Review: RETRIBUTION, Richard Anderson

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 428 KB
• Print Length: 336 pages
• Publisher: Scribe (July 2, 2018)
• Publication Date: July 2, 2018
• Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07CMDDKZ3

Synopsis  (Amazon)

A rural-crime novel about finding out how to survive and surviving what you find.

In a small country town, an act of revenge causes five lives to collide. Early one Christmas morning, Graeme Sweetapple, a man down on his luck, is heading home with a truck full of stolen steers when he comes across an upended ute that has hit a tree. He is about to get involved with Luke, an environmental protestor who isn’t what he seems; a washed-up local politician, Caroline Statham, who is searching for a sense of purpose, but whose businessman husband seems to be sliding into corruption; and Carson, who is wild, bound to no one, and determined to escape her circumstances.

Into their midst comes Retribution, a legendary horse worth a fortune. Her disappearance triggers a cycle of violence and retaliation that threatens the whole community. As tensions build, they must answer one question: is true retribution ever possible — or even desirable?

My Take

".. it was midnight on Christmas Eve, the best night of the year for stealing..."

Graeme Sweetapple is driving some stolen steers back to his property late on Christmas Eve when he comes across an accident. The young people have been participating in a protest at a local picketed coal mine belonging to millionaire Bob Statham. He organises an ambulance for them, but as he leaves he is given some explosives that the young people have with them.

We also meet Luke who has been participating in the protest, but is actually working undercover for the mine's management.
The third main character is Carson who has been working at the local supermarket, and has actually met the mine owner, whose wife is an ex-politician.
These five characters are central to the main action of the story and provide the links between the plot lines.

The author successfully brings these characters together in a couple of unlikely themes: the theft of a thoroughbred horse, and the disruption of activities at the coal mine.

This was the debut title by this author and well worth the read.

My rating: 4.3

I've also read BOXED