Voice of Conscience is a tightly-spun tale of redemption and human nature vividly depicted in the story of one man's manic journey to fulfill his debt and reclaim his past at whatever cost.
Behcet Kaya's book Voice of Conscience begins in a small village in eastern Turkey, where Ramzi Ozcomert Jr. is catapulted into a fearsome adult world after the brutal death of his parents and sister.
Shattered by grief and fear, Ramzi begins his flight from threats both real and imagined that take him from Istanbul to London, engendering in him a deep need for revenge.
His plans are interrupted when he discovers love in the most unexpected of times, allowing himself to fall for an American girl and a new life in California.
Despite his subsequent success in America, he cannot overcome the horrifying images of his murdered family members that plague his every moment.
Ramzi's obsession will take him to the very heart of his past as he travels back to Turkey, culminating in an ending that will confound all expectations.
Voice of Conscience by Behcet Kaya articulates a collision of opposites; of Turkish customs and Western values, loss and new life, love and hate in a compulsively readable book essential for our times.
Praise for Voice of Conscience by Behcet Kaya
- "Voice of Conscience is a riveting tale of life, love and revenge." - Ellen Feld, featheredquill.com
- "This novel is a Shakespearean tragedy done at its best. I can imagine this story as a big screen movie. Voice of Conscience is a story the reader will not forget." - Nancy Eaton, bestsellersworld.com
- "Kaya has presented us with a must-read first novel, a tale discussing cultural imperatives that must be explored by all of us as we face today’s world. This is a memorable read!" - GA Bixler, IP Book Reviews
- "Behcet Kaya has planned out his story well and the characters are vivid throughout. Enter into Ramzi's world, where the soul is consumed by the dark clouds of a painful and unforgettable past; where nothing can soothe the savage beast within." - Martha Jette, Author/Editor
- "Voice of Conscience is a compelling drama with the author incorporating the traits of a Shakespearean tragedy very successfully. It is highly recommended to readers who enjoy compelling stories of human frailty." - Tracy Roberts, Write Field Services
Kirkus Book Review of Voice of Conscience by Behcet Kaya
Kaya tells a tale of revenge as a way of life, and how it can eat away at a man.
In the middle of the 20th century, it is a place that feels much older, obsessed with the idea of honor - family honor, blood honor and revenge.
Ramzi's father embodies the code and instills it in his son.
As drawn by Kaya, the elder Ozcomert is radiant, but not altogether good.
He is scarily unflinching, as only those who do not wrestle with doubt can be.
Then revenge rears its head to shatter Ramzi's curiously fascinating, feudal world - he must flee or be taken victim by the same wrath that wiped out his family.
Kaya fashions this world with exactingness - the vendettas, enemies everywhere, the artful social dance one had to comply with, or live constantly looking over their shoulder.
Young Ramzi is put on a train to Istanbul where he has a delightfully Hitchcockian encounter with a small group of enigmatic souls debating the rift in Turkish society:
"We are men of conscience. If someone violates one's honor, murder is justified," says one, while another responds, "Our republic is supposed to be a democracy, but our people still think in the old ways."
Any uncertainties about Ramzi's inclinations are put to rest when, in one of the book's mildly disconcerting jumps, readers next find him in London. It is 13 years later, and he is in love and studying engineering, but unfinished business back home lurks in the background.
As a successful businessman in Los Angeles, some 20 years later still, revenge consumes him. "Coward. Coward," says the voice in his head. Apparently you can take the village, but not the code, out of the man.
Author Behcet Kaya is a dramatist and his love scenes are chromatic and ecstatic before revenge lowers the skies and everything goes dark and edgy. "Vengeance only destroys," says Ramzi's friend in the end. And how.
Highly atmospheric, transporting account of an ancient custom alive in a modern world.