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Retribution
“How hard can it be?” asks down-on-his-luck ex-cop Neal Devlin when he takes a plum job as the security director of a Fortune 500 company headquartered in a forty-story Manhattan office tower.
This hard:
In less than two weeks Devlin will discover that a killer is targeting the company’s CEO and that the building is accessible to entry and sabotage at a hundred critical points. With the help of a feisty and tough-talking female computer specialist and an ex-con, Devlin struggles to secure the building’s severely vulnerable security system.
And in less than three weeks, after a series of mysterious “accidental” deaths of certain employees, the killer will be revealed as a world-class assassin, expert at penetrating the most sophisticated security system.
A highly sensitive deal-in-the-works prevents Devlin from going to the police, though all his instincts scream for him to do so.
With time running out and bodies piling up, Devlin finds himself trapped at the summit of the skyscraper pitting his skills against a well-armed madman with nothing left to lose.
Retribution features a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at high-tech surveillance and executive protection; an affecting portrait of a hard-edged loner, Neal Devlin, who believes he has just one more chance to get it right; and a frightening bathyscaph descent into a modern corporation where “acceptable causalities” has secured a foothold.
At once an electrifying cat-and-mouse thriller and a parable of cost/benefit accounting taken to its extreme, this is a page-turning fiction at its best.
This hard:
In less than two weeks Devlin will discover that a killer is targeting the company’s CEO and that the building is accessible to entry and sabotage at a hundred critical points. With the help of a feisty and tough-talking female computer specialist and an ex-con, Devlin struggles to secure the building’s severely vulnerable security system.
And in less than three weeks, after a series of mysterious “accidental” deaths of certain employees, the killer will be revealed as a world-class assassin, expert at penetrating the most sophisticated security system.
A highly sensitive deal-in-the-works prevents Devlin from going to the police, though all his instincts scream for him to do so.
With time running out and bodies piling up, Devlin finds himself trapped at the summit of the skyscraper pitting his skills against a well-armed madman with nothing left to lose.
Retribution features a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at high-tech surveillance and executive protection; an affecting portrait of a hard-edged loner, Neal Devlin, who believes he has just one more chance to get it right; and a frightening bathyscaph descent into a modern corporation where “acceptable causalities” has secured a foothold.
At once an electrifying cat-and-mouse thriller and a parable of cost/benefit accounting taken to its extreme, this is a page-turning fiction at its best.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1995
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Michael Grant
19 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name.
I am a former member of the NYPD and a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
I live in knoxville TN with my wife, Elizabeth, and our Golden Retriever, Beau.
I am a former member of the NYPD and a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
I live in knoxville TN with my wife, Elizabeth, and our Golden Retriever, Beau.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 20, 2012
Although an older book, I thought it had very good information regarding building, computer, and personal protection security. I thought it failed as a novel by taking a literary ploy of having a single super-multi-talented and psychotic antagonist as the driver of the story line. This antagonist had extreme Vietnam Special Forces skills which he was using two decades later in civilian life. In addition, he had access to controlled explosives and apparently had the ability to fund those acquisitions. Those skills were combined with very high level computer operator and programming skills. In the mid 90's, most of the mini or mainframe systems in use would have required command line and shell scripting capabilities that were proprietary to the individual system in use. DOS based and early Windows based computers were not what was being described as the systems in use here. It's not every highly skilled special forces soldier trained as a sniper and explosives expert, who also can set down at a terminal and take over a system and manipulate it with the dexterity of a daily system manager, while he is under the stress of conflict, and has killed a few people to get to the chair in front of the screen.
The last 1/3 of the book was focused on the suspenseful build up to the final action sequence where everything except the final outcome was orchestrated successfully by the antagonist. Had that one person's (antagonist's) role been distributed among a well organized group which included hackers and operatives, then the book would have had a more substantial feel of believability and might have had a more suspenseful tone during the action sequence.
A second leading significant character in the book was a corporate VP whose motives were revealed to include a directed take over attempt of the CEO position. There's nothing wrong with that pursuit in the literary sense. But the character portrait of the individual was that of a woman who was extraordinarily attractive, possessed a maniacal directed drive for success, and who was extremely devious and unethical. The author tossed enough hints to the reader along the way that the VP might be mentally unbalanced, that her final character revelation came with very little surprise which tarnished the suspense built into the threat vector being provided for the plot.
The last 1/3 of the book was focused on the suspenseful build up to the final action sequence where everything except the final outcome was orchestrated successfully by the antagonist. Had that one person's (antagonist's) role been distributed among a well organized group which included hackers and operatives, then the book would have had a more substantial feel of believability and might have had a more suspenseful tone during the action sequence.
A second leading significant character in the book was a corporate VP whose motives were revealed to include a directed take over attempt of the CEO position. There's nothing wrong with that pursuit in the literary sense. But the character portrait of the individual was that of a woman who was extraordinarily attractive, possessed a maniacal directed drive for success, and who was extremely devious and unethical. The author tossed enough hints to the reader along the way that the VP might be mentally unbalanced, that her final character revelation came with very little surprise which tarnished the suspense built into the threat vector being provided for the plot.
October 15, 2008
RETRIBUTION - VG+
Grant, Michael - standalone
Mike Devlin is the field leader for the NYPD's SWAT team when department politics force him to accept a new job: security chief for Taggart Industries. His first task is a daunting one: improve the lax security at Taggart Tower, and do it in a hurry, since threats have been made against the life of CEO Jason Taggart. While Devlin sets to work on both electronic and personal security, the would-be assassin circles ever closer.
Excellent thriller with great details and good action.
Grant, Michael - standalone
Mike Devlin is the field leader for the NYPD's SWAT team when department politics force him to accept a new job: security chief for Taggart Industries. His first task is a daunting one: improve the lax security at Taggart Tower, and do it in a hurry, since threats have been made against the life of CEO Jason Taggart. While Devlin sets to work on both electronic and personal security, the would-be assassin circles ever closer.
Excellent thriller with great details and good action.
July 31, 2016
A novel stuck in the 1990's.
Former hotshot cop talks his way into becoming head of security for an irascible billionaire. Someone is out to get him, and the cop knows very little about security.
The cop assembles his squad, to defend the billionaire, who probably deserves to get shot.
Of course, the assassin is a complete stereotype: a Southern, religious, crazed Vietnam vet.
It's readable, but the world has passed this one by.
Former hotshot cop talks his way into becoming head of security for an irascible billionaire. Someone is out to get him, and the cop knows very little about security.
The cop assembles his squad, to defend the billionaire, who probably deserves to get shot.
Of course, the assassin is a complete stereotype: a Southern, religious, crazed Vietnam vet.
It's readable, but the world has passed this one by.
May 26, 2010
For more than a year, this book jostled around in my gym bag. Try as I might, I just couldn't get interested in it although I eventually read almost all of it. I found it quite predictable to the point that I finally knew pretty much how it was going to end, and then I lost what little interest was left.
January 12, 2014
Great story. Non-stop action!
January 25, 2016
Quite good, realistic, up to date, look foward to his future book,
a police procedural
a police procedural
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews