Retribution

Retribution takes place in Sacramento, California, in the late 1990s. The story details the crises the main character, Werner Manheim--the sixty-five-year-old owner of the largest structural engineering firm in the city--goes through personally and professionally after losing an arbitration proceeding to the architects GBA, who hired his firm on a new local high school project. His maneuverings to overcome the effects of he and his wife, Georgina, having to pay off the arbitration award and interest to the architects and his legal expenses to his long-time friend, Brent Bannock, who represented him during the arbitration, are detailed. The drama of adversaries and others on both sides and how they affect the escalating series of events, adding additional monetary stress, progresses to a surprising conclusion.

-- Warren Pechin