"Judgement and Wrath" immediately catches the reader's attention with Matt Hilton's shoot-em-up tales of action and suspense, with more than a little off-the-cuff humor. This novel opens in a seedy bar in the Florida Keys, where we meet our protagonist, Joe Hunter. In a dark saloon frequented by thugs and biker gangs, Joe stands out like a sore thumb. So too, does the man he's meeting there, who seeks to hire Joe to find his daughter and bring her home from her abusive boyfriend. The meeting is sketchy, and getting out of the bar proves even sketchier, as the biker gangs take offense towards Joe and his demeanor. From there, violence and suspense ensue, and the book doesn't slow down until the end.
While Joe is looking for his client's daughter, we learn that a contract killer named Dantalion is also seeking her and her boyfriend, but for sinister reasons. Dantalion is a very finely wrought villain, and Matt Hilton allows us a window into his demented psyche by alternating the narrators of the chapters from Joe Hunter to Dantalion. Through his words, we learn that Dantalion is convinced he is superhuman, descended from myth as one of the Great Dukes of Hell. He dispatches people without conscience, but takes care to meticulously record the tallies of his dead in his little book, which he is convinced will make him truly worthy of his name.
This book was a rollicking good read. The chapters flowed seamlessly, the characters were well-fleshed out and for the most part very likable, and I never wanted the book to come to its eventual conclusion. Highly recommended.
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