All Comments on 'Crime & Punishment: The Prequel Ch. 12'

Well crafted, but depressingly sad. Not a single character got the result I hoped to see, with the exception of Polly. ZhdvSa

The ploy was complicated and confusing at times, but careful reading and reading again allowed me to follow it to the conclusion. Thanks for posting!

RG, While I can see a few editorial type things wrong (didn't detract much at all), this was exactly the type of ending that I expected. You kept true to the darker and more noir style of the tale, as the rest of it was mysterious and almost grimly unhappy. I love the series, and hope nothing but the best for you in your journey to better health.

Thank you for sharing this with us.

RNebular

The ending is not worthy of the author's talent. 3

As I read it, I was initially disappointed that each man’s personal life had worsened. Toward the end, I thought about the people involved more: every one of them was a snake. Of course most were also lawyers or part of corrupt politics. So yeah, you don’t really want to see happy endings. I’d have liked the conclusion to be longer, with more about Sullivan’s demise; how Simone was affected by her injuries; and maybe more about how O’Reilly and Fitzgerald dealt with losing their wives and friend. Sad that all three men were on the right side of justice despite sometimes circumventing ethics, wanting to see the right thing done, only to be vilified publicly and humiliated by their wives. Meanwhile the women kicked their men to the curb for career advancement. Shitty WAGs got promoted, while the men were trampled. It was an unusual twist that the ex-wives didn’t have (or deserve) custody of the children.

Very depressing except for Ed and Polly. No good deed was acknowledged and the reputations of three good men were not restored (Steven, James and Patrick). Carrie and Mighty Mouse we’re bought off with the worst kind of political corruption. The Gov. Kincaide revealed his self as a villain and Jose Martin is not only rewarded with the speakership but all his felony misdeeds are hidden. Dr. Simone O’Riley is seen as a hero doctor not as the slut wife and failed mother that she truly is. Susan’s Mother has further betrayed Steven by stealing a copy of the file that was left in the locked briefcase for her safekeeping. Giving her and the Devose family enormous power and leverage over Kincaide and everyone else forever. I’m tempted to ask for an alternative ending. Too many villians have escaped unscathed and unpunished for my taste. No revenge for the victims is a hard pill to swallow.

Sometimes I have to wonder that how can a person write such cruel (but realistic) story much of the ending. It's so sad that it makes the whole story so beautiful in an ugly way'. Writer had to be convinced that his readers are not cry baby who only want to see the happy ending cause real life doesn't have that. Bravo for your efforts to create a story where thorns are counted not the roses. It's sad but true.

Thank you for writing the conclusion. You are a great story teller and should consider turning this story into a novel. Your first buyer is ready & waiting.

A fan from India

At the beginning of Crime and Punishment Steven is married and Gov Kindead is governor not candidate for President or President. The De Voes were not powerful or rich just beautiful and a popular old world name family.

This series was well written with interesting well developed characters.

Richard, you have a very dark and negative view of how the world works. The end of C&P was well done and satisfying. This alternative universe Prequel was not.

It was also long and I think more complex than needed. I did not follow how Steven is the father of the twins. What happened to Mighty Mouse’s love for Steven?

I'm really impressed by how you brought together these separate stories. You are my favourite author on lit, so it's sad to see that you will leave. Good luck with other things, and I hope you will come back!

Demi-Godess or slut ? Its so hard to tell the difference with many of his female characters . There was a mythic quality to much of the story that enraptured me. In Norse and Greek mythos , their conclusions sputtered to an indefinite end like this tale . No matter . Great fun to observe Game of Thrones play out on Albany sub-orbit level.

The petty critic in me wanted Simone to have closing soliloquy, but what really could she have said ? Kudos to RG for conceiving such a divided soul that has reader's complete attention regardless of percentage of animus versus admiration that one regards her in.

Ergo the obvious score

Full marks *****

Finally (!!), Simone and Jimmy are no more.

