A Time of Predators

The gang was restless, just looking for some idle fun, when they roughed up a man they thought was a homosexual. The game got out of hand; their victim was blinded.

It was Paula Halstead’s bad luck to witness the attack and to catch a glimpse of one of the boys. He knows they must track her down and somehow or other make her keep her mouth shut. They find her alone in the house and, in their mindless way, decide that a gang rape would guarantee her silence.

In this they are very successful. She commits suicide.

When her husband, Professor Curtis Halstead, comes home from a late meeting, he finds her body and a cryptic note. From that moment, he begins to change from the complacent, philosophic, civilized man he has become to a single-minded weapon poised for vengeance. He retrains his body to what it had been when he was a young commando during the war. Slowly, methodically, he tracks down the boys responsible for his wife’s death. In his mind, they are murderers. A cynical homicide detective points out that the law won’t pursue them too diligently because even if they’re caught, their age protects them from severe sentence. He knows their punishment is in his hands and he intends to extract maximum revenge. He can think no further.

A TIME OF PREDATORS is a novel of violence and suspense. Beyond that, it poses the perennially fascinating question of moral justification for an individual’s deeds. How far may one go to protect or avenge his own? How deeply do the accumulated layers of civilized training cover man’s aggressive instincts? Can Curtis Halstead, a dedicated teacher of philosophy, premeditate and execute the killing of four teenagers?

THE GANG:

Eric Dean, nineteen, darkly handsome, a charmer to women young and old, a magnetic leader of a group of four boys who ran around together in high school. His father is an insurance broker, well-to-do.

Julio Escobar, eighteen, one of Rick’s followers and vaguely envious of Rick’s leadership. Julio’s parents work in a laundry, are God-fearing Spanish-American folks.

Delbert “Heavy” Gander, eighteen, played tackle on the football team of which Rick was quarterback, Julio halfback. Immensely overweight, full of fears and tensions and insufficiencies. His widowed father is a sheet-metal worker, Heavy, a good mechanic.

Ernest “Champ” Mather, twenty-one, fourth member of the gang. Quit high school when his football eligibility ended. Very low I.Q., devotedly doglike, but enjoys inflicting pain, extremely powerful. Too dumb for military service, works as a gardener.