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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Get in. Kill Quickly. And get out without being seen.", May 18, 2006
In Jonathon King's "Eye of Vengeance," Nick Mullins is a crime reporter for the South Florida Daily News. He is bereft after losing his wife and daughter in a car accident caused by a drunk driver named Robert Walker. Nick is trying to be strong for his remaining child, nine-year-old Carly, but he is sometimes lonely, bitter, and depressed. Walker has recently been released from prison, and Nick stalks him, trying to find a way to make this beast pay for slaughtering his family. Work has always been Nick's passion, but he has promised himself that he will try to spend less time on the job and more hours tending to his child's needs, something that he failed to do when his entire family was alive.
Nick is assigned to cover a shooting at the local jail, and he is startled to learn that the victim was Steven Ferris, a convicted pedophile and murderer. Three years earlier, Nick had covered the Ferris trial extensively. Now, an unknown assailant has shot Ferris as he was entering the jail, and further investigation reveals that the shooter was an extremely skilled sniper. Even more alarming, this individual has targeted other felons whom Nick has profiled over the years. Does Nick have a groupie who is very good with a high-powered rifle?
"Eye of Vengeance" is a fast-paced novel in which Jonathon King tackles the subject of journalistic ethics and excesses. Although Nick loves being a reporter, he is becoming sick of the hype and competitiveness that often drive editorial decisions. In addition, King explores the understandable temptation to seek revenge against those who have wronged us. If an expert marksman is conveniently executing some seriously bad people who would be no loss to society, should Nick applaud the effort or step in and try to stop the carnage?
King's dialogue and prose style are fluid and realistic. The sniper, whose identity the reader learns early on, is an intriguing and methodical man, not your cookie-cutter psychopath. The author wastes no words as he builds his suspenseful narrative to a satisfying, yet not entirely tidy, conclusion. "Eye of Vengeance" is an entertaining, thoughtful, and engrossing thriller that has substance as well as style.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Huge Disappointment, August 3, 2006
I needn't rehash the plot which has been so ably described on this page. In fact the idea of the plot, plus the excellent reviews, drew me to buy the book in the first place. What a disappointment. Nick, the protagonist, is a one-dimensional character, and Michael Redman's story is unfortunately overshadowed by Nick's constant guilt. Nick Mullins works too much. He didn't pay enough attention to his family while his wife and other daughter were alive. He fights with Dierdre, his editor, all the time because she has no ethics. By the fourteenth time I had read all this, my patience wore thin. Worse was the author's practice of telling me everything and showing me nothing. Because the cast of characters is so thinly sketched I could barely tell one cop from another, and the other reporters at Nick's papers were barely more than shadows. For a novel to work, we have to care about the characters, or be fascinated by them, or repulsed. By the end of the book, all the sloppy shortcuts the writer had taken simply wore me out. I cared nothing for the people in the story, or the story itself. My prevailing emotion was anger that I'd wasted the money in buying it. Perhaps I'm alone in my disappointment, but I would suggest no one purchase Eye of Vengeance unless you've read two or three chapters first, and find the style to your liking.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Predictable but well done, June 1, 2006
This was the first of Jonathon King's novels I have read and I will likely go back for more. "Eye of Vengeance" is not particularly unique and any semi-intelligent reader will know pretty early where it is going. In such cases, the make or break factor is how well the book is written. If you can figure out the ending, the key is in the telling. Is the book bad enough that the reader puts it down or good enough that, despite the predictability of the plot, it is worth staying with? In this case, it's clearly the latter. King clearly knows his way around a newsroom; considering his background, he should. But he doesn't just know it, he makes it come alive and gives a good feel for the pulse and pace of putting out a paper (alliteration not intended). He puts a nice spin on stock situations (the pressuring editor, the stoic detective, etc) and weaves a tale that holds attention. I really liked the book and found it a compelling read.
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