Redeemer: The Cross Chronicles

by Balogun Ojetade, C Flux Sing (Illustrator)

Ezekiel Cross is handsome, strong, intelligent and he is a cold blooded killer.For most of his life, Ezekiel has been a killer, trained from a young age to enforce the whims of his boss. But Ezekiel is tired – tired of the lies to his wife, Mali; tired of not having the normal life he craves. He longs for the day that he can hang up his guns and live a normal life with his wife Mali. So he decides to end his career as a professional assassin; to hang up his guns and raise a family.But the life of a killer is never his own. Ezekiel is called to do one last hit, but instead of closing the deal he finds himself a target. He’s sent back in time in what is meant as an experiment as well as punishment.Initially distraught, he decides to change his fate by saving himself and his family from the events that led him to a lifetime of crime. Along the way, he meets some of the coolest, sexiest, deadliest and craziest characters to ever grace the pages of a book and ultimately finds himself in a situation that could change his life forever…or end it.This Special Edition includes the expanded alternate story, Glitch.

394 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 29, 2012

About the author

Balogun Ojetade is the author of the bestselling non-fiction books Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within, The Afrikan Warriors Bible, Surviving the Urban Apocalypse, The Urban Self Defense Manual and The Young Afrikan Warriors’ Guide to Defeating Bullies & Trolls.
He is one of the leading authorities on Afroretroism – film, fashion or fiction that combines African and / or African American culture with a blend of “retro” styles and futuristic technology, in order to explore the themes of tension between past and future and between the alienating and empowering effects of technology. He writes about Afroretroism – Sword & Soul, Rococoa, Steamfunk and Dieselfunk at http://chroniclesofharriet.com/.
He is author of sixteen novels and gamebooks – MOSES: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (Books 1 & 2); The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman: Freedonia; Redeemer; Once Upon A Time In Afrika; Fist of Afrika; A Single Link; Wrath of the Siafu; The Scythe; The Keys; Redeemer: The Cross Chronicles; Beneath the Shining Jewel; Q-T-Pies: The Savannah Swan Files (Book 0) and A Haunting in the SWATS: The Savannah Swan Files (Book 1); Siafu Saves the World; Siafu vs. The Horde; and Dembo’s Ditty – contributing co-editor of three anthologies: Ki: Khanga: The Anthology, Steamfunk and Dieselfunk and contributing editor of the Rococoa anthology and Black Power: The Superhero Anthology.
He is also the creator and author of the Afrofuturistic manga series, Jagunjagun Lewa (Pretty Warrior) and co-author of the Ngolo graphic novel.
Finally, he is co-author of the award winning screenplay, Ngolo and co-creator of Ki Khanga: The Sword and Soul Role-Playing Game, both with author Milton Davis.
Reach him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Afrikan.Mart... and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Baba_Balogun. Find his books on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Balogun-Ojetad....

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Balogun Ojetade delivers a great read with Redeemer. Redeemer is a splice of Donald Goines and Steven Barnes' DNA. Science marries Street Lit in this fast paced, action packed novel introducing us to Ezekiel Cross, a hit man working for the ruthless Danny Sweet. Ezekiel is a efficient, cold blooded killer, problem is he wants out. Suffice to say it's never that easy or we wouldn't have the necessary conflict leading to a fantastic finish. Balogun does an excellent job genre mashing urban fiction(street lit) and urban fantasy. It's literary gumbo that's perfect blend of both worlds as we chronicle Ezekiel's journey. His dialogue is very rhythmic and catchy, reminding me of Elmore Leonard. Balogun's fight scenes are brutal and realistic, which should not be a surprise considering he is a martial arts expert. His knowledge of weaponry is on display as well. Many time authors show no little knowledge of actual fighting or gunplay, Balogun however does not suffer from this malaise. His descriptions are very realistic and exciting.

