Rating: 
Summary: White scores again!
Review: The Best Revenge has one of the most devious plots I've ever read. Author White skillfully leads the reader along, allowing us to form opinions about the central characters. Then he blows those opinions to smithereens as he deftly doles out more and more telling details. Few writers have the insight and the talent (not to mention the psychological training) to offer images that seem, on the surface, to be one thing, but in fact have immense underpinnings of subtext. Again, hero Alan Gregory plays a supporting role, allowing the other characters (including the always entertaining cop Sam Purdy) to take center stage. The premise is truly clever; the delivery is superb. And the payoff is completely unexpected. One of the reasons this series works as well as it does is White's positioning of his hero--sometimes in the forefront, sometimes on the periphery. It keeps the books fresh, the plotting unique, and the narrative line as taut as a fishing line with its hook in the mouth of a seriously big fish--with all the tension implicit in the effort to land that big one. I particularly liked the ending which is rooted in a reality we might prefer was otherwise but is completely viable. Splendidly drawn characters and breathless pacing, the book is hugely entertaining.
Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen White keeps Gregory tops
Review: The Best Revenge is Stephen White's latest Alan Gregory book. Gregory is a psychologist in Boulder Co. with a wife who is an Asst. DA who also has MS with a new baby, and best friend, Sam Purdy, who is an honest cop, as well as good coworker and good neighbors who put their two cents in when needed.
This is the best White novel to date that keeps you guessing until the last word. Very timely - dealing with implications of right and wrong and who determines justice and who dispenses that justice. Gregory deals with burn out of his practice, and what is the level of confidentiality when lives are at stake and his patient/dr. confidentiality tears him up on many levels.
White makes Gregory more human and it is a step in the right direction -
Yiassou Stephen White! Hope your Mother is doubly proud of this one - she is his #1 fan and he keeps earning - that means great taut writing type of earning his fans with each effort.
Rating: 
Summary: A very disappointing thriller
Review: This is my first time reading a novel from Stephen White, so, in all fairness, I will admit that I would like to read his earlier efforts because he demonstrated potential in this otherwise very disappointing thriller. The first thing I noticed after picking up The Best Revenge is that he had written 10 previous novels and has received kudos from several notable critics for his work. After reading the first 4 chapters of Best Revenge, I couldn't help but think that he was trying too hard to live up to those previous kudos, and he was trying to introduce his new book in such an impressionable fashion that he almost caused this reader to put the book down. His introduction of the characters and the eventual story to follow was so erratic, jumping time frames, with so many new characters doing so many different things, that this beginning wasn't fresh, intelligent nor impressionable..it was simply a jumbled effort from an author trying too hard to be innovative, and the results were indeed a major blunder. I chose to stick with it anyway, and as he gradually found a more relaxed "groove," the story did indeed start to get intriguing, although a very disturbing pattern began. We the reader would be rewarded with two great chapters, then a very unbelievable and silly chapter...two more good chapters and another "stinker" of a chapter. I began wondering if two entirely different authors were writing this book. I tolerated this annoying pattern, being the trooper that I am, but...**SPOILERS AHEAD** when we get about 2/3 through the novel, the part where Tom Clone is imprisoned in a pen at the cabin, this entire story did a disasterous nosedive and never recovered. I'll be tame and say that everything,.... the characters, the actions and reactions and especially the dialog between the characters, became unbearably ridiculous. Tom Clone, an intelligent man who is one hair away from being a doctor, with an inner-mouth bee sting, yelling "'eel the 'ear..'eel the 'ear to the 'olice and then repeating it to Kelda over a cell phone, may be the lowest point I have ever suffered in literature. This "bee-sting language" from Tom was not only annoying and unbelievable, it seemed to go on forever ! Apparently, the "good" author left the building and left the "bad" author to finish up. The last third of this novel was nothing more than a hack job, drug store pulp fiction, catered to the most hardened reader who can suspend their disbelief .....and I refuse to believe that a practicing clinical psychologist wrote it. So, after a shaky beginning and a disasterous ending, this book was truly an overall failure, but, the middle gave me the desire to at least seek out Mr. White's other applauded efforts. Hopefully, he wrote them alone.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Revenge
Review: This is the first time I have read Stephen White. I found this book to a real thriller. Just the type of book to spend some lazy time with. The ending will surprise you. The one drawback is the author lack of knowledge on how the real FBI works, with all the backstabbing and politics. He did get right how the local police does not really repect the FBI, but what the heck is only fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing !
