What do you think?
Rate this book
Hitting Back
Lenny Durning has returned to Newcastle after 3 years in exile, accompanied by
Theo, a book store owner who had saved Lenny's life.
Lenny was almost murdered after being blamed for something he hadn't done.
Now he's back with a vengeance!
Lenny is a thief and a liar; a selfish, repulsive little weasel of a man whom no one would trust with anything - if they were in their right mind.
Lenny has eleven people on his hit-list and he won't stop until he brings down each and every one of them.
But Lenny will discover that revenge comes with a heavy price tag.
Theo, a book store owner who had saved Lenny's life.
Lenny was almost murdered after being blamed for something he hadn't done.
Now he's back with a vengeance!
Lenny is a thief and a liar; a selfish, repulsive little weasel of a man whom no one would trust with anything - if they were in their right mind.
Lenny has eleven people on his hit-list and he won't stop until he brings down each and every one of them.
But Lenny will discover that revenge comes with a heavy price tag.
ebook
First published January 1, 2005
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 16, 2009
This is the third book in John Walker’s “Dark Retribution” quartet. When I first began reading this book, I didn’t think I was going to like it because the main character, Lenny Durning, is a despicable, lying, cheating, self-serving, thief of a man. Why read a book if you can’t struggle with or like the main character? The simple answer… because you need to find out what happens to this character. Will he actually get what he deserves?
The story revolves around Lenny’s hatred and obsession to pay back eleven people for the wrong things that they have done to him. After being left for dead, Lenny is rescued by Theo, a bookstore owner, and spends the next three years planning, waiting, and seething about the day he’ll hit those people back. It’s the ultimate payback.
Even though the main character is clearly unlikable and flawed in every sense of the word, I found that he had intelligence and insight but still chose to do the most horrible of wrong things. This is an interesting concept into criminal behavior and it helped to move the story forward by building a steady stream of suspense. Theo, his only friend, brings the balance and goodness to this relationship and keeps the reader guessing as to how it will all turn out.
John Walker has managed to hit back with this excellent revenge thriller that will definitely keep you reading until you get to the exciting conclusion. I didn’t see this ending coming. Hitting Back promises to be a satisfying read that leads the reader on an emotional rollercoaster.
I definitely can’t stop with this series now. I look forward to the fourth and final book in the quartet.
The story revolves around Lenny’s hatred and obsession to pay back eleven people for the wrong things that they have done to him. After being left for dead, Lenny is rescued by Theo, a bookstore owner, and spends the next three years planning, waiting, and seething about the day he’ll hit those people back. It’s the ultimate payback.
Even though the main character is clearly unlikable and flawed in every sense of the word, I found that he had intelligence and insight but still chose to do the most horrible of wrong things. This is an interesting concept into criminal behavior and it helped to move the story forward by building a steady stream of suspense. Theo, his only friend, brings the balance and goodness to this relationship and keeps the reader guessing as to how it will all turn out.
John Walker has managed to hit back with this excellent revenge thriller that will definitely keep you reading until you get to the exciting conclusion. I didn’t see this ending coming. Hitting Back promises to be a satisfying read that leads the reader on an emotional rollercoaster.
I definitely can’t stop with this series now. I look forward to the fourth and final book in the quartet.
August 28, 2011
I have just finished John Walker’s third installment in the Dark Retribution Quartet, “Hitting Back”. To say that there were parts in this book that disturbed me would be an understatement, but the way it was all written was what was brilliant.
The good and bad of life, the choices that people have to make in order to follow one path or another are focused on intently in this third book. The character of Lenny Durning is intense and breeds hatred within the reader’s minds. Ironically, it is that hatred that has Lenny lashing out and hitting back at all the people in his life that have wronged him.
You follow Lenny through a span of time as he remembers pieces of his life where he revisits those painful moments and you see how Lenny gave his own retribution to that person. You see how he plans out his attacks against the ones that he felt hurt him most, or even the ones who just happen to cross his path at the wrong time.
You will also follow along on a spiritual journey that Theo tries to introduce to him. The way Theo tries to encourage Lenny through passages. The way Theo can get into Lenny’s head and make Lenny feel paranoid. You will also get a visit from Natas again, the not so nice man that Jack and Tony met with in “Wrath and Remembrance”.
Like all of Mr. Walker’s books, this book has complete attention to every little detail and tiny piece of information. He walks beside you as you travel from street to street. As you walk from room to room and as you travel through time of memories and back again. His ability to write such disturbingly distinct details in this book put me in awe at times. I honestly felt my pulse quicken as the clock ticked down.
