"Two Good Men"

S. E. Redfearn is the award-winning and Amazon #1 bestselling author of seven novels: Two Good Men, Where Butterflies Wander, Moment in Time, Hadley & Grace, In an Instant, No Ordinary Life, and Hush Little Baby. Her books have been translated into twenty-five different languages and have been recognized by Goodreads Choice Awards, Best Book Awards, RT Reviews, Target Recommends, Publisher’s Marketplace, and Kirkus Reviews. In addition to being an author, Redfearn is also an architect. She currently lives in Laguna Beach California, where she and her husband own two restaurants: Lumberyard and Slice Pizza & Beer.

Redfearn applied the Page 69 Test to Two Good Men and reported the following:

I love the Page 69 Test. It’s amazing how that page always ends up being so elucidative of the central theme in almost every novel I write.

Page 69 for Two Good Men starts with:

“Doesn’t matter how much time passes,” she says. “Those we lose linger in our souls.”

What a wonderful start to the test!

Two Good Men is a story of two men on a quest for justice on opposite sides of the law. The scene on page sixty-nine is from FBI agent Steve Patterson’s perspective. Steve is a bereaved father who made it his mission to protect the rights of released felons after his son was killed by a vigilante mother who targeted the wrong person. In this scene, Steve is conducting an interview with the neighbor of a felon whose sudden death is suspicious.

Dee has also experienced deep, irretractable grief, and Steve is deeply affected by the conversation. Dee goes on to explain why she is not sorry her neighbor is gone. The man, Otis Parsons, had vowed vengeance against Dee for the testimony she gave twelve years earlier that put him behind bars, and he had made it clear that he planned to exact that revenge by hurting Dee’s eleven-year-old son.

“And what would you have done if he hadn’t died?” Steve asked.

She shakes her head. “I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t.” He hears the distress in her voice. “I prayed every night for an answer.” She lifts her green eyes to his. “And it seems God was listening.”

Steve doesn’t know about the Almighty taking heed of her plea, but he fully believes someone did.

“So you were relieved when you found out he was dead?” he asks.

Her gaze unflinching, defiantly she says, “More than relieved. Happy. Ecstatic. I celebrated. I grabbed my son, and we danced around the room.”

He nods in understanding, swallows the last of his cookie then asks almost casually, “And did you have anything to do with his death?”

This is a great representation of the novel, of the tug of war between good and evil, right and wrong, and justice and vengeance.

Visit Suzanne Redfearn's website, Facebook and Instagram pages, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.

My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: No Ordinary Life.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2016).

My Book, The Movie: No Ordinary Life.

My Book, The Movie: In an Instant.

The Page 69 Test: In an Instant.

Q&A with Suzanne Redfearn.

My Book, The Movie: Hadley and Grace.

The Page 69 Test: Hadley & Grace.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (March 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Moment in Time.

My Book, The Movie: Moment in Time.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2024).

Writers Read: S. E. Redfearn (October 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue