Retribution
Jilliane Hoffman, 2004
Penguin Group USA
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781616875213
Summary
When an elite prosecutor faces the most lethal predator she's ever encountered, it all comes down to a choice between justice...and retribution.
One rainy night in New York City, outstanding law student Chloe Larson wakes from a terrible nightmare. But it's not a nightmare-it's real. A stranger stands over her, a rubber clown mask covering his face, and in one, horrifying instant, everything in Chloe’s life is forever changed. She becomes a victim, a statistic. And no one is brought to justice.
Twelve years later a very different Chloe is forging a formidable reputation as a Major Crimes prosecutor in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. For more than a year she has been assigned to assist a task force of detectives who have been searching for a vicious serial killer nicknamed Cupid for the way he kills his victims. Nine women are dead and two are missing and the pressure is mounting to find the vicious killer. When the police stop a speeding motorist on the McArthur Causeway, it seems that the hunt for Cupid is finally over. But as Chloe begins the task of prosecuting the suspect, she soon realizes that this case will be anything but easy. Because her past is about to force itself on her present-and the terror is only just beginning.
Sometimes there is a price to be paid for justice. And sometimes that price is awful. Revenge could cost Chloe her sanity. The truth could cost her life. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Long Island, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., J.D., St. John's University
• Currently—lives in South Florida
Jilliane Hoffman is an American writer of legal thrillers. Before starting to write Hoffman experienced the true life of a lawyer while working as an assistant state's attorney prosecuting felonies in Florida from 1992 to 1996. From 1996 to 2001, she was a regional advisor for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement consulting with more than 100 special agents in complicated investigations including homicide, narcotics and organized crime.
With the knowledge obtained through years of work as a lawyer, Hoffman turned to writing legal/crime thrillers. Her first novel, Retribution, was published in 2004, followed by Last Witness in 2005 and Plea of Insanity in 2007. She lives in South Florida with her husband and two children. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Highly satisfying.... Retribution explores chillingly dark places.
San Francisco Chronicle
A tense legal tale...Retribution delivers.... A little bit James Patterson, a little bit John Grisham.
New York Daily News
A Nasty, exciting scenario.
Chicago Tribune
This is a fine first novel, with twists and turns of the highest order and an ending that is downright breathtaking
Booklist
With this graphic serial killer/courtroom thriller, debut novelist Hoffman joins the lengthening list of high-powered legal ladies whose professional expertise serves as the basis for authentic, insider crime fiction. Blond, beautiful law student Chloe Larson is looking forward to a great future with successful New York businessman Michael Decker. Her expectations are shattered forever after a madman in a clown mask rapes and tortures her until she is near death. She survives physically, but psychologically slips into an extended mental breakdown. Twelve years later she's dyed her hair mousy brown and become unassuming, hardworking C.J. Townsend, assistant chief of the Miami Dade State Attorney's office. A suspiciously lucky break nets serial killer suspect William Bantling, and C.J. takes over the prosecution as part of her normal workload. When Bantling stands up in court and speaks, C.J. realizes he's the man who raped her years ago. C.J. learns that the statute of limitations has run out on her rape and that her involvement in that case might very well cause Bantling to be freed on a technicality. Love interest Special Agent Dominick Falconetti knows there is something seriously wrong as C.J.'s mental state begins to deteriorate, but she brushes off his concern and immerses herself in her work on the case. The far-fetched resolution will throw some readers, but Hoffman compensates with a compellingly horrific villain and an undeniably exciting final confrontation.... Hoffman fits right in [with courtroom thriller genre] and ups the ante with an original premise and more-graphic-than-usual violence.
Publishers Weekly
(Audio version.) In the late 1980s, law student Chloe Larson was brutally raped and left for dead in her New York apartment. Fast-forward 12 years; Chloe, now known as C.J. Townsend, is one of the top prosecutors in Miami. It is in this capacity that she finds herself face to face with the man who terrorized her. She recognizes the voice of William Bantling, who is now on trial for a string of gruesome murders. C.J. confronts an impossible dilemma: perform her ethical duty and recuse herself from the case, or exact retribution on the man who almost killed her. With this predicament firmly in hand, Hoffman takes the listener on a remarkable ride, one that is fast paced, thrilling, and features extremely interesting characters. The courtroom scenes and legal explanations are especially enjoyable. Martha Plimpton's characterizations for the abridged versions are strong and distinct. Kathe Mazur's performance is natural, more subtle, and not as pronounced or staged as Plimpton's. Either audio edition of Retribution is recommended for public libraries. —Nicole A. Cooke, Montclair State Univ. Lib., NJ
Library Journal
Pedestrian debut thriller about a rape victim who tries her assailant in court. Chloe Larson is a law student on Long Island in 1988, and outside her apartment, a man watches her every move, including her hot trysts with a boyfriend. One stormy night, the watcher breaks into her apartment, rapes her, then brutally carves her up with a serrated blade. She barely survives. So far, so familiar-and so flat, with Hoffman laying on the clichés and brand names as description. Then comes the first of many twists. It's September 2000 and Miami state attorney C.J. Townsend faces defendant William Bantling, who may be "Cupid," a serial killer who rapes his victims, then cuts out their hearts. C.J. spots a scar on Bantling's arm and crumbles: he's the man who raped her when she was Chloe Larson, before she altered her identity and fled Long Island. C.J. decides to nail this vermin and bends the law by hiding this part of her past, even from law enforcement agent Dominick Falconetti, with whom she becomes romantically involved. Hoffman adds a modicum of suspense by throwing several roadblocks in the way of C.J.'s quest for retribution. The FBI wants to usurp the case. The defense attorney has evidence that could derail it. And Bantling slowly realizes C.J. is Chloe. (The tired and offensive notion that Bantling may be a frustrated, woman-hating homosexual comes up, but is wisely scrapped — as the pointless and gratuitous homophobic thoughts of one of the investigators should have been.) C.J. lands her case, but learns she may have convicted the wrong man. In a burst of last-act plotting, Hoffman lets matters unravel, then provides a satisfying tie-up. Although criminal attorney Hoffman devises an interesting premise and springs some surprises, her flat prose fails to lift her work above the ordinary.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Retribution:
1. Hoffman's writing is particuarly graphic. Do you think she used her depictions judiciously—in the service of the story? Or do you think the brutality is gratis—there only to sensational-ize her book?
2. As both victim and prosecutor, C.J. is faced with a terrible conundrum and must decide, ultimately, what is right or wrong. Do you think she handles the problem correctly or not?
3. In her work, Hoffman has counseled rape victims. Do you feel that she portrayed C.J.'s emtional and psychological wounds realistically?
4. The case's big stumbling block is a technicality: a rooky policemen's improper search, conducted without probably cause. Do you think the issue is resolved fairly? ... which leads to the next question:
5. Do you feel the justice system favors the accused at the expense of the victim or survivors? Do defendants' rights too often trump the victims' rights for retribution? Or are the rights of the accused important to preserve justice?
6. Is retribution, the book's title, the proper goal of a criminal justice system? Are other goals at stake?
7. Did the ending surprise you? Or did you anticipate it? Some readers say they knew it was coming...if that was true for you, at what point did you figure it out?
8. Do you think justice was served in this case? Why and why not? What, in your definition, is justice? Can you define it?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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