Rating: 
Summary: What a ride!!!!
Review: Buckle your seat beats because this book will take you on the ride of your life. Without a doubt, one you can not put down!You will be forced to live through the personal agony of Chloe while she fights for her own sanity and at the same time continues her search for answers to her violent assault. It is not only a novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat in suspense but will also reduce you to tears as she struggles to put her past behind her. I applaud Ms. Hoffman as I anxiously await for her next book; hopefully it will not be a long wait.
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Summary: A fast-paced tale of murder.
Review: C. J. Townsend is the no nonsense prosecutor who never loses her cool during the tough cases, until she meets the accused serial killer 'Cupid'...C. J.'s new case should not be anything different from her previous cases, a vicious killer with a thirst for violence. The evidence is overwhelming considering the wealthy young man is found with the body in his trunk. This case should be open and shut, but a shocking discovery unlocks a terrifying secret from C. J.'s past. As the case twist and turns, C. J. must work overtime to find closure with her past and hold herself together long enough to put a monster away forever. 'Retribution' is one of the BEST first novels I have read in years. The interesting lead character and fast-paced plot grabbed hold early on and didn't let go. Smooth writing and shocking surprises made this page-turner even easier to stay up all night reading until I reached the explosive climax. Jilliane Hoffman has written an instant bestseller that fans of polished courtroom thrillers will love. Expect to see great things from Ms. Hoffman, who may just prove to be a new leader in popular fiction. A MUST read! Nick Gonnella
Rating: 
Summary: Very Powerful Debut
Review: Wow. This is dark - very dark - and disturbing and really well done. Chloe Larson is a beautiful young law student who suffers a brutal rape at the hands of a sadist who leaves her for dead. She survives, but is left scarred, both physically and emotionally. Twelve years later she's evolved into C. J. Townsend, crackerjack prosecutor in Miami who lands the biggest case of her career when a serial killer known as Cupid is caught in her jurisdiction. Cupid's calling card is that after torturing his victims - all young, beautiful blondes - he claims his trophy, their hearts. Townsend is determined to get this monster the death penalty and everything seems to be working in her favor, until she meets the defendant and her nightmares become real again. The court process is fascinating in Hoffman's hands; she is a former Florida assistant state attorney and it shows. The book could have used better editing; there are some minor errors and some repetitiousness, but nothing major enough to pull me out of the story. The violence is graphic without being gratuitous, with details of some really heinous crimes, and the ending is superb. This is one very powerful debut novel.
Rating:
Summary: A first novel that is Amazingly good ..A Must Read!!
Review: Some novels are charactor driven, i.e Sanford's Lucas Davenport, Patterson's Alex Cross and Cronwell's beloved Dr.. Usally when the same author writes a novel without the charactor, it dissapoints. I doubt this will happen with this author. Within 75 pages, I said to myself, Lord, this woman can really write. The narrative is so good , it is like watching a really good movie. You are inside the story, with vivid pictures of what is unfolding.
I bought this book in an airport for a flying read and had not seen an reviews. Lucky for me, as some of the readers reviews on Amazon really shocked me. A "one star book", "boring". Impossible to fathom. Hard to believe they read the book!!! The book grabs up by the seat of your pants and never lets you go and the surprise at the end of Section 2, caught me completely by surprise. Write more please Ms Hoffman, you are truly gifted.
Rating: 
Summary: Would give it zero stars if Amazon would let me
Review: RETRIBUTION is the biggest, most overhyped disappointment since Stephen Carter's THE EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK. The buzz surrounding the acquisition of this title was huge: 7-figure deal, movie rights sold, six-figure first printing, etc...then the reviews, ranging from awful to average, started coming in. The characters are two-dimensional, the story arc bloated, and the conclusion so implausible that by the final pages the book's already tenuous credibility vanishes--much like the three hours of my life that I'll never get back reading this amateurish effort. Seven figures? For this book? There's a publisher about to take a serious bath on this turkey. Edit: I see this book is now on track to sell a whopping ONE-TENTH of its announced hardcover first printing of 250,000. I was wrong in saying the publisher was going to take a bath: Putnam is in the middle of a head-to-toe fully submerged drowning. Yet another example of the publishing "gurus" underestimating the intelligence of the reading public. A piece of crap with a $300,000 marketing budget is still a piece of crap.
