Retribution Named International Book of the Month

Posted on February 20, 2004

A woman about to graduate from law school, violently attacked in her own apartment by a masked stalker, survives and becomes a tough state prosecutor is the center of Retribution, the latest selection as the International Book of the Month by the DirectGroup division of Bertelsmann AG. The author of Retribution is first time novelist Jilliane Hoffman, a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami, Florida, who spent years dealing directly with the victims of some of the most horrifying crimes of violence and prosecuting the criminals. Ms. Hoffman also was Regional Legal Advisor to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (the state equivalent of the FBI).

The International Book of the Month is a global program of the DirectGroup to provide club members with one pre-selected title that has been chosen by the editors of clubs in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. The previous International Book of the Month selections were No Second Chance by Harlan Coben, A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter and A Blade of Grass by Lewis DeSoto.

Retribution begins with a horrifying attack on Chloe Larson after returning home from an argument with her boyfriend. Physically scarred and emotionally shattered, she loses everything, including her dreams of becoming a lawyer as well as her confidence. Years later, however, she reinvents herself as C.J. Townsend, a Miami state attorney, who is called upon to serve as lead prosecutor in the trial of a serial killer nicknamed "Cupid" for the lurid ways he stages his crime scenes. C.J. is determined to see this murderer put to death, even if it means she must compromise the law and her own strict ethics.

Hoffman grew up on Long Island and attended St. John's University. After majoring in Communications she attended law school and interned at both the Queens and Brooklyn District Attorney's Offices in New York. In her final year of law school, Hoffman was offered a job as an Assistant State Attorney under Janet Reno with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. Hoffman lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., with her husband and two children.