I needed to go back and reread Unfaithful for the right amount of bile to be present for me to write something about Simone. After Debbie from WWWM, no other female antagonist in the LW category gets my heart pounding and blood racing with hate and loathing as does Simone. All Jimmy had to do is recognize that this 'strong' heroine needed to fuck other men to help save the world, and he would be a better man for it. He and his daughters would just have to understand. How little of him to stand in the way of Saint Simone. Ha!!!

Sorry, she really gets to me.

Anyway, another excellent story from a talented author. I enjoyed it very much. 5 stars, of course.

No, it didn't end the way I wanted. Also, none of the characters I actually like had really good outcomes, but in a conflicted world, that is probably more often the truth than not. Thank you for your efforts.

Every black man at Simone's latest assignment was excited to learn that the beautiful blonde slut was returning and they hoped to be the lucky one servicing her during her latest assignment! She either fell in love or was sloppy and decided she wanted the black baby to live since she knew her marriage was on the rocks at home.

Jimmy realized since most likely her fetus was black plus she wanted to keep this baby from another man suggested she believed by keeping this baby that their marriage was over and had no intention of returning to him. She knew he would never accept a child due to her infidelity! He just knew he had to keep his honor and get rid of her as soon as possible and gain complete custody of his girls.The birth of her illegitimate child would insure this. What better way to show his contempt of her than to divorce her at her hospital bed!

I wonder what her girls would say when they meet their black sibling?

also means an encore, an epilog or more chapters. TK U MLJ LV NV

Same thing every story. Variation of strong cheating women and the men who accept it.

I enjoyed the whole series, the conclusion was close as to what I expected to be. There is a lot of opportunities to spin off and create other short stories.

the good work

5starrs

I do enjoy your stories, even the ones I disagree with. The writing and editing are vastly superior to other stories on this site. The characters are well fleshed out and some are complex. The complexity and inner turmoil of the characters is the fundamental strength of your stories. I don't really like the female characters due to their predictable traits. Most are promiscuous and are unable to resist cheating. They have little loyalty if something better comes along. I understand that you feel that political lawyers are more ambitious than sentimental, but the ending just implied that there never was enough love to overcome their ambitions. Actually there never is enough love in any of your female characters to stay loyal to their men when they get a chance to fulfill their needs. Love requires compromise and sacrifice, the love is only superficial in your stories. You may say that the men need to forgive and compromise, but betrayal usually is hard to overcome for anyone. Fidelity and vows are meaningless in your stories, but then maybe you just like writing these types of stories. I still appreciate your works and hope you continue to write.

What a series! I don’t like how it all goes, but you had me all the way through.

if you can keep up with the characters. Just way to many stories within a story. I still much prefer "The Bridge". Short, sweet and uncomplicated, with a great, solid ending.

I was caught up in the Simone and Jimmy saga after reading 'Unfaithful' and 'Faithful in Her Fashion' and was looking for a more comprehensive finish to that story line. After skimming through all 12 chapters of the 'Prequel' I was very disappointed that there was so little regarding that story.

The end of the 'Faithful' story had Simone and Jimmy agreeing on a compromise regarding her work with Doctors Without Borders (DWOB). The compromise being that when she was away, they would have an open marriage for both of them, and when she was at home, she would be faithful but he could pursue other women if he chose to. That must have been some discussion, but the author only stated the results without any revelation about how that compromise was reached. I would have thought during that discussion, Jimmy would have made a point that Simone only have protected sex with her lovers while away and not risk STDs and pregnancy. Anyway, I fully expected that when she returned, their marriage would be over. After she blew off their long planned family outing with the girls at Christmas time so she could fly to Paris for some DWOB's business she said just couldn't wait, Jimmy was not going to take her coming back for a few months then going off on another mission for a year or more. And he knew she would, because she made it clear her humanitarian work took priority over her marriage and family. Not to mention that the loss of her income while she was away put a tremendous financial and child rearing burden on Jimmy.

Which makes Jimmy's choosing Carrie for a relationship so strange. Carrie's first priority was to her political ambitions. Obviously, that would trump a relationship with Jimmy. Being with Carrie would essentially be the same as being with Simone. Jimmy wanted a life partner who would put her relationship (marriage and family) first. Neither of these women were willing to do that.

