For those looking for a brilliantly crafted thriller, THREE REASONS FOR REVENGE by Dervla McTiernan will suit your needs perfectly.

Detective Sergeant Judith Lee is a single 40-year-old with only one good friend. She's not close with her mother, who married an abuser. When the man also beat Judith at the age of 15 and tried to murder her mother, Judith took a golf club and killed him.

Now Judith is in the homicide division, but when Alexis Turner shows up at the station, she requests to speak with her. What she tells Judith shocks her because she repeats word for word what another young woman had told her 10 years earlier about a respected psychologist who was sexually inappropriate. At the time, Judith had not reacted the way that she should have. So now she takes the information and tells Alexis that she will start an investigation. But Alexis asks if that will be fruitful since it will be a “he said/she said” situation. Judith can't give her a satisfactory answer because it's very hard to prosecute these types of cases.

"What McTiernan does that is especially chilling is that she creates a protagonist and an antagonist who share many of the same qualities and abusive history.... THREE REASONS FOR REVENGE is a truly thrilling novel with characters and a plot that make it a joy to read."

Robert Walker, the therapist who we assume is a terrible person, is married to Vanessa Walker, a popular and extremely successful television personality. Vanessa receives a beautifully wrapped package, carefully addressed in lovely calligraphy, with a note enclosed. Also inside is a thumb drive, and on it is a video of her husband having sex in his office with someone other than herself.

Shortly thereafter, Robert is killed in his home with a weapon that is missing. Judith receives an anonymous phone call telling her about his death, so she's first on the scene. But she does something that she shouldn't and will regret later. The murder seems to be quickly solved when yet another anonymous call is made directing the police to the apartment where Jack and his son, Cameron, live. There they find Jack with a gun in his backpack ready to leave. The fact that he received it in a beautifully wrapped package with a cryptic note doesn't matter. He has the murder weapon. And upon further investigation, he had a reason (kind of) to kill the therapist.

Other packages with cryptic notes enclosed, along with items specifically selected for the recipients, arrive at the homes of various people. Judith finds that not only is she investigating Robert's murder, which she doesn't believe Jack committed, she ends up more involved in the acts leading up to the crime than she ever might have dreamed.

What McTiernan does that is especially chilling is that she creates a protagonist and an antagonist who share many of the same qualities and abusive history. Like the killer, Judith has a number of flaws and makes some really poor decisions. And while the identity of the assailant isn't a huge surprise, it doesn't diminish the suspense at all. Police failures, a brilliant killer who has had years to plot it all out, and a main character for whom we are rooting all serve to make this book hard to put down. 

McTiernan also raises an uncomfortable question: How bad does someone have to be before we feel that his or her death is justified? When the truly awful therapist is killed, some might think that's justice. But as we find out, non-judicial justice is a slippery slope. 

THREE REASONS FOR REVENGE is a truly thrilling novel with characters and a plot that make it a joy to read.