Eye of Vengeance

by Jonathon King

Book Overview

With a sniper targeting Florida's worst criminals, a reporter must choose between revenge and the law in this thriller from the Edgar Award-winning author. As a reporter for the South Florida Daily... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525949534
• ISBN13: 9780525949534
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Superbly wrought thriller is a tale of morality

Veteran crime reporter Nick Mullins is having a bad day. Still understandably distraught over the death of his beloved wife and one of his twin daughters at the hands of a drunken driver, Nick is called out to report on the sniper murder of a partiularly odious ex-con who is out on the streets because of a technicality and liberal judges who never met a criminal they didn't feel sorry for. Nick is by nature a taciturn man with a short temper and a big mouth when angered. His editor changed the lead paragraph in yesterday's story. Nick constantly hovers on the edge of insubordination and being fired. But he's a fine reporter and gets a bit more leeway than a lesser soul might get . . . still he's walking on thin ice and knows it. Nick's day is made no better when he learns that the drunk who killed his wife and daughter is back on the streets again, released early from his already short sentence. Again, the wheels of justice were manipulated to put this killer away on reduced charges and a short prison stretch made even shorter. All this on his mind, out on the streets covering the murder, Nick spots a thin, cadaverous detective looking up and away from the body still laying at his feet. Nick, acting on a reporter's hunch, climbs a fire escape and mounts a nearby roof, thinking this is where the killing shot came from. Mo Hargrave, the hostile detective is soon there as well. The two men do not strike up a close camaraderie. Yet, as the bodies pile up, Millins and Hagrave begin to work together in a strained way that gives way to a unique relationship. In between running off to crime scenes, Mullins tries to maintain a relationship with his nine year old daugher (who comes across more like a teenager, but that's a minor quibble). Author Jonathan King does a terrific job of descibing Nick's mental state as he constantly reviews all the things he failed at as a husband and father while pursuing his reportorial craft. Where so many authors fail at creating compelling backstory, King succeeds. As it turns out, Nick Mullins has a very real connection with the sniper and his victims. The connection is developed slowly, like the creation of a fine sauce. Again, King unwraps the connection slowly, all the time providing he backstory of the sniper and Mullins' reporting. The climax comes when Nick has to make a choice: between the satisfaction he would derive from seeing his loved ones' killer die or serving a higher moral calling. Yes, the climax becomes a bit predictable, but no less thrilling. Jonathon King has written a great thriller. The characters, good guys and bad, live and breathe. The plot never misses a beat and the backstories carry their own weight. A great read for a quiet evening or a long flight. Jerry

Extraordinary!!

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.

fantastic stand alone thriller

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.

"Get in. Kill Quickly. And get out without being seen."

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.