I see how some plot points conected in here and I am not completely dissapointed about it. I have to congratulate the author for building such an interesting story. @Sanman52 for what was understood about Jimmy and Simone mariage in their last solo series, Carrie was ready to do something that Simone never did, she was ready to risk her career for Jimmy. Yes she was't going to quiet or something of that nature, but she was ready to dispense been the beard of Ray and elimminate her power couple status that would have facilitated her raise in the world of politics. Not a big one but a risk none the less, Simone was never shown even willing to give an inch in her persuit. Thats why it was heavely hinted that Carrie was better for him that Simone. One talked about how much she loves him, but the other was whiling to prove with actions.

Still need some closure about Jimmy and Simone's

... and the organized crime section she hinted at to Lynda while in the hospital?

“At the beginning of Crime and Punishment Steven is married and Gov Kindead is governor not candidate for President or President. The De Voes were not powerful or rich just beautiful and a popular old world name family.”

No, at the beginning they were beautiful/popular and rich, but not powerful (though they used to be). With the files they could now be powerful.

And there is mention in the early part of C&P:Prequel (so timewise before C&P) Kincaide is thinking about the Whitehouse, he just not there yet. That being governor was just a stepping stone.

And I think you’re thinking of the word “retcon” or retroactive continuity. Look it up in wiki.

This was just excellent! More than sufficient, authentically flawed anti-heroes, abundant and real life-type villains - and an actual, real life institutional villain - and intricate plotting. The trial scenes were somewhat simplified, and no one is ever confident of victory until the jury actually renders its verdict, but depicting what actually goes on in a real trial from the standpoint of an observer, would make any reader's eyes glaze over in the first page! There was just enough detail in the denouement so the reader got a tantalizing glimpse of the real scandal, and the depiction of how the various survivors either rolled with the punches or exploited that scandal was as realistic an assessment as anyone could hope for. Thanks, Rick, for the ride!

Couldn’t stop reading the entire story Chapters 1 - 12 ... it was like watching a train wreck... I had to keep on going. Not usually my cup of tea as I like clearly defined heroes and prefer to BTB cheating wives... This had almost none! Even the governor’s secretary turns out not to be anything other than another boughten woman!

It would be interesting to see those three lawyers involved with another problem and continue with the wives/ex-wives. Just a thought. What threat could Katherine use on Kincaide to bring him in line from the White House? Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!

If this is a prequel,why in the original did Katherine not use her dossier against Kincade.

good: twist was well crafted, all characters progress step by step

bad: not much resolution for the lawyers

Yes, her previous lover in Africa was a black American doctor, but he returned to the States shortly after she did. In this last trip to Africa there is no indication necessarily of the race of the father.

...must be devastated by Jimmy’s (deserved) abandonment. After all that she promised Jimmy and the family, she still fell. But, she didn’t have to go back to Africa; she’d already been twice. Bbesides time away from Jimmy, she was seriously leaving her kids without a mother.

There is a reason why courts feel a daily maternal presence is more important than paternal. And she was abrogating her responsibilities there.

I wonder how she fares? Might be good for at least a couple of pages as a follow up.

Good one. Brant and Polly, what a combination, great idea.

Well, I got a fair portion of it, but lost a few threads. Lots of loose ends, lots of people at loose ends. Being a romantic by nature, I prefer to see reconciliations or at least some happy endings, and we get very few of those. The women mostly are cast aside or scattered, choosing careers over boyfriends or husbands. I was expecting to see Sullivan and Laura bleed into this story a bit, since the two men are supposed to be close, but was disappointed. Still, a nice tale to follow- more of a procedural than a love story, but fun to read, warts and all.

Very good, I got most of the middle part with character carry overs from other stories. The plots and the papers and all. The women were quite puzzling. They seemed to love the husbands but thought nothing of taking a lover and screwing away to their hearts content. I guess they proved and old saying I heard many years ago: The happiest married couple was a husband and someone else's wife Seems fairly true in this saga.

You have to give Jimmy credit when the doctor told him what hero his wife, Simone, was for all her work saving the poor people in Africa he remarked yeah but she's not much of a mother or wife and he had no desire to see her. That took guts cause he knew the rest of the world would think he was an asshole.

