Voice of Conscience by Behcet Kaya

Voice of Conscience (published by AuthorHouse), the second edition of the well-received novel by Behcet Kaya, 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.

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 and start over 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 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.

You can order Voice of Conscience through Ingram’s Books in Print Database, directly from the publisher at www.authorhouse.com or through the book order hotline at (888) 280-7715 Typical Ordering Time: 7-10 Business Days. This book is also available at your local retailer.

Biography:　

Author Behcet Kaya, in his first novel Voice of Conscience, transports his readers to the land of his birth, bringing to life all of the sights, sounds and smells of a place steeped in centuries of tradition and exacting customs. Calling upon his own life experiences he weaves a story of love and revenge that plays itself out on three continents.

Kaya was born in northeastern Turkey. Growing up in a small village with long held traditions, his rebellious and creative nature emerged at an early age. Leaving home at fourteen, he travelled first to Istanbul and then on to London. His dream was to complete his high school education and then a college degree in engineering. While at Hatfield Polytechnic, Kaya made his first visit to the U.S. as an exchange student with the BUNAC. He made the move to the U.S. in 1976 and became a U.S. citizen in 1985. While living in Atlanta, Georgia, he followed his creative yearnings, attending the Alliance Theater School and studying at the SAG Conservatory of Georgia. Kaya and his wife moved to Los Angeles, where he continued his studies at the Roby Theater Company and the Shakespeare, A Noise Within Theater Workshop.

Along with acting, writing became a natural outlet for his creative yearnings. He has published several short stories and is currently working on two novels; one is a sequel to Voice of Conscience, the other is a story of a naval officer. 

Kirkus Discoveries review:

Kaya tells a tale of revenge as a way of life, and how it can eat away at a man. Ramzi Ozcomert lived his first 14 years in northeastern Turkey. 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. 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.