1 out of 4 stars
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Dishonorable Justice: Tales of the Black Widows, by Lance William Hansford, is a fictional crime story of a band of bikers named the Black Widows. The group is an all-female motorcycle club formed by Virginia Mattson, with her closest friends, as a hobby. The book is written in a third-person narrative point of view.
The book opens by introducing a three-year-old Virginia and her family. Virginia’s stepfather, William Jones, constantly abuses her and his wife, Rebecca Jones. On one occasion, he beats Rebecca up so terribly that she winds up in a hospital. In the course of time, William neglects his family and starts a new life. Twenty years later, Virginia and the rest of the Black Widows embark on a journey to locate and exact revenge on William for all his former actions. They recruit new members along the way – LuAnn, Janice, Lorie, and Debbie. However, they encounter biker gangs, spousal abusers, crooked cops, and the mob en route.
Virginia Mattson’s character is properly developed and grounded. She has a brazen personality with violent tendencies, but she is emotional at her core. She seeks justice, albeit dishonorable and criminal, for the weak and physically abused. Her prior experiences with her stepfather motivate and direct her life’s choices. She forms the Black Widows with eight of her closest friends, and these ladies become her family. Her beliefs resonate deeply with all of them.
I appreciate the detailed character description section at the beginning of the book. This provides a little insight into the core members of the Black Widows. The portrayal of their biker gear is vivid and alluring. Furthermore, the gang is cautious, and they detail plans before execution. They are excellently methodical in prosecuting plans and adept at covering their tracks.
Notwithstanding, the book is replete with problems. To begin with, the book was not professionally edited. In fact, it seems it was unedited at all. There are many instances of shifts in verb tense even in the same sentence. Additionally, there are many run-on sentences, comma splices, punctuation errors, misspellings, sentence fragments, and dialogue issues (absence of quotation marks when describing dialogues in first-person). For instance, an excerpt from the book reads, “Virginia then decideddecides to travel cross country to capture her stepfather who had abused her as a child as well as her mother, he has been on the run…” Secondly, the narrative style is unprofessional, stiff, and sometimes lifeless. Many portions of the book contain irrelevant details, and this is more baffling when one considers the novel is only 124 pages long.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. The multitudinous errors inevitably and thoroughly undermine all it has to offer and its ramifications. In addition, I would not recommend this to a younger audience due to the extensive use of adult language, provocative references, and violence.
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Dishonorable Justice
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