Customer Reviews

Eye of Vengeance

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Jonathon King's fifth novel (first stand-alone), "Eye of Vengeance" is a riveting read and ought to be an Edgar nominee...it is that good.

Mr. King maintains his high standards.

Employing an economical cast of characters and utilizing lean prose, this hard-boiled narrative is compelling reading from cover to cover.

Nick Mullins is a veteran reporter who covers the South Florida crime beat.

Nick is searching for clues to what he suspects are connections between a serial sniper and some of his in depth profile stories.

About halfway thru the book Nick and the readers learn who the sniper is---"Eye of Vengeance" is more about the why, rather than the usual whodunit.

Nick has ghosts from his past that haunt him as he attempts to connect all the dots.

Throughout the book, bad things happen to bad men---and you find yourself cheering for the lesser of the evil doers. There is no shortage of action and no dull moments.

A very absorbing novel.

Interesting insight on the world of modern newspapers. The sniper angle has been done, and better, before. King writes well, you won't be bored, but hope for better the next time.

Crime reporter Nick Mullins is still trying to hold life together after a driver killed his wife and one of his twin daughters in a car accident. It is particularly hard now that the driver has been released from prison. But a distraction comes when a sniper kills a prisoner on the jailhouse steps. When another sniper shooting takes place, Mullins begins to realize the victims were both subjects of his in depth articles about killer who received light to no prison time for their crimes.

For me, King really knows how to tell a story and how to create a character. Mullins has suffered a devastating loss but knows he must keep himself together for his daughter, whose loss is as great, perhaps ever greater having both lost her twin and being in the accident when it happened. King presented a real sense of the emotions without it overwhelming the story. But you understand Mullins grief, his frustration with his job, his anger at the justice system and his fear and slight ambiguity when he realizes the sniper is killing in the name of "justice" driven by Mullin's articles. Even the killer, about whom you learn as the story progresses, is an interesting character. I certainly found this to be a page-turning, involving read.

Daily News reporter Nick Mullins works the police and crime beat, but has only recently returned to the job. He took time off after a drunken driver killed his wife and one of their twin daughters. The culprit was convicted of manslaughter, but did only eighteen months.

Nick's latest assignment is covering the execution style murder of convicted child molester and killer Steven Ferris. Judging by police actions, Nick assumes the assassin was on top of a building where he made the kill from; the journalist concludes that the twisted sniper is a professional. When a second former con is murdered, Nick looks over his recent records; he realizes that there are other sniper kills in the South Florida area in which he covered the stories in-depth. The assassin contacts Nick to inform him he has one more kill to go. The police and the reporter work Nick's files trying to find the next victim from the clue the sniper gave Nick.

Jonathon King, the author of the Max Freeman mysteries, has written a fantastic stand alone thriller told from two perspectives, the reporter and the sniper. Readers will sympathize with the killer even though he does wrong as his motives illicit sympathy. Surprisingly the hero learns a lesson from the assassin that should make him a better father to the other surviving family member.

Everything about Eye of Vengeance was lightweight. When I first heard of the book I liked the premise and thought it would be a good read. Something along the lines of Charles Bronson the vigilante My wife beat me to it but after 60 pages put it down as not worth the effort. I decided to give it a try as I am a Harry Bosch fan and if Michael Connelly says Mr. King is worth it well who am I to say otherwise.

It was a slog but I read it all. The storyline was good but the character development was thin. Too much playing with Nick's daughter's dolls and not enough development of detective Hargrave or sniper Redman. The book is only 276 big print pages long so I think that Mr. King simply did not have enough story to go with his original premise. The few action sequences were good and I think Mr. King has it in himself to push the envelop but this book just does not do it.

So much was left out. Not to compare it to Lee Child, Vince Flynn, or Michael Connelly but that is what makes them great authors. THEY DEVELOP BOTH THE STORY AND CHARACTERS. Mr. King's effort was half way at best. For example: What happened to sniper Redman? I mean he is the focus of the book. But then he just disappears at the end. Did he go to Disneyland? Or maybe to Idaho for a vacation. I mean come on. Those little details are what makes a book a great read. The interplay between the reporter and the detective was OK but lacked the intensity it could have been.

I gave it 3 stars because the book did hold my interest long enough for me to finish it in one day. I did not want to put it down as I probably would not have picked it back up. A good read for a long trans-Atlantic or Pacific flight where you are trapped for the duration.

I have recently discovered Jonathon Kings first Novel, The Blue Edge of Midnight which was excellent. I tend to get "hooked" on a character and enjoy following this character through several books. That may have been why I didn't enjoy Eye of Vengeance as much. I may have been reading a few too many mysteries as I guessed what was going on about halfway through. It was a quick read but not too hard to put down like the Max Freeman books are. Not a great book but good enough.

I am writing this review after enjoying most of 'Eye of Vengeance'. I usually try to reflect on what I have just read and think about the plot and character development before making a judgement on the book. I scanned the other reviews here and saw one written by a Patricia Taylor and have to say that I could totally see this book in her very negative light. I think I am going easy on 'Eye of Vengeance' because it is a genre book that really has very few rivals in its class.

First of all, you have to realize that this is a machismo sniper narrative. A lot of authors have made their mark in this arena, perhaps most notably Jack Higgins. However, King has twisted the genre on its head just a little and brought in an investigative mystery thriller edge to it. King gives us a pretty interesting character in the broken spirited news hound Nick Mullins who lost most of his family in a car wreck. He is a morose person and good at the core of his being, so the psychological examination that King puts him through is both revealing and at the same time limited in its scope. Mullins constantly examines his own actions and reasons for living and this is interesting, however... this is a character you probably have come across before, so its a mixed bag.

The plot is great at first. I enjoyed watching King unfold a newspaper lead and roll it out slowly. He does make a mistake in letting the reader get ahead of the characters over the last quarter of the book. You know what will happen and watching the characters not figure it out is frustrating. This could have happened because King every once in a while shifts to the snipers point of view and gives us his point of view. I don't think that this really added anything to the story, but it is thankfully such a minimal part of the narrative that you wont be bothered by it too much.

I have read several bad books that are sort of similar to this in recent months. I would recommend 'Eye of Vengeance to anyone that might want to sit down with a military thriller. Its not for everyone. But I enjoyed it.