Avenger

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing book to read, discuss and analyze
Review: It's hard to believe that it has been over 30 years since Frederick Forsyth wrote THE DAY OF THE JACKAