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.
“A suspenseful tale of a woman determined to reclaim control of her life by any means possible. Retribution explores some chillingly dark places.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
“A thriller raised to a new level by skilled writing and real-life expertise.”
– Library Journal
“Jilliane Hoffman comes on the scene with a vengeance…. Twists and turns on the highest order an an ending that is downright breathtaking.”
– Booklist
“May well be this year’s PRESUMED INNOCENT.”
– BookReporter.com
“Jilliane Hoffman’s debut thriller, Retribution, is a little bit James Patterson, a little bit John Grisham… Hoffman was once an assistant state attorney in Florida and, like many a lawyer-turned-writer, has a cinematic way with a courtroom scene…there’s enough of the good stuff here to keep the pages turning… Retribution delivers.”
– NY Daily News
“…a psychological nail-biter that moves at lightning speed through a series of jury-jolting courtroom revelations.”
– Bookpage
“You’ll be hooked at page one by this thriller.”
– Redbook
“An intriguing story. Jilliane Hoffman has the police procedures and legal matters down pat.”
– San Antonio Express News
“Like James Patterson or Patricia Cornwell, Jilliane Hoffman creates vivid, engrossing crime investigations. Her fast-paced thriller bears all the hallmarks of pop entertainment. It’s a blockbuster movie in the waiting.”
– Time Out, New York
“Jilliane Hoffman is the latest and one of the most promising of a long line of female writers with legal backgrounds who are adding their energy and smarts to the courtroom thriller field. In her fiction debut, Hoffman makes C. J. Townsend tough and touching, as believable as a victim as she is as a vindicator. Townsend works out a nasty, exciting scenario for revenge that should thrill and delight anyone who has come to believe that real retribution is beyond their grasp.”
– Chicago Tribune
“Retribution is an exceptional debut novel. Ms. Hoffman develops her characters to such a degree that the reader feels every emotion that C.J. feels. We empathize with her completely. We hold our breath when she does and feel her panic that dream-the climax is chillingly good. An absolutely remarkable first outing.”
— Rendevous Magazine
“The new star in the legal horizon is Jilliane Hoffman, if Retribution is any indication of her skills. If the answer is yes and more books as great as this follows, fans will discuss her name along side of Patricia Cornwell, Linda Fairstein and Perri O’Shaugnessy. The characters are well developed (especially the villain and avenging angel), and the storyline is original with spellbinding action.”
– Midwest Book Review
RETRIBUTION is a Top Ten BookSense Pick and is a main selection of the Book of the Month, the Literary Guild, the Doubleday Book Club and the Mystery Book of the Month Club. Retribution was recently selected as the International Book of the Month in twenty countries.
CHAPTER 1
JUNE 1988 NEW YORK CITY
CHLOE LARSON WAS, as usual, in a mad and blinding rush. She had all of ten minutes to change into something suitable to wear to The Phantom of the Opera – currently sold out a year in advance and the hottest show on Broadway – put on a face, and catch the 6:52 P.M. train out of Bayside into the city, which was, in itself, a three-minute car ride from her apartment to the station. That left her with really only seven minutes. She whipped through her overstuffed closet that she had meant to clean out last winter, and quickly settled on a black crepe skirt and matching jacket with a pink camisole. Clutching one shoe in her hand, she muttered Michael’s name under her breath, while she frantically tossed aside shoe after shoe from the pile on the closet floor, at last finally finding the black patent-leather pump’s mate.
She hurried down the hall to the bathroom, pulling on her heels as she walked. It was not supposed to happen like this , she thought as she flipped her long blond hair upside down, quickly combing it with one hand, while simultaneously brushing her teeth with the other. She was supposed to be relaxed and carefree, giddy with anticipation, her mind free of distractions when the question to end all questions was finally asked of her. Not rushing to and fro, on almost no sleep, from intense classes and study groups with other really anxious people, the New York State Bar Exam oppressively intruding upon her every thought. She spit out the mouthwash, spritzed on Chanel No. 5, and practically ran to the front door. Four minutes. She had four minutes, or else she would have to catch the 7:22 and then she would probably miss the curtain. An image of a dapper and annoyed Michael, waiting outside the Majestic Theater, rose in hand, box in pocket, checking his watch, flashed into her mind.
It was not supposed to happen like this. She was supposed to be more prepared. She hurried through the courtyard to her car, her fingers rushing to put on the earrings she had grabbed off the nightstand in her room. From the second story above, she felt the eyes of her strange and reclusive neighbor upon her, moving over her from behind his living room window, as they did every day. Just watching as she made her way through the courtyard into the busy world and on with her life. She shook off the cold, uncomfortable feeling as quickly as it had come and climbed into her car. This was no time to think about Marvin. This was no time to think of the bar exam or bar review classes or study groups. It was time to think only of her answer to the question to end all questions that Michael was surely going to ask her tonight.
Three minutes. She had only three minutes, she thought, as she cheated the corner stop sign, barely making the light up on Northern Boulevard.
The deafening sound of the train whistle was upon her now as she ran up the platform stairs two at a time. The doors closed on her just as she waved a thank you to the conductor for waiting and made her way into the car. She sat back against the ripped red vinyl seat and caught her breath from that last run through the parking lot and up the stairs. The train pulled out of the station, headed for Manhattan. She had barely made it.
Just relax and calm down now , Chloe, she told herself, looking at Queens as it passed her by in the fading light of day. Because tonight, after all, was going to be a very special night. Of that she was certain.
