Retribution

C.J. Townsend is a prosecutor in the DA's office in Miami, Florida, several years after she had been raped and mutilated in her former incarnation as Chloe Larsen. As a member of a task force investigating a probable serial killer, C.J. is early on the scene when a man is picked up with a body in the trunk of his car.

It is when this man is arraigned that she recognizes him as her rapist. And she begins a trip down retribution lane that disturbed me.

***You may not want to read any further until you've read the book***

C.J. knows that if she admits to the DA that she knows this man as her rapist then the case will have to be taken out of that office and be assigned to another, less competent one. He could go free. She also has not told show more anyone of her rape and prefers to keep it that way. She chooses not to tell. The ends justify the means.

Later, other awkward situations arise and she makes essentially the same choice: to flout the law in pursuit of a better ending. Much later, near the end of the trial, crucial evidence comes to light just at the right time, assuring a conviction. Does she question the convenience? No. She is blinded by her own sense of justice. And she gets away with it.

I was disturbed by the arrogance of her choices. If the truth had come out it's possible the man would have gone free and not been able to be tried again. An ethical attorney would never have done what she did, regardless of personal history. C.J. is not a person I'd want on my side. show less

That was a gripping thriller. I could hardly put the book down.
New York 1988:
Chloe is really looking forward to spending the evening with her boyfriend Michael. Although she's in the middle of her law exams, she's been persuaded to go out with him during the week. It's their anniversary and she's hoping he'll propose to her. The evening doesn't go quite as she had dreamed. He drops her off at home and she goes to her flat alone. Meanwhile, a man is lurking in the bushes under her window and has obviously been watching her for a long time. As she sleeps, he breaks into her flat and brutally rapes her. She is hospitalised the next morning with severe cuts to her chest after being found by her friend.
Miami 2000: Chloe becomes C.J.
Twelve show more years later, Chloe is a prosecutor in Miami and has changed her name. For the past year, the population has been shaken by the crimes of a serial killer who has been given the name Cupido: Eleven young blonde women have already disappeared and nine bodies have been found without hearts. Then something happens that nobody would have expected. During a traffic stop, a black Jaguar is pulled over, suspected of having drugs in the boot based on an anonymous tip, but the dead body of Anna Prado, Cupido's tenth victim, is found. C.J. is the prosecutor in the case, but at the arraignment she recognises William Rupert Bantling as the man who inflicted this great suffering on her 12 years ago. She is now in a predicament: she can't tell anyone about it and she can't actually hand over the case as she has been working on it for a year. But can she summon up the strength for the long process? And what would happen if her tormentor were to go free? show less

Here we go again: another legal thriller by another former prosecutor that hangs the plot entirely on an attorney’s decision to act with a complete and utter lack of ethics. As a member of the legal profession who struggles frequently with ethical issues myself – like every practicing lawyer – I’d be tearing my hair out except that I have none left after a few years of reviewing legal thrillers.

This is not a small matter in this exceptionally hyped first novel by Hoffman, who was once an Assistant State Attorney and a Regional Legal Advisor for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. There’s no question that it isn’t supposed to bother the reader much; one is expected to excuse the attorney for what she does because she show more was once the victim of an exceptionally brutal rape. But it colors the entire novel, and makes C.J. Townsend an unsympathetic character notable only for her willingness to twist the law, to lie, and to suborn perjury in order to prosecute and execute a man who may or may not be a bloody serial killer.

The ethical problems are only the beginning of what is wrong with this novel. It depends on a level of coincidence that strains credulity. It assumes that Townsend, an allegedly brilliant lawyer who has been practicing for a number of years, has never heard of the statute of limitations – the category of laws that limit the time within which a crime must be prosecuted. The defense lawyer is so thoroughly disarmed by her sympathy for Townsend that she desists from providing her client with a strong defense, a situation that would cause any other lawyer to withdraw and allow tougher counsel to defend the capital case that may result in her client’s death with the required vigor. And the police are led around by the nose, one of them, of course, having fallen in love with Townsend. It’s not only lawyers who will have trouble with this book; it’s intelligent readers, too.

All that said, it must be acknowledged that Hoffman knows the basics about how to plot, and can move things along at breakneck speed. She can describe a courtroom scene so convincingly that you’d think you were sitting in the jury box. She knows how to write a write graphically about ugly crimes, but not cross the line into violent pornography. If you can suspend your disbelief completely – say, on a Saturday afternoon when it’s snowing hard and your pile of new mysteries is running low – you may well get some real enjoyment out of this book.

Still, it is by no means the new Presumed Innocent that some are touting it as. Hoffman and Turow have nothing in common based on the evidence of this book. Still, I finished this book hoping that Hoffman will use her evident talent to better effect in her next novel.

