A Rocking Review of Beyond the Reach of Judgement by Jo Bissell

Julien Rene Durant was once a good man. Born in France, he took the oath as a Jesuit Priest in the 1600s. He dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel. Now, he was a monster surviving off the blood of others; killing for survival even as he wished for nothing other than for his own extinction. After almost four centuries of guilt and hopelessness, he encounters someone who might just be able to rescue the good man trapped within the monster, but will his judgements deny him a second chance?

Mary Ruth Jacobson-Ryan is nothing special; a small town girl stuck in a rut. Married to a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts who turned out not to be the perfect guy she fell in love with before the war, she is desperate for a way out. When things turn from bad to worse, she runs with plans to never look back. She quickly finds, however, that her search for a better future may lead her down a path with no future at all.

 

Beyond the Reach of Judgement by Jo Bissell is the tragic story of a vampire and a young woman who fall in love against all odds.  Running from an agent who is determined to see the vampire brought to justice for hundreds of murders, and from the young woman's abusive husband, the two embark upon a journey that takes them from Canada to Las Vegas.

This book was well-written, with clean copy and nice use of language.  Plenty of attention was given to the characters, their pasts, and their motivations, which made them feel real.  However, there were some significant plot holes in this book that kept me from enjoying it entirely, particularly dealing with the agent who was tracking the characters and how that situation played out over time.  I felt that really, this plot was secondary, and the main purpose of the book seemed to be the romance.

This book contained adult content, and would not be recommended to younger readers.

See Beyond the Reach of Judgement on Goodreads.