Pedestrian debut thriller about a rape victim who tries her assailant in court. Chloe Larson is a law student on Long Island in 1988, and outside her apartment, a man watches her every move, including her hot trysts with a boyfriend. One stormy night, the watcher breaks into her apartment, rapes her, then brutally carves her up with a serrated blade. She barely survives. So far, so familiar--and so flat, with Hoffman laying on the clichÉs and brand names as description. Then comes the first of many twists. It's September 2000 and Miami state attorney C.J. Townsend faces defendant William Bantling, who may be "Cupid," a serial killer who rapes his victims, then cuts out their hearts. C.J. spots a scar on Bantling's arm and crumbles: he's the man who raped her when she was Chloe Larson, before she altered her identity and fled Long Island. C.J. decides to nail this vermin and bends the law by hiding this part of her past, even from law enforcement agent Dominick Falconetti, with whom she becomes romantically involved. Hoffman adds a modicum of suspense by throwing several roadblocks in the way of C.J.'s quest for retribution. The FBI wants to usurp the case. The defense attorney has evidence that could derail it. And Bantling slowly realizes C.J. is Chloe. (The tired and offensive notion that Bantling may be a frustrated, woman-hating homosexual comes up, but is wisely scrapped--as the pointless and gratuitous homophobic thoughts of one of the investigators should have been.) C.J. lands her case, but learns she may have convicted the wrong man. In a burst of last-act plotting, Hoffman lets matters unravel, then provides a satisfying tie-up. Although criminal attorney Hoffman devises an interesting premise and springs some surprises, her flat prose fails to lift her work above the ordinary. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

What might have been a run-of-the-mill slasher thriller is raised to a new level by the skilled writing and obvious real-life expertise of first-time author Hoffman, a former Florida assistant state attorney. Chloe Larson, an attractive blond about to take the New York bar exam, is brutally raped by a creep in a clown's mask and left for dead. After recovering from a breakdown, Chloe starts a new life in Florida, becoming the assistant chief prosecutor in the State Attorney's Office in Miami. The safety of her new life crumbles, however, when she is called on to prosecute "Cupid," a serial murderer who preys on beautiful blond women, cutting out their hearts and leaving their bodies in grotesquely provocative poses. Recognizing Cupid as her rapist, Chloe vows to send him to the death chamber. But is her goal justice or vendetta? Is Cupid really guilty? The realistic procedural details, tight prose, and sympathetic characters combine for an impressive debut that will please Michael Connelly fans. Strongly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/03; with a $300,000 marketing budget and a 250,000-copy first printing, Putnam is expecting big things for Retribution; advanced reading copies were handed out at BookExpo America.-Ed.]-Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Lib., Hammond, IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

With this graphic serial killer/courtroom thriller, debut novelist Hoffman joins the lengthening list of high-powered legal ladies whose professional expertise serves as the basis for authentic, insider crime fiction. Blond, beautiful law student Chloe Larson is looking forward to a great future with successful New York businessman Michael Decker. Her expectations are shattered forever after a madman in a clown mask rapes and tortures her until she is near death. She survives physically, but psychologically slips into an extended mental breakdown. Twelve years later she's dyed her hair mousy brown and become unassuming, hardworking C.J. Townsend, assistant chief of the Miami Dade State Attorney's office. A suspiciously lucky break nets serial killer suspect William Bantling, and C.J. takes over the prosecution as part of her normal workload. When Bantling stands up in court and speaks, C.J. realizes he's the man who raped her years ago. C.J. learns that the statute of limitations has run out on her rape and that her involvement in that case might very well cause Bantling to be freed on a technicality. Love interest Special Agent Dominick Falconetti knows there is something seriously wrong as C.J.'s mental state begins to deteriorate, but she brushes off his concern and immerses herself in her work on the case. The far-fetched resolution will throw some readers, but Hoffman compensates with a compellingly horrific villain and an undeniably exciting final confrontation. (Jan. 5) Forecast: Linda Fairstein (whose own novel, The Kills, goes head to head with this one in January) broke the ground and set the standard for this subgenre, and Hoffman fits right in and ups the ante with an original premise and more-graphic-than-usual violence. This was a big, six-figure, two-book deal; the film rights to the novel went for a million bucks. Add a hefty marketing budget, multiple foreign rights sales, Literary Guild, Book of the Month Club and Doubleday Book Club sales, and it all adds up to blockbuster. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Hoffman comes on to the scene with a vengeance in her debut novel. It's 1988, and Chloe, fresh out of law school and cramming for the New York State bar exam, has her future shattered when she is brutally raped and maimed; she blows off the exam and her would-be fiance because she is so haunted by the crime and the indelible mark it has left on her life. Cut to 2000; there is a serial rapist on the loose who doesn't just injure his victims, he carves out their hearts and leaves them for dead in conspicuous places. On the case is compassionate officer Dominick Falconetti of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and when a suspect is found, Dominick is teamed with C. J. Townsend of the Major Crimes Unit of the state's attorney's office. Together the talented cop (male) and aggressive prosecutor (female) build the case against the creep, but there is an urgency to C. J.'s actions that makes Dominick wonder about her motivation. This is a fine first novel, with twists and turns of the highest order and an ending that is downright breathtaking. --Mary Frances Wilkens Copyright 2003 Booklist