Vengeance is about exacting revenge for crimes gone unpunished, cases in which the police and courts were either unable or incapable of delivering justice.Criminals were either not charged or acquitted due to shoddy police investigation or devious manipulation of court proceedings and jury emotions.
Rob Carus was cycling back from a day out with his fiancée.She had accepted his marriage proposal and they were heady with wedding plans and celebratory drinks.They came across a section of the road that was narrowed due to construction works along the road.They rode single-file; then suddenly a SUV appeared behind them.The SUV driver was impatient to overtake them though there was hardly any space to do so.He kept honking and pressuring the cyclists, and squeezed the vehicle through, swiping Rob’s elbow.Rob was furious, and flung his plastic water bottle at the window of the vehicle.The SUV driver retaliated and swerved, striking the cyclists.
As a result, Rob was injured badly and his fiancée died.The SUV driver had driven off, but Rob had taken down his vehicle number.The SUV belonged to Richard Shepherd, a prominent attorney in town.It was therefore not unexpected for the District Attorney’s office to rule that there was insufficient evidence to file charges and the case was dropped from the police files. Rob took Shepherd to court, suing him for wrongful death.Shepherd, backed by his firm of lawyers, of course won the case whereas Rob was portrayed as a greedy man, seeking publicity and financial gain from the death of his fiancée
Rob was later approached by Trey Wright, who introduced him to the Circle.The Circle was a small group of people who had suffered similarly as Rob.They were unable to obtain justice for their loved ones who had died at the hands of criminals who had eventually escaped without any charges.The concept behind The Circle was that the members would exchange enemies.Each member would kill the enemy for another member.Being unrelated to the crime and the criminal, police suspicion would not fall on the Circle members.
Rob accepted the invitation to join the Circle, and his wish was soon fulfilled. Shepherd was killed, shot down in front of his house and the police were unable to find the perpetrator.To Rob, it was sweet revenge.He had to however, complete his part of the bargain.He was assigned to kill a woman called Shannon Mayer.
Here the story turned terribly inane.Rob fell in love with Shannon and could not carry out his task.He told Wright that Shannon was a goodwoman; Wright must have been mistaken.
Before long Rob discovered Shannon ’s past – she had been married to a man whom she claimed she had killed in self-defense.Furthermore, he found out that Shannon ’s husband was Wright’s father, and Wright had accused Shannon of murdering his father for his money.
Rob confronted Wright and threatened to tell Shannon about the Circle.He rushed to Shannon ’s store to protect her, fearing that Wright might attack her.Rob soon discovered the truth about Shannon .She had indeed murdered Wright’s father, and bribed a witness to lie for her.During the struggle between Wright and Rob, Shannon got hold of a candlestick to strike Wright and kept hitting him until he was dead.She was going to shoot Rob when he was saved by someone who came by -a Circle member sent by Wright to complete the task that Rob had failed at.
This could have been a great book, but then the story became somewhat dippy.The protagonist seemed to have recovered so rapidly.Well, maybe it could due to that that his fiancée had been avenged and he found a woman to love.But with a woman he was supposed to kill?Could he not have exercised extra caution?Rob appeared to have forgotten the frustrations and pain that he had earlier felt.He had reneged on his part of the bargain, forgetting that some other member in the Circle was waiting for their turn at savoring vengeance. He also seemed to berather dense, when it came to Shannon.She was edgy with her past; she had nasty tantrums exposing the other side of her personality – mean and harsh. How could he describe such a person as perfect?In my opinion, Rob should have been shot along with her – that would be the perfect ending.