Really enjoyed this story even more the second time around. I kind of got lost on who Polly was and where she fit in the story. I guess I'll have to read it again!

This reads somewhat like a Sidney Sheldon novel, and is enjoyable for all the same reasons. I have read all this author’s works (Literotica works) in a matter of days. I could not set them aside. I might try to discover what actual novels he has written. I wonder why he is publishing on this forum.

I want to add that contrary to popular opinion, I find Simone’s character the most interesting. I can’t think of her as anything but a tragedy, not a slut or a whore. In fact, most of these relationships are tragedies, but hers could bear a story of its own, more complete than the “unfaithfull” short stories.

you have a god given talent. I wish you would give us more stories. I have tried (but failed) to find out if you are publishing more elsewhere.

Sluts 3

Nice guys 1

Thanks, hope you're well

Great story

How about a story about Susan's older sister Mary, telling of her fall?

A very well put together story A little confusing with so many people plots and twists BUT I enjoyed the whole 16 chapters Keep up the good work (jaybee186)

Good to see that Susan caught bit hard by karna. Steven divorces her and Greco is killed. Btw since her mom and Stephen have custody, does this mean Susan committed suicide, or died in childbirth or was committed? She was just an awful human being. She was worse than her older sister Mary who while also a perennial cheat, at least had remorse. Though why her husband reconciled with her in "Obtuse" is just mind boggling. Simone may be the worst of all. Thr Saint in thr field hospital who just abandons her husband and family over and over again without even attempting to stay faithful. She was addicted to being a Saint and saving lives in Africa. She was a real head case. Glad Jimmy cut her loose. Sad to see Carrie wanted a career as a corrupt judge over Jimmy. That was a bit of a shock. At least Laura and Patrick made it. It was good to see how Laura was struggling with Frank's attentions. I see her attraction to him as part of her rationalization to go through with her plan to get a partnership. I was shocked to see she only slept with the asshole Frank three times over those three months. Again her motivations and dynamic with Patrick was completely different than Susan and Steven or Jimmy and Simone. Bit sad that Lynda left Steven but I guess he is still so broken inside and his only real love was the Susan before Greco. Again at least Laura and Patrick found a way through. In thr end the Wolf made out better than the Fox. Jimmy should be glad to be rid of Simone. She is one of the most worthless characters on this site. Despicable. Though Susan may not be far beyond, especially if she just walked away from the twins after birth.

I must say I was disappointed to see all judges slanged as corrupt. It is not so. I have known both federal and state judges who were thoroughly honorable and decent people. Are there corrupt judges? Yes, as there are corrupt individuals in every walk of life, but there are very many good judges and Richard Gerald must know that. Disappointing.

Magnificent story. Great characters.

Rampant, blatant, stupidity, that overwhelms the supposed intellect of several characters.

In this day and age, there are too many birth control options for a female doctor to allow herself to become a victim of unwanted pregnancy.

Her husband, an attorney, wilfully allowed her to return to Africa without protecting himself or the family from her uncontrolled libido.

He needed to draft a punitive post nuptial agreement to humiliate and punish infidelity should she do it again.

This is stupidity beyond the pale.

Dense, colorful, descriptive

This story, as are many of RichardGeralds pieces, simply in another category in terms of quality. The editing is as bad as usual, and the dialogue is in one voice which creates the need for a huge effort on the part of the reader to distinguish each himself.

One can go into each of RichardGeralds stories with the sound expectation that the major female characters are wholly despicable, not just “flawed”. I can relate.

