Joe Gores: A Time of Predators (UK 2015)

From the Publisher:
The gang was restless, just looking for idle fun. They roughed up a man they thought was gay - but their game got out of hand and their victim was blinded.

It was Paula Halstead's bad luck to witness the attack and catch a glimpse of one of the boys. After they got through with her, she killed herself.

Now her husband is out for revenge...

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators. Orion Books / The Murder Room, ISBN: 9781471917578 (May, 2015), eBook, 0.61 MB (240 p.),£4.99.

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators (USA 2005)

From the Publisher:
Otto Penzler and the Mystery Writers of America present A Time of Predators by Joe Gores, winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

"Savage." -- Saturday Review

The gang was restless, just looking for idle fun. They roughed up a man they thought was a homosexual -- but their game got out of hand and their victim was blinded.

It was Paula Halstead's bad luck to witness the attack and catch a glimpse of one of the boys. After they got through with her, she killed herself.

Now her husband is out for revenge...

"A versatile crime writer." -- Publishers Weekly

JOE GORES has won three Edgar Awards and Japan's Maltese Falcon Award. He lives in northern California.

The Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers and other professionals in the mystery field. The Edgar Award is the highest honor given to mystery writers in books, magazines, plays, motion pictures, television, and radio.

Cover Photos by Gary Isaacs
and Ed Holub / Photonica

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators. Forge Books, ISBN: 0765310511 (March, 2005), 237 p., $14.95.

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators (USA 2005)

From the Publisher:
Otto Penzler and the Mystery Writers of America Present A Time of Predators by Joe Gores, winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel

The gang was restless, just looking for idle fun. They roughed up a man they thought was a homosexual--but their game got out of hand and their victim was blinded.

It was Paula Halstead's bad luck to witness the attack and catch a glimpse of one of the boys. After they got through with her, she killed herself.

The police have no leads and can't find the culprits. Paula's husband hires a private investigator to do what the police haven't been able to-with no success.

Curt Halstead refuses to give up; he will have his vengeance on the men who raped and tortured his wife, even if it means entering into their world of sex, violence, and murder.

Cover Photos by Gary Isaacs
and Ed Holub / Photonica

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators. Forge Books, ISBN: 0765310503 (March, 2005), 237 p., $24.95.

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators (USA 1984)

From the Publisher:
Joe Gores
A TIME OF PREDATORS
Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best First Novel

"Steadily tightening suspense leads to a crashing climax... exceptionally well done." -- San Francisco Chronicle
"Exceedingly well done." -- The New York Times Book Review

THEY WERE THE PREDATORS
and when they finished with Paula Halstead, she felt she had no choice. She had to kill herself. Now, it was left to her husband, Curt, to bring about the justice the law would not provide. Now,

HE WAS THE PREDATOR

"Fine suspense." -- Denver Post
"A novel of suspense that will grip the reader." -- Library Journal
"Taughtly effective." -- Philadelphia Bulletin

Cover design by John W. White
Cover illustration copyright 1984 by John Jinks

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators. Mysterious Press, ISBN: 0892960841 (November, 1984), 244 p., $3.95.

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators (USA 1970)

From the Publisher:
"SAVAGE." -- Saturday Review
The gang was restless...
Just looking for some idle fun, 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.
After they got through with her she had to kill herself.
Now her husband was out to get them!

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 0345019792 (August, 1970), 245 p., ¢95.

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators (USA 1969)

From the Publisher:
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.

Jacket design by Nicholas Fasciano

Joe Gores: A Time of Predators. A Violent Novel of Suspense. New York: Random House, 1969, 211 p., $4.95.