THE WIND HAD PICKED UP and the thick evergreen bushes that hid his motionless body from sight began to rustle and sway. Just to the west, lightning lit the sky, and jagged streaks of white and purple flashed behind the brilliant Manhattan skyline. There was little doubt that it was going to pour – and soon. Buried deep in the dark underbrush, his jaw clenched tight and his neck stiffened at the rumble of thunder. Wouldn’t that just put the icing on the cake, though? A thunderstorm while he sat out here waiting for that bitch to finally get home. Crouched low under the thick mange of bushes that surrounded the apartment building there was no breeze, and the heat had become so stifling under the heavy clown mask that he could almost feel the flesh melting off his face. The smell of rotting leaves and moist dirt overwhelmed the evergreen, and he tried hard not to breathe in through his nose. Something small scurried by his ear, and he forced his mind to stop imagining the different kinds of vermin that might, right now, be crawling on his person, up his sleeves, in his work boots. He fingered the sharp, jagged blade anxiously with gloved fingertips.
There were no signs of life in the deserted courtyard. All was quiet, but for the sound of the wind blowing through the branches of the lumbering oak trees, and the constant hum and rattle of a dozen or more air conditioners, precariously suspended up above him from their windowsills. Thick, full hedges practically grew over the entire side of the building, and he knew that, even from the apartments above, he could still not be seen. The carpet of weeds and decaying leaves crunched softly under his weight as he pulled himself up and moved slowly through the bushes toward her window.
She had left her blinds open. The glow from the streetlamp filtered through the hedges, slicing dim ribbons of light across the bedroom. Inside, all was dark and still. Her bed was unmade and her closet door was open. Shoes – high heels, sandals, sneakers – lined the closet floor. Next to her television, a stuffed-bear collection was displayed on the crowded dresser. Dozens of black marble eyes glinted back at him in the amber slivers of light from the window. The red glow on her alarm clock read 12:33 A.M.
His eyes knew exactly where to look. They quickly scanned down the dresser, and he licked his dry lips. Colored bras and matching lacy panties lay tossed about in the open drawer.
His hand went to his jeans and he felt his hard-on rise back to life. His eyes moved fast to the rocking chair where she had hung her white lace nightie. He closed his eyes and stroked himself faster, recalling in his mind exactly how she had looked last night. Her firm, full tits bouncing up and down while she fucked her boyfriend in that see-through white nightie. Her head thrown back in ecstasy, and her curved, full mouth open wide with pleasure. She was a bad girl, leaving her blinds open. Very bad. His hand moved faster still. Now he envisioned how she would look with those long legs wrapped in nylon thigh-highs and strapped into a pair of the high heels from her closet. And his own hands, locked around their black spikes, hoisting her legs up, up, up in the air and then spreading them wide apart while she screamed. First in fear, and then in pleasure. Her blond mane fanned out under her head on the bed, her arms strapped tight to the headboard. The lacy crotch of her pretty pink panties and her thick blond bush, exposed right by his mouth. Yum-yum! He moaned loudly in his head and his breath hissed as it escaped through the tiny slit in the center of his contorted red smile. He stopped himself before he climaxed and opened his eyes again. Her bedroom door sat ajar, and he could see that the rest of the apartment was dark and empty. He sank back down to his spot under the evergreens. Sweat rolled down his face, and the latex suctioned fast to the skin. Thunder rumbled again, and he felt his cock slowly shrivel back down inside his pants.
She was supposed to have been home hours ago. Every single Wednesday night she’s home no later then 10:45 P.M. But tonight, tonight, of all nights, she’s late. He bit down hard on his lower lip, reopening the cut he had chewed on an hour earlier, tasting the salty blood that flooded his mouth. He fought back the almost overwhelming urge to scream.
Goddamn mother-fucking bitch! He could not help but be disappointed. He had been so excited, so thrilled , just counting off the minutes. At 10:45 she would walk right past him, only steps away, in her tight gym clothes. The lights would go on above him, and he would rise slowly to the window. She would purposely leave the blinds open, and he would watch. Watch as she pulled her sweaty T-shirt over her head and slid her tight shorts over her naked thighs. Watch as she would get herself ready for bed. Ready for him!
Like a giddy schoolboy on his first date, he had giggled to himself merrily in the bushes. How far will we go tonight, my dear? First base? Second? All the way? But those initial, exciting minutes had ticked by and here he still was, two hours later – squatting like a vagrant with unspeakable vermin crawling all over him, probably breeding in his ears. The anticipation that had fueled him, that had fed the fantasy, was now gone. His disappointment had slowly turned into anger, an anger that had grown more intense with each passing minute. He clenched his teeth hard and his breath hissed. No, siree, he was not excited anymore. He was not thrilled. He was beyond annoyed.
He sat chewing his lip in the dark for what seemed like another hour, but really was only a matter of minutes. Lightning lit the sky and the thunder rumbled even louder and he knew then that it was time to go. Grudgingly, he removed his mask, gathered his bag of tricks, and extricated himself from the bushes. He knew that there would be a next time.
Headlights beamed down the dark street just then, and he quickly ducked off the cement pathway back behind the hedges. A sleek silver BMW pulled up fast in front of the complex, double-parking no less than thirty feet from his hiding spot.
Minutes passed like hours, but finally the passenger door opened, and two long and luscious legs, their delicate feet wrapped in high-heeled black patent-leather pumps, swung out. He knew instantly that it was her, and an inexplicable feeling of calm came over him.
It must be fate.
Then the Clown sank back under the evergreens. To wait.
Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman
Book: Hardcover | 9.01 x 5.98in | 464 pages
ISBN: 0399151273 | Jan 2004 | Putnam Adult
Jacket Price: $24.95 U.S.
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