Vengeance is Whose? by Paul Finch

Conventional wisdom holds that to seek revenge is one of the most self-destructive impulses in human nature. Possibly this is the reason why so many of us frequently feel a need for revenge and yet never act on it. It seems that a good proportion of society has an in-built brake with which to prevent violence. Others meanwhile resist it through plain common sense.

Because to exact vengeance – real vengeance – is a huge step to take.

Even something relatively innocuous, like retaliating to a foul on the football field, can be transformational. Not least because it may exacerbate the situation, turning a one-off slight into an ongoing feud, but mostly because it casts you, the victim, as another aggressor, denying you the moral high ground.

‘He did it to me first,’ is a flabby explanation if the other guy is lying unconscious, or worse.

And yet the urge to take revenge can be potent, especially when justice appears to be absent. And it doesn’t just have to be revenge for yourself. How do any of us feel when we hear about disgraced politicians being hounded out of office and yet continuing to lead gold-plated lifestyles, or about organised crime bosses who remain untouchable by the courts, or even petty criminals, whose offences are not victimless, being left alone by an overworked, understaffed police force? If justice has seemingly quit the field, what else is there?

‘Vengeance is mine!’ A quote attributed to God himself in Deuteronomy.

We all hope it’s true, whether we’re religiously minded or not, but we see scant evidence of it on Earth. And so, what other course is there apart from taking the law into our own hands?

This is the ethical dilemma at the heart of my new novel, ROGUE, which sees a low-ranking police detective – DS Mark Heckenburg, who some readers will already be familiar with – embark on an off-the-grid mission to avenge a whole bunch of former colleagues, 26 in total, who were mown down in a gun attack on a police party.

I won’t say any more about the synopsis, except to add that while Heck has played fast and loose with the rules before, often using trickery and coercion in his dealings with the underworld, he has never taken that final step into out-and-out criminality. But then, never before has he been cut as deeply as this.

But in truth, in a civilised society, is there any excuse for revenge? We all love an antihero. Someone who gets straight to it and deals with the matter hands-on. But would a real-life vigilante really be so reassuring? What if he decides he doesn’t like us either? What if we ourselves were to short-cut our way past the law, and then suddenly find that we have need of it too?  

Of course, I’m not the first thriller writer to analyse this complex issue. Many great crime novelists have gone there ahead of me, tackling the question of ‘revenge or justice’ from a range of different angles.

MAN ON FIRE by AJ Quinnell, aka Phil Nicholson (1980)

A former Foreign Legionnaire turned drunken bodyguard is devastated when his charge, the sparky young daughter of an Italian businessman, is kidnapped, raped and murdered. His only recourse is to wipe out the Mafia clan responsible. Atonement through violence is the message here, though it comes at a huge cost.

THE EXECUTIONERS by John D MacDonald (1957)

The army lawyer responsible for jailing a GI rapist is tormented in later years when the criminal is released and commences to harass and terrify his family. Vengeance as viewed from the victim’s perspective, normal life massively disrupted by the obsessive, malign behaviour of someone who just can’t forgive or forget.  

THE HUNTER by Richard Stark, aka Donald Westlake (1962)

A professional robber is double-crossed during a major heist and left for dead. Later learning that his share of the haul was used by a former associate to buy entry to a crime syndicate, he goes to war with the syndicate itself. Solid actioner, this one, featuring lots of immoral people violently intermingling in a grubby, immoral world. Even so, it’s a thrill a minute.

DEATH WISH by Brian Garfield (1972)

When muggers brutalise the family of a liberal-minded businessman, he buys a gun and embarks on a mission to annihilate the city’s criminal elements, becoming a cult figure as he does. A study in human darkness, the vengeance-seeker hitting random targets he’s got no personal beef with and enjoying the support of his whole community. Let’s not pretend it couldn’t happen.

A TIME TO KILL by John Grisham (1989)

When a black child is raped by white supremacists, her enraged father guns the two hoodlums down even though they’re in police custody, his legal team soon fighting an uphill battle to keep him from the gas chamber. Probably the most adult take of all, the parent’s understandable reaction squared off against the price society pays if everyone assumes the role of judge, jury and executioner, the race factor only deepening the question of discriminative justice.

ROGUE is published by Brentwood Press in both ebook and paperback on October 24.

They shot everyone. His friends, his colleagues, the woman he loved. But they made one critical mistake. They didn’t shoot him. Detective Sergeant Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg has a reputation for bending the rules, but when a ruthless gun attack on a North London pub leaves 26 of his closest workmates dead, he throws the rulebook away. Devastated beyond recovery, he goes rogue. But Heck himself is a suspect. Suspended from duty and watched day and night, it isn’t just a matter of eluding the surveillance net in London. When he makes his move, he becomes a fugitive, an outlaw now infamous across the whole of the UK. And yet that’s the least of his problems. Because as Heck tracks the killers north through the wintry badlands of industrial England, and from there into the mountainous wilds of Scotland, they too have made plans, and some deadly and deranged individuals are lying in wait …

More information about Paul Finch and his work can be found on his blog. You can follow him on X @paulfinchauthor and on Facebook