Review: This novel had me intrigued, fascinated, and in suspense until the wee hours of the morning.
Dr Alan Gregory is a psychologist struggling with issues in his private practice, and regrets regarding decisions he has made in the past.However, when a patient is referred to him by Special Agent Kelda James, his funk quickly diminishes. The patient, Tom Clone, has recently been released from serving a 13 year prison sentence for murder,having been cleared by DNA evidence. In fact the individual who helped turn over Clone's conviction is Special Agent Kelda James, who also happens to give Tom a ride home on the day that he is released.
Kelda James, whom is one of the main characters in this story, is battling with her own demons. She is suffering from a mysterious crippling pain that is consuming her body, and has become dependent upon pain killers to help her through her work day. Agent James also happens to be a patient of Dr. Alan Gregory, and he is attempting to help her discover the origin of her mysterious pain.
As Dr. Gregory begins to piece together the relationship between Tom Clone, Kelda James, the unsolved murder of Ivy Campell, and the mysterious death of Kelda's friend "Jones",Detective Sam Purdy continues to doubt the innocence of Tom Clone.Together, with the doubts of his friend Sam, Tom Clones demeanor during psychotherapy, and then his sudden disappearence, Dr. Gregory begins to question the innocence of his patient.
This novel is a top-notch, heart pounding, plot-twisting thriller. I found every character in this story interesting and belivable.The characters of Prehost and "Hoppy", the vigilante cops give the story an even more interesting flavor. This story is among my all-time favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, enthralling, and perfect for long drives. (Audio)
Review: This was my first experience with Stephen White and it was an enjoyable one. There are many plot twists and this mystery thriller was a fun adventure. It made me enjoy the drive and rant and rave aloud about some of the characters' choices. The story weaves around an FBI agent female who is responsible for getting a death row inmate out, a shrink who is professionally involved with both the agent and ex-inmate, and a cast of characters that add confusion, passion, and bizarre motivations and twists into the plot. You'll be surprized at the end, but the story will definately keep you interested. I have not read this author before and give it a four star only because I think the motivation for the murder was a weak one and that the ending could have come earlier...but it still was/is a fun and interesting story.
Rating:
Summary: Could be better
Review: Unbelievable plot and characters really hamper this story, which started off with some promise and became more and more silly as it went on. This was my first White novel. I'll try again, and hope that his other work is stronger than this.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible and Confusing
Review: Unfortunately for this book, it didn't get interesting until I was almost 3/4 of the way done. I had read a lot of great reviews about this book that it was a real thriller and full of suspense. It wasn't. I found that the story jumped around a lot and you never knew who was talking since it switched from 1st person to 3rd person all the time.
The idea behind this book was good; Tom Clone, a convicted murderer gets released from jail because of new evidence found by FBI Agent Kelda James. Kelda recommends her own therapist, Alan Gregory to Tom. Soon they are both telling Alan their deepest secrets and Alan becomes the one who slowly pieces together a very strange puzzle of events.
I admit, the end of the book came as quite a shock to me, and I'm sure it will do the same to you.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible and Confusing
Review: Unfortunately for this book, it didn't get interesting until I was almost 3/4 of the way done. I had read a lot of great reviews about this book that it was a real thriller and full of suspense. It wasn't. I found that the story jumped around a lot and you never knew who was talking since it switched from 1st person to 3rd person all the time.
The idea behind this book was good; Tom Clone, a convicted murderer gets released from jail because of new evidence found by FBI Agent Kelda James. Kelda recommends her own therapist, Alan Gregory to Tom. Soon they are both telling Alan their deepest secrets and Alan becomes the one who slowly pieces together a very strange puzzle of events.
I admit, the end of the book came as quite a shock to me, and I'm sure it will do the same to you.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down, didn't want it to be over...
Review: What a wild ride. Stephen White's familiar cast is here, but feel free to jump right in even if you've never meet the regular crew. Be warned, though, that you will NOT want to interrupt reading to eat, to sleep, to do anything other than continue along the twisted trail of plot White has masterfully laid out. As usual in White's books, the characters and their foibles seem fully real and the settings are scarily believable. What happens makes sense, even though the reader may quibble a bit with how the plot resolves. A fully engaging, highly enjoyable roller coaster of a read.
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