This series interests me greatly. To give my reaction to this first entry into the .357 Vigilante series, I should mention that I read the second book in the series, Make Them Pay, back in 2007. My review then (http://scottsbookshelf.blogspot.com/2007/10/book-review-357-vigilante-2-make-the.....) remarked on how campy, over-the-top, and tongue-in-cheek the series appeared to be, which caused disagreement between the two co-authors of the series when it was released under the name Ian Ludlow. Lewis Perdue agreed with my assessment ("It was SUPPOSED to be over-the-top bad."), while Lee Goldberg defended the series as a "light satire" of men's action series.

Now to the present, where the original three volumes of .357 Vigilante have been reprinted as eBooks - along with the fourth unpublished entry in the short-lived series - as The Jury series by Lee Goldberg. While I have no information as to why Perdue's name is not connected, my assumption is that rights were reverted to or purchased by Goldberg (or he's a silent partner, who knows), who is now cranking out books left and right. Be sure to check out his Amazon page or website for the latest.

So, the reason for this backstory just to review .357 Vigilante, aka Judgement? Because there is a serious shift in tone from the first book to the second that I was not aware of when reviewing the second novel (yet another reason not to jump into a series mid-stream). .357 Vigilante/Judgement plays the genre straight in this origin story, which includes the introduction of Mr. Jury/.357 Vigilante hero Brett Macklin - is that a crime-fighting name or what? - whose personal loss turns him into a one-man jury. (Doesn't it always?) Gone are the cheesy puns and inventive criminal take-downs; this is kill-or-be-killed action-adventure vigilante pulp adventure fiction through and through. Not that there aren't the typical Men's Adventure genre cliches involved that might be taken less than seriously. Besides the usual Tragic-Event-Creates-Vigilante trope, there's the Religious Leader/Criminal Mastermind plot hat wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't a)So predictable, b)So cliche, and c)Anti-climactic with the expected over-the-top showdown at the end. Add to this an epilogue with a Mayor/Vigilante meeting that is very reminiscent to the Police Chief/Vigilante plot setup of Death Wish 3, and you have a beginning of the .357 Vigilante/Judgement series that is NOT purposely campy and tongue-in-cheek like Make Them Pay/Adjourned, but only because it seems to lack the self-awareness to do so.

If .357 Vigilante/Judgement was meant to be "light satire" of Men's Adventure novels, it feels as if the satire aspect gave way to direct mimicry in the first book, then bottomed out into dead-pan parody in the second. Oddly enough, this doesn't make either of them less enjoyable, just enjoyable in different ways that both work well in such a pseudo-serious genre. If you can't enjoy the absurdity of it all, you don't deserve justice! ( )

This series interests me greatly. To give my reaction to this first entry into the .357 Vigilante series, I should mention that I read the second book in the series, Make Them Pay, back in 2007. My review then (http://scottsbookshelf.blogspot.com/2007/10/book-review-357-vigilante-2-make-the....) remarked on how campy, over-the-top, and tongue-in-cheek the series appeared to be, which caused disagreement between the two co-authors of the series when it was released under the name Ian Ludlow. Lewis Perdue agreed with my assessment ("It was SUPPOSED to be over-the-top bad."), while Lee Goldberg defended the series as a "light satire" of men's action series.

Now to the present, where the original three volumes of .357 Vigilante have been reprinted as eBooks - along with the fourth unpublished entry in the short-lived series - as The Jury series by Lee Goldberg. While I have no information as to why Perdue's name is not connected, my assumption is that rights were reverted to or purchased by Goldberg (or he's a silent partner, who knows), who is now cranking out books left and right. Be sure to check out his Amazon page or website for the latest.