While I did figure out some of the plot while I read it, I was spellbound as the details unfolded and basked in the ending of the third installment. Mr. Walker gave a perfect introduction into the final book in the series and I can’t wait to get settled in my chair and fall back into the world he has created.
The good and bad of life, the choices that people have to make in order to follow one path or another are focused on intently in this third book. The character of Lenny Durning is intense and breeds hatred within the reader’s minds. Ironically, it is that hatred that has Lenny lashing out and hitting back at all the people in his life that have wronged him.
You follow Lenny through a span of time as he remembers pieces of his life where he revisits those painful moments and you see how Lenny gave his own retribution to that person. You see how he plans out his attacks against the ones that he felt hurt him most, or even the ones who just happen to cross his path at the wrong time.
You will also follow along on a spiritual journey that Theo tries to introduce to him. The way Theo tries to encourage Lenny through passages. The way Theo can get into Lenny’s head and make Lenny feel paranoid. You will also get a visit from Natas again, the not so nice man that Jack and Tony met with in “Wrath and Remembrance”.
Like all of Mr. Walker’s books, this book has complete attention to every little detail and tiny piece of information. He walks beside you as you travel from street to street. As you walk from room to room and as you travel through time of memories and back again. His ability to write such disturbingly distinct details in this book put me in awe at times. I honestly felt my pulse quicken as the clock ticked down.
While I did figure out some of the plot while I read it, I was spellbound as the details unfolded and basked in the ending of the third installment. Mr. Walker gave a perfect introduction into the final book in the series and I can’t wait to get settled in my chair and fall back into the world he has created.
January 23, 2012
Hitting Back is the third book of The Dark Retribution Quartet. As in Book 1, Wrath and Remembrance, and Book 2, Comparing Scars, the title gives the reader a large clue as to one of the principal themes of the book, in this case getting even no matter what. Once again we are treated, through vivid description and authentic dialogue, to a rich and nuanced portrait of working class Newcastle upon Tyne in Northwest England. Although I’ve traveled rather extensively in the United Kingdom and been near Newcastle, I’ve never actually been to the city. Nevertheless, so good is the writing that, having read the three books, I feel like I know the city and its environs well. Like the protagonists of Books 1 and 2, Jack Parrish and Jake Callan (who make cameo but important appearances in Hitting Back) protagonist Lenny Durning is a rich, complex and interesting character. Unlike Parrish and Callan, Lenny is a vicious and thoroughly despicable criminal. Like Books 1 and 2, but more overtly, the story of Book 3 is about the fight between the forces of good and evil: this time for the soul of Lenny. This reader flinched at Lenny’s actions but had to keep turning the pages. The end of the book was reward enough and set me up for the climax of Book 4, a read to which I look forward.
January 19, 2011
This book came as a complete surprise. The twist ending came out of nowhere. Lenny Durning is one of the foulest, most irredeemable men I’ve ever read about. What shocked me most was how real he came across in the story and even more unsettling because I’ve met people in real life who are a lot like him. I love Theo! Just love him! I knew there was something different about him. Like the first 2 books, this one has its fair share of violence and uncompromising situations. The writing is brilliant and the story is powerful. It kept me reading right to the end and it leaves off superbly to the start of book 4. If anyone has ever rooted for the bad guy in a film or book, I guarantee they won’t root for the bad guy in this story!
November 9, 2009
HMMMMMMMMM
What to say about this one...
I did not like this one as much as the 1st two as I did not like Lenny Durning!!!! Love Theo tho!!!
BUT - how can an author write about such awful people and still make you want to find out what happens to them!!!
Usually if the central characture is someone I cannot like/connect with I will not be able to finish the book..... John Walker does it again with not allowing me to put this one down!!! Just had to find out how it all worked out in the end.... Way to Go John
So my overall opinion!!! I liked it in a weird and masochistic way...
Read it and tell what you think
What to say about this one...
I did not like this one as much as the 1st two as I did not like Lenny Durning!!!! Love Theo tho!!!
BUT - how can an author write about such awful people and still make you want to find out what happens to them!!!
Usually if the central characture is someone I cannot like/connect with I will not be able to finish the book..... John Walker does it again with not allowing me to put this one down!!! Just had to find out how it all worked out in the end.... Way to Go John
So my overall opinion!!! I liked it in a weird and masochistic way...
Read it and tell what you think
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews