, accused of killing her abusive husband, Mark, an NYPD officer; she made a sort-of deal with the devil that led to her two young children being given away for adoption-she signed away her parental rights-and her entering the witness protection program. Part of the arrangement meant that Mark's brother, Matthew-despite their biblical names, the entire Delaney family is rotten to the core-went down for Nessa's crime. Now he's out and wants revenge. Freedom is determined to find and protect her children-now known as Mason and Rebekah and living in their own version of hell-no matter the cost. Miller creates an intriguingly flawed heroine in Freedom, but there's simply too much background noise-case in point: Mason and Rebekah are tied to a Kentucky doomsday religious cult-to let the character resonate properly. A thrilling if excessively plotted debut.

March 1, 2015

Freedom Oliver is not her real name. She is not really from the small Oregon town where she currently lives. Why the fake name and why is she so far from home? Well, she killed her husband, a cop, 20 years ago and is now living in witness protection. Working at a biker bar, Freedom keeps her distance from everyone and just tries to survive each day. She misses her kids and is sorry she ever made this deal with the Feds. What Freedom doesn't know is that her worst enemy has just been released from prison. While inside, Matthew Delaney found out where she is, and now he's coming for her with revenge on his mind. Adding to this unknown danger, Freedom learns that her daughter has gone missing and has possibly been kidnapped. The past that Freedom has kept at bay now returns with a vengeance. VERDICT Miller's debut novel is not for the faint of heart as it's pretty graphic in terms of violence, language, and imagery. For fans of fast-paced reads, reckless characters, and noir, this thriller will be a hit. It may also attract readers who enjoy Chelsea Cain's writing. [Library marketing.]--Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2015
Twenty years ago Freedom Oliver went to jail for murdering her husband. She was innocent, but it took the cops a long time to find and fall for the evidence she planted incriminating somebody else. Turns out he didn't do it, either. Readers will have to pay attention because this is just one of the many tangles author Miller wants us to keep straight. Freedom goes from the pen into witness protection because her former in-laws, led by a woman who stays abed drinking box wine and gulping Xanax, swore to kill her. Freedom spends the novel seeking her daughter, who is running guns for a religious group, and her son, who is partnered with a skinhead who is an undercover ATF agent. Despite the chaos of the plot, this is not the Marx Brothers; it's dead serious. Though confusing, the tale is finally redeemed by a cadenced prose salted with descriptive magic. A clergyman's room smells like cash and anointing oil; a Harley bawls through the night. Then there's Freedom herself, a tough-tender woman who doesn't let killers, rapists, or even born-agains get her down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)