So, the reason for this backstory just to review .357 Vigilante, aka Judgement? Because there is a serious shift in tone from the first book to the second that I was not aware of when reviewing the second novel (yet another reason not to jump into a series mid-stream). .357 Vigilante/Judgement plays the genre straight in this origin story, which includes the introduction of Mr. Jury/.357 Vigilante hero Brett Macklin - is that a crime-fighting name or what? - whose personal loss turns him into a one-man jury. (Doesn't it always?) Gone are the cheesy puns and inventive criminal take-downs; this is kill-or-be-killed action-adventure vigilante pulp adventure fiction through and through. Not that there aren't the typical Men's Adventure genre cliches involved that might be taken less than seriously. Besides the usual Tragic-Event-Creates-Vigilante trope, there's the Religious Leader/Criminal Mastermind plot hat wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't a)So predictable, b)So cliche, and c)Anti-climactic with the expected over-the-top showdown at the end. Add to this an epilogue with a Mayor/Vigilante meeting that is very reminiscent to the Police Chief/Vigilante plot setup of Death Wish 3, and you have a beginning of the .357 Vigilante/Judgement series that is NOT purposely campy and tongue-in-cheek like Make Them Pay/Adjourned, but only because it seems to lack the self-awareness to do so.

If .357 Vigilante/Judgement was meant to be "light satire" of Men's Adventure novels, it feels as if the satire aspect gave way to direct mimicry in the first book, then bottomed out into dead-pan parody in the second. Oddly enough, this doesn't make either of them less enjoyable, just enjoyable in different ways that both work well in such a pseudo-serious genre. If you can't enjoy the absurdity of it all, you don't deserve justice! ( )

Written in the mid 1980s, Lee Goldberg's Judgement is jammed with violence, one-dimensional characters, sex, violence, odd coincidences and (wait for it...), yet more violence.

In short, it's a pulp crime thriller, and within that genre, the above is wholly acceptable.

I've read some of Goldberg's recent work, and it's light years ahead of Judgment, which is a fun, escapist read, but is too marred with leaden dialog to take seriously.

I bought the Nook ebook (Barnes & Noble) containing all four of Goldberg's .357 Vigilante novels to read on a road trip; I'm through the first two novels and can say they served their purpose.

They were diverting, fun (in places) and easy to digest in the chunks of time available to me (despite some funky formatting in the Nook version of the ebook).

To steal from a better writer, those who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.

Still, for a better novel from a more mature Goldberg, try "My Gun Has Bullets," Goldberg's amusing (and cynical) perspective on Hollywood, wrapped in a crime novel. Good stuff.

( )

### Review

*"This is **straight-up men's adventure material {...] So **look out, folks! Here comes justice with a big freaking gun!*" **Bruce Grossman, Bookgasm**

* * *

*"*Judgment * **has an amped-up, neon-bright,'burning rubber down the main drag doing sixty while blaring Motley Crue so loud you can't even think' sort of quality. And that's how I like it.*" --**Post-Modern Pulps **

*"Generous helpings of sex and violent action, along with some smart-aleck dialog. But if you're a fan of Robert B. Parker, *Dirty Harry*, or the *Die Hard* movies, you'll have a very good time,*" --**J.A Konrath, author of THE LIST and AFRAID **

"*Lee Goldberg's *The Jury Series* serves vengeance hot with loads of action and plenty of suspense to keep you turning the e-pages. Vigilante justice was never so much fun,*" --**Joel Goldman, Bestselling author of "Motion to Kill" **

*This is a really entertaining thrill ride of a story with plenty of sex, violence, humor, social commentary, and great action scenes. Highly recommended*. --**James Reasoner, bestselling author of "Dust Devils" **

### Product Description

This is **AN ALL-NEW EDITION**, completely revised and reformatted for 2011...

JUDGMENT is the classic action/adventure novel that was a runaway paperback sensation in the 1980s...and that skyrocketed the career of Lee Goldberg, best-selling author of THE WALK, the MR. MONK novels, and THE DEAD MAN...

This is the ultimate JUDGMENT...as it was originally meant to be.

Brett Macklin was a freewheeling son of sunny California, a collector of vintage cars and a connoisseur of beautiful women. But when his father is murdered by a street gang, Macklin becomes something else--a deadly weapon against crime, a relentless vigilante who won't stop until he's wiped out the killers who have turned Los Angeles into a war zone.

"As stunning as the report of a .357 Magnum, a dynamic premiere effort [...] The Best New Paperback Series of the year!" West Coast Review of Books

(Originally published as the first book in the ".357 Vigilante" series, under the pen name Ian Ludlow.)

Other books in the series:
ADJOURNED
PAYBACK
GUILTY