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RETRIBUTION
by Jilliane Hoffman
Putnam, January 2004
432 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0399151273


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Chloe Larson was a young, intelligent, single woman studying law in Queens, New York. She had a boyfriend who was already a successful lawyer whom she hoped to marry. Her only problem in life was studying for the bar exam that she was due to take very soon. But her whole life changed drastically one night when she was brutally raped and knifed in her bedroom by a man wearing a clown mask. As he brutalized her, the man whispered that he had been stalking her for a long time and knew everything about her life, even the pet name that her father called her.

Barely surviving the ordeal, the attack left Chloe in shambles. Because of the level of violence used on her, Chloe was no longer able to have children and her boyfriend had a problems understanding what she went through. It all became too much for her and she walked out of the bar exam and eventually ended up in a mental hospital.

Twelve years later, in 2000 in Miami, Florida, a serial killer was on the loose. The press nicknamed him Cupid because after he raped and tortured his victims he cut their hearts out. The womenıs bodies, when they were found, sometimes months later, were always posed in compromising positions.

So far Cupid had murdered eleven women and Special Agent Dominick Falconetti of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the detective in charge of the case, didnıt have any leads. That is until a traffic cop stopped a man, William Bantling, and discovered one of the murdered victims in the trunk of his car.

C.J. Townsend, Assistant Chief Prosecutor of the Major Crimes Unit had been working along with the police, making certain that when they found Cupid she would know the case inside out and would be able to successfully prosecute. She was looking forward to not only sending Bantling to jail but also planned on getting the death penalty for him. She also knew that this case would make her already shiny career even better.

But C.J. had no idea what was in store for her and how prosecuting Bantling was going to make a shambles of her life. She was soon forced to do things that she never thought were possible and she was made to relive some horrible memories of her own. Memories that she had kept secret from everyone.

RETRIBUTION, written by first time novelist Jilliane Hoffman, is one of the best books of this kind that Iıve read. Ms. Hoffman manages to take the readers into the mind of Chloe as she was being raped. We experience every part of the horror with her. When the book moves out of New York and into Florida, the author takes us deep into the conscience of prosecutor C.J. Townsend as she considers how her actions will affect the case ­ and the rest of her life.

Filled with well written, fascinating characters and an amazing storyline, RETRIBUTION has the readers wondering if the truly evil Bantling really was Cupid but at the same time we canıt help but cheer the obsessive C.J. on in her fight to put him on death row. As with all great books, this one kept me thinking and emotionally involved. Each time something new was brought up, author Hoffman managed to answer all my questions and continued to make the actions of her characters strong, solid and, believable.

Author Jilliane Hoffman was an Assistant State Attorney for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and she aptly uses her knowledge of the law to keep the story on tract and rock-solid.

While RETRIBUTION is a horrifying tale and I found myself cringing more than once, the gory details were used to make this book as clever as it is. Ms. Hoffman managed to fashion more than a few unique twists to the characters and story which builds to a remarkable attention-grabbing and heart-pounding climax.

I commend Ms. Hoffman for writing such a stunning tale her first time out, itıs a truly remarkable feat. I hope that the author continues to set such high goals in everything else she writes because I will be among the readers clamoring to buy her books.

I thoroughly recommend RETRIBUTION!

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, August 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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