Originally published in The Drood Review of Mystery, Volume 24, No. 11, p. 7 (Jan/Feb 2004) show less

Reviewed for www.bookchickcity.com

What would you do if you walked into the courtroom one morning to discover you’re there to prosecute the man who tortured and raped you?

Is it okay to keep your connection to the man a secret if it means it’s the only chance there’ll be to put him behind bars?

Is it justified to steal evidence in order to keep a mistrial from being declared?

Should you continue to prosecute an evil man when you’re not one hundred percent certain he’s the one who committed this particular crime?

Should you lie to your lover so you don’t risk the one chance you have to punish a man for what he’s done?

So many questions are raised in this book, and there isn’t a right or wrong answer to any of them. show more

Retribution is one of those books that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it. It raises at least as many questions as it answers, and left me a big, emotional mess. Chloe – now CJ – is not at all the woman she was before her attack, and that one night has resulted in the complete destruction of everything she ever wanted to be. Because of the Statute of Limitations, her rapist can never be arrested and charged or imprisoned for what he did to her – too many years have passed. CJ’s lover is a homicide detective heavily involved in the case, and there’s simply no way she can tell him what’s she’s done to finally get this man behind bars, and what she’s still planning to do to get justice.

What CJ has to sacrifice is enormous, and she has to do it completely on her own.

Jilliane Hoffman is an astoundingly good writer, and only someone with her experience in the Miami courts would have been able to weave such a complex and detailed story. The fascinating case and the twists and turns in the plot continually took me by surprise. The realistic way the trial and the dark police work in general took its toll on the characters was very well-written. All of the characters were interesting; everyone was far from perfect and the conclusion of the story didn’t automatically mean everyone was ‘cured’ of their issues.

I couldn’t say whether or not the ending was right. Who can say what any of the people deserved? What I do know is that this is one book that really makes you think, and definitely makes you question your own sense of right and wrong.

VERDICT:

This has become – without a doubt – one of my favourite books. I wish there were more authors out there willing to take such gigantic risks with their storytelling. Jilliane Hoffman is an astounding writer with a background that’s ideal for the kind of books she writes. Retribution is a book I could easily recommend to a broad range of readers. show less

A good beach or airplane read. What happens when a woman must confront a man who sadistically and brutally raped her a decade ago. He's now graduated to gruesome serial killings and she's the prosecutor from hell. It's a good, workable hook, but there's very little art in what turns into a typical cat and mouse piece. Of course, there's the decent, metrosexual cop to reassure her that love is possible, as well as his lovable Latino sidekick. The author doesn't do much with location--South Florida--and there's a huge chunk of life missing in the main character's arc. The courtroom scenes are ok, with one question looming over the procedings: is anyone going to divulge that the defendant raped the prosecutor? The dialogue is one of the show more better things here. show less

I normally don't read mystery novels because for the most part they not creative and I can predict them within a few chapters. The only reason I ordered this book from Paperback Swap was because I wanted something to listen to while I drive to work. This one had 13 cds and seemed slightly interesting. That being said, this book is AMAZING! It definitely has me reconsidering my "no mysteries" stance. There was no forced romance that felt like it was put there simply to have women interested. There is a little romance but, even though it's written by a woman, it is also not all consuming throughout the novel. The true story is the mystery and Chloe herself, the romance is just a by product. I thought that was a great way to go. I really show more hate when female characters spend the entire book mooning over someone when their life is literally falling apart. I just found out that there is being a movie made of it so I'm sure they'll play it up in just the way I hate.

Hoffman was able to surprise me several times, which is another reason I loved the book. If I can figure it out too soon, then I'm bored. And the twist she takes near the end...well, that was genius. I knew there was something more than the story we were being told but I simply didn't see it. Maybe it's because she didn't leave enough clues for the reader to get there on her own until she reveals a key piece, but it also didn't feel wrong when I did figure it out. It was more like "Of course!"

Like I said, I listened to the audio version. I was little confused because the cover and the cds both said they were read by Martha Plimpton but the beginning and end cds stated that it was read by Kathe Mazur. I had to do a serious search to even find a version with that name being read. Everything I saw said Martha Plimpton read the abridged version and the one lonely site I saw with Kathe Mazur listed said it was unabridged. I listened to the unabridged version but you'd think they'd put the right person reading on the cover! Very weird.

I highly recommend this book. If you listen, get the unabridged version. I can't imagine what they could possibly leave out in the abridged version. It would have to be terrible. show less

A young law student is brutally raped in New York. 10 years later, she is the lead prosecutor in Miami, working on the case of a serial killer nicknamed Cupid. A suspect turns up--whom she believes is the same man who raped her years before.

The plot reminds me of the early patricia Cornwell books; unfortunately, the writing, while good, is not at that high a level. There is a nice twist towards the end that makes for page-turning tension at that point. The courtroom scenes are well done but not out of the ordinary. All in all, a good read.