#SummerThrills ‘Eye For An Eye’ by M.J Arlidge

About the book…

RIGHT OR WRONG?
Only nine criminals in the UK have been granted lifelong anonymity.
Their crimes so heinous that their identities are permanently changed for their own safety.

CRIMINAL OR VICTIM?
Upon release, they’re given a second chance: new identities and new homes with new neighbours who have no idea. Because, by law, they cannot be named as who they are – or were…

REDEMPTION OR REVENGE?
But what if someone started systematically exposing their true identities? Not to the press, or the public, but to the families of their victims.

Who deserves justice? And who gets to decide?

Published by Orion Books in July 2023, and available with extra features from Asda, ‘Eye For An Eye’ is a hardcover standalone by the bestselling author of the Helen Grace series.

It’s one of those moral dilemmas, over which everyone holds a pretty firm opinion, until they are put smack bang in this situation themselves and they find that moral compass swinging pretty wildly…

Opening with a shocking death which, whilst not technically murder, has overtones of it, we quickly rush into establishing the characters who are both looked after by the British Justice system, as well as those responisble for the most heinous crimes, for which the rest of their lives is spent enshrined in lies and watchfulness.

Probation officer Olivia, is caught on the cusp of twin dilemmas following an affair with a senior officer, and trying to work out who amongst them has put at risk the 9 people given he highest level of security post serving their allocated terms in prison or other institutes.

Her charge, ‘Jack’, has committed a stomach churning crime and is being released from the young offenders institute which has become his safe place and is about to be launched into the real world so we get to see, first hand, the process by which these high level offenders are monitored, kept safe, and ‘rehabilitated.’

Another, a respectable mother, is seen visiting grave sides and taking a huge risk doing so, was quite surprised to see my home town raise it’s weary head in the pages of this novel, she , Emily, is living a double life and it is wearing her down.

A dad who has never been able to move on from the brutal death of his daughter, suddenly has the means for revenge delivered to his mobile device.

And the police?

The police seem utterly powerless in the face of red tape, public opinion and a ‘vigilante’ who feels they need to redress the balance between right and wrong.

The D.I investigating what quickly escalates into a series of brutal murders, is constantly being thwwarted by the highest levels of power and you, the reader, are caught breathless with anticipation whilst questioning your own judgement constantly-are these people really wrong when they feel there is no sense of retribution or justice for their life sentences without their loved ones?

It all depends on how you view rehabilitation, and if you feel it is actually possible, and has you judging where you sit on the fence about it. Part of me felt that the ones who died were deserving of a brutal ending, and M.J doesn’t come down hard on what he thinks, or leads you to what you should think. The 9 individuals living under these conditions are not all gone into in detail, there are various crimes committed for which the featured people are living in secret and trust me, they are deeply unpleasant.

He pulls no punches when examining the professional and personal responsibilities of people like Olivia, charged with taking care of someone who has never known care in his life, and does not know how to manage on a daily basis. In effect, she is teaching him how to be in a society that had they known his real identity, would cheerfully put him out of their misery. But is it for us, or a higher power to decide?

Is the death penalty something people like this should live with for their entire lives, or be cut short like the American way of punishment-which if you have been following the news over the last year, has proved horrendously not fit for purpose as well as open to abuse, error, and worse.

It’s as I said at the start, a tricky issue to reconcile yourself with, coloured by religious, cultural and legal perspectives. And in this thriller whose size belies how pacy it is, it’s a good question to be asking-if you continue to take an eye for an eye, won’t you be left with a world full of the blind?

About the author…

M.J. Arlidge has worked in television for the last 15 years, specialising in high end drama production. Arlidge has produced a number of prime-time crime serials for ITV In the last five years.