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4/5 Stars!
Plot twists drive this suspenseful read right up to the last page.
With a nod to Strangers on a Train (and at times, Throw Mama from the Train) Eye for Eye centers around the biblical idea of revenge—you lose what you take—in this case, life.
A child murdered at summer camp, a young girl killed in a car accident and a college coed dated-raped appear to be unrelated crimes that span decades. The summer camp murder is pushed from memory for most except for those who remember for the cruelest… and most painful reasons.
Affluent Roy and Susie Cruise lost their daughter because of the carelessness of someone texting while driving. They’re broken and struggle to hang onto their sanity and marriage. The driver who caused the accident that cost them their only child also dies as a result of his injuries, but Susie feels there was no justice for her daughter.
The guy who raped Tom and Deb Wise’s daughter walks out of court a free man, acquitted despite the drugs found in Kristy Wise’s system. The son of a senator carries on with his life while his victim is fearful and withdrawn and never far from her parents. She didn’t get justice for what was done to her.
It’s the mothers of these two young women who crave modern-day vigilante justice. Their husbands’ only crime was loving them and being willing to do anything for them… in the beginning.
This is not a read where you take sides or get behind a favorite character. I felt sorry for Roy because he was so deftly manipulated, but even that doesn’t excuse him as he seeks justice for his own reasons.
Eye for Eye is deftly written with well-drawn characters in a twisty plot that keeps you on the edge, waiting for the next shoe to drop. Story delivery is unique with an anonymous narrator whose surprising identity is revealed at the end and serves as the basis for book 2 of The Talion Series.
I recommend this read not only for lovers of thrillers, suspense, and mysteries but also those who go for psychological head games.
Enjoy!
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“NEW TWIST ON STRANGERS ON A TRAIN”
~ THE SUNDAY TIMES
Roy and Susie are on a skiing holiday, trying to take a break from the constant reminders of their daughter, tragically killed by a careless driver. Out of the blue they meet Deb and Tom, another couple with a tragic past and a shocking proposal to put things right.
As the bodies accumulate, secrets are revealed and alliances crumble. Ultimate survival depends on following the rules for a perfect murder. And the first rule is… leave no singing bones.
Book Details:
Genre: Crime & Mystery
Published by: Talion Publishing
Publication Date: June 22nd 2019
Number of Pages: 400
ISBN: 1999318803 (ISBN13: 9781999318802)
Series: Talion #1
Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads
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Read an excerpt:
When I try to piece together how this whole mess began, a part of me thinks it may have started over thirty years ago. At least the seeds were planted that far back, in the early 1980s. What happened then, at that summer camp in Texas, set the stage for everything that was to come.
Odd, how something so remote in time and geography continues to impact me here, today.
Sometimes I try to imagine her, how she felt—that eleven year-old girl—as she ran, stumbling and tripping through the woods that night. I try to put myself in her shoes. When I do, I wonder if she was frightened.
Did she understand the consequences of what she’d gotten herself into? I imagine it felt otherworldly to her, like a dream. But not a good dream. No, one of the bad ones—the ones that make your heart machine-gun as you try to outrun some dark thing that’s chasing you. But the faster you try to run, the slower you go, your legs feeling leaden, clumsy, useless.
Panic sets in. Tears of frustration form. Fear takes hold and won’t let go. You open your mouth to scream but realize, to your horror, that you’re paralyzed. It’s not that you can’t scream; you can’t even breathe. Not a dream—a nightmare.
Then again, all that may simply be my imagination. It could just be me projecting what I might have felt onto Joan. Maybe she wasn’t scared at all.
True, it was dark out. The night smelled of rain, but there was no lightning, only the far-off rumble of thunder hinting at a distant storm. There were no trail lights, no visibility but for the moon peeking out intermittently from behind a patchwork of clouds. But, Joan had been down this trail before. She was running toward the main cabin.
She had been at Camp Willow for almost two full weeks. She had been up and down that trail at least ten times a day, every day. Of course, that was during the day, and always with her buddy, or a camp counselor (the children called them troop leaders). Joan had never been on the trail at night. And never alone.
Maybe I imagine Joan was scared because, as an adult, I believe that she should have been. I would have been terrified.
***
Excerpt from Eye For Eye by JK Franko. Copyright © 2019 by JK Franko. Reproduced with permission from JK Franko. All rights reserved.
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