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Summary: THE GREATEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Review: AS A SPEED READER I READ MORE BAD THAN GOOD BOOKS. I READ BOOKS FOR ME AND NOT ANYONE ELSE. AND I RARELY EVER REVIEW ANY BOOK. IF IT IS A BAD BOOK I KNOW SOMEONE OUT THERE THAT THINKS THERE REVIEW IS ALWAYS RIGHT. SOME BOOKS THAT I DIDN'T LIKE, OTHERS DID. ANY ONE WHO READS THIS BOOK WITH THE INTENTION OF A GOOD BOOK WILL SEE THE TALENT THIS WRITER HAS. THREE PUBLISHERS BIDDED TO PUBLISHER THIS BOOK AND THE MOVIE RIGHTS HAVE ALSO BEEN SOLD. IT HAS EVERYTHING I WANTED AND I READ A LOT. MY WIFE OWNS A BOOKSTORE AND EVERY ONE WHO HAS READ THIS BOOK HAS A FIVE STAR REVIEW. READ THIS BOOK AND DECIDE FOR YOUR SELF. I'VE SAID IT'S THE BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY,[SO FAR]. IT LOOKS LIKE ALL BAD REVIEWS HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK FOR ENTERTAINMENT VALUE AND IT A FREE COUNTRY AND THE IDIOTS MUST HAVE A PEDESTAL BUT WAY SO LOW. HEY, READ THIS BOOK AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT SEND IT TO ME.
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Summary: Needs an Editor and Common Sense
Review: I bought this book at Borders and liked the large typeface. That's about it. The plot has unbelievable holes, and the writing is below average. In one conversation the protagonist tells a colleague that she has a profound conflict of interest, but she's OK with it, and she doesn't think she'll be found out. She recognizes the criminal who raped her, but she's on the case and not letting on. Of course, the first thing to do in such a circumstance is to tell someone else, as anyone without an ounce of common sense would do. Even worse, it is badly told. Just like the rest of the story.
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Summary: WORST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Review: If you want to read a book with NO suspense, NO action, lots of BORING CHAPTERS that don't lead anywhere - and if you're in the moods for lots of wonderfuly bad writing (and man is it bad), well, this book is for you. Has to be one of the worst books I've read to date. Great opening chapter leads no where. I have no idea where the positive reviews are coming from because, honestly, this is really, really bad. If you must read this, check it out from the library.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointment of the year
Review: Jilliane Hoffman's "Retribution" is being hyped as the most enthralling debut since Scott Turow's "Presumed Innocent." I fell for the bait, but hope to save others from the same mistake. While Hoffman and Turow share a background in the legal system, the key difference is that Turow is a superb writer. Hoffman, sadly, should have kept her day job: she can't write at all. Her characters are one-dimensional at best (and that dimension is uniformly unpleasant). Her pace is plodding, and there are so many upscale brand names studding the pages that she apparently has mistaken them for adjectives and nouns. (No one answers a cell phone in this book; they "pick up the Nextel.") The touted plot twists are telegraphed from the get-go. The protagonists' blatant racism and homophobia, and the gratuitous sadism of the crimes, only add to the bad taste this book leaves behind. Skip it!
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: See book summary above.
I just finished reading 'Retribution'. Fantastic. It definitely has bestseller written all over it. From the graphic descriptions, to the evil that out does Hannibal Lecter, this book really satisfies. The knowledgable Jilliane Hoffman will, most assuredly, be on my must read list.
Highly recommended
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