I really was happy to purchase this novel as a fan of Urban Fantasy one of things I notice is a lack of male protagonist, especially a black male. Urban usually is a code word for black culture, however most Urban fantasy is usually Lillie White with maybe a few scatterings of POC or minorities. Traditional Urban Fantasy is really more like Suburban Fantasy. Thankfully Balogun has added a much needed splash of color to the genre.

[Milton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ezekial Cross is a cold blooded killer. He works for `Sweet' Danny Sweet, owner of Sweet South Records, the second wealthiest music label in the country. For most of his life Ezekial has been a killer, trained from a young age to enforce the whims of his boss. But Ezekial is tired. He longs for the day that he can hang up his guns and live a normal life with his wife Mali. But the life of a killer is never his own. Ezekial is called to do another hit, but instead of closing the deal he finds himself the target of a different kind of hit. He's sent back into time and finds himself in a situation that could change his life forever...or end it.

Redeemer is the latest novel by Balogun Ojetade, author of the Steamfunk novel Chronicles of Harriet Tubman, the Sword and Soul novel Once Upon a Time in Afrika, and my Sword and Soul brother. I had the privilege to read Redeemer earlier this year in manuscript form and was immediately blown away. The book is filled with action, drama and humor as only Balogun can write, but with Redeemer he takes his penchant of mashing genres to another level. For months I've read different manuscripts attempting to mesh urban fiction and science fiction in an attempt to capture a piece of the urban fiction market. None of those I perused had of a much chance of success in my opinion. The authors either kept too much urban or too much science fiction or too little of both. After reading the last page of Redeemer I smiled and said to myself, `this is it right here.' A story with a touch of science fiction, a dose of urban fiction and a wallop of great action and great character development. If there was any book that would combine the two genres, Redeemer is it.

Now I know a few of you are saying, `doesn't this plot remind me you of Looper? Well, let me clear that up as well. Balogun first shared Redeemer to me as a script almost two years ago. Unfortunately for me I didn't read it. He passed it along to me again as a novel later and the rest is history. Even if you persist in that thought mode, I urge you to put those thoughts aside and read this book. It takes a different journey, one that is as much heartfelt as it is action packed. And it comes with an ending that will make you smile.

Now that's all I can reveal without spoiling all the fun. I give Redeemer 5 out of 5 stars. Balogun once again shows his skills as a writer that can take different genres and make them something fresh and new.

[D.K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ezekiel Cross is handsome, strong, intelligent, in love, and a ruthless assassin. After years of lying to his true love, Cross decides to finally end his career as a professional killer and become the man his parents would have been proud of. After telling his employer, `Sweet' Danny Sweet, of his intentions to retire, Sweet sends him on a final assignment. Trouble is, it’s a trap.

Cross travels back in time in what was meant as an experiment as well as punishment. Although Cross is determined to return to his own time and wreak revenge on those that betrayed him, he sees his leap back through time as an opportunity to fix things involving his life as a young man. However, his actions have created events that may cause even more damage to the timeline.

Redeemer by author Balogun Ojetade is an innovative novel that is highly addictive, fast paced, and entertaining.

[Erin Penn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ezekiel screwed up; he told his boss he was retiring from the assassination business to his face instead of from the other side of the world. Danny Sweet offers him a gold watch retirement gift and all-expenses paid time traveling package. Basically his old boss sold out our boy as a guinea pig to a mad scientist thinking the time travel thing a gag and he would be rid of a problem.

Thing is, the time travel gizmo worked. Now Ezekiel has lost the watch, found his younger self and family, and is about to have his dad get killed again unless he changes things.

Mr. Ojetade writes very detailed hand-to-hand combat scenes with specific blows and related body damage and carries the injury forward through the fights. Realistic fighting, practically unheard of in the urban fantasy/sci-fi genre, but not unexpected from the author of Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within.

The characters all are unique, if single dimensional; think brightly painted cardboard. While the action isn't repetitive, the injuries descriptions are - more than once the "lifeless arm" occurs. His line editor should have broke out the thesaurus.

A light action read with just enough depth involved in the timeline arc and the emotional arc to make a fun time.

Great beach read!

Total Read Time: 2 and 1/2 hours.