~Spiny

to forensic fossil; of course there are good judges but one has to admit that they all come from the species, lowest scumbagus on earthus "Juris corruptus doctorus" which means they are part and parcel of them that ignore the meaning and rule of law, opting in their self proclaimed greatness, to decide that the law means whatever any atty decides it needs to mean for his cause as well as for his ego. the only great atty i can easily think of is clarence thomas who shld be the boss of scotus, not roberts who decides what the law are dependant on what he think looks best for himself and HIS vision of what the court should be as well aswhat HE thinks the legacy of HIS court shld be and none of his visions actions desires and whishes are for the good of the country or its citizens. roberts is the epitome of a shyster atty looking after his goals vs his duty and Thomas is the best jurist in the land as far as integrity morals and following and defending the constitution. my bet is there are more judges, at all levels, playing rationalization and justification games for their rulings cuz they all have biases, all the democrap judges will rule depending on what favors their party's agenda. If i were to depend on the rule of law today, id rather kill myself than rely on the vagaries of this so called rule of law, and how we are all equal when it comes toequal justice for all. our legal system especially the criminal division is corrupt from head to toe, at all levels, especially on the defence and prosecutorial sides. rk

I don't get it. Foxy's wife has his legitimate kids and still divorces her. Jimmy's wife Simone has ANOTHER MAN'S BABY in your sequel and HE TAKES HER BACK?! Your stories frustrate the hell out of me sometimes.

Bizarre ending!

Jumping to Polly seems out of place and I can't make sense of who the people are or how they relate to the story.

All in all though, a fantastic story.

This wish you were still writing.

I have found, over the past couple of years, that given the way these stories you've posted intertwine, coupled with you work on Amazon now, that they become much richer on a second read - and certainly always worthy of high ratings. I see, below, some comments regarding confusion as to the characters - not being able to recall their earlier mention, or in other cases wondering why they show up in a story but are not necessarily central to the plot. Those questions are removed once read the broader grouping, and then (following a few months or so) read them again. You are one of the best storytellers on this site - and I wish you continued heath (and hope for a few more stories to come).

Great writing, but I have struggled tying all the characters together. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of the absolute BEST series (all four stories) on this site for those that can understand it.

This story, like most of the others from Mr. Gerald, are a deep tapestry of people mixed with intrigue. Weaving characters from other stories while preserving those characters' traits, makes this author's stories so interesting. I found that the second time reading was as interesting as the first and helped to better appreciate the flawed characters so well portrayed.

As a 71 year old man who only recently retired, I only spend time doing the things that give me pleasure. Reading Mr. Gerald's stories are right up there. *****

This is the second time I have read it (getting to hate all these new cuckold stories ) and it iw well written but a little convoluted in parts BUT still a good story (jaybee186)

It's amusing to me that the one character that pretty much everyone universally loathes, Simone, was just unceremoniously shuffled off stage and divorced in a single sentence. One can only hope that now that she is crippled and potentially a single mother, that she'll at least be around enough to not completely destroy her and Jimmy's daughters. Overall it was a pretty good series, I give it a 4/5. I had a few complaints throughout, but they were mostly minor and I was relatively happy with how everything ended up except for Carrie's heel turn at the end. You basically write all your female characters as complete garbage, so I wasn't surprised, just disappointed that the one half way decent one lost whatever shine she still had right at the 11th hour.

5*

Quite a cynical view

I only wish I knew

If it is really true

The truly evil person in this series is Kincaid, the guv'nor. Completely uses and corrupts every on and has no redeeming qualities. He sucks the life out of his two young catholic lawyer proteges and throws them to the wolves when he finishes with them. He seems realistic. He is the ultimate user and makes his catholic lawyers seem innocent in comparison.

anon.1

Very disappointed in Carie and Lynda, not sticking with the people they love, Jimmy and Steven. The lawyers deserve a happy ending. I wish Patrick and Laura would have had a bigger part in this series. Still a 5* series.

anon.1

Holy cow ! What would ever possess you to end this incredibly convoluted story this way ? Why didn’t you add a half dozen new characters to the already bloated cast ? While you write well, your propensity towards creating a complex story with a dozen or more characters is unbelievably confusing. While reading this story I felt that I had read one very similar, with a wife working for doctors without borders and sleeping around while away as did Simone. I suppose there are only so many scenarios that you have to choose from. You need an editor. Way to many mistakes to derail one’s train of thought. I really did try to like this story, but while your potential is high this one fell flat at the end.

Really guys it was all over the place and spoils the read of crime and punishment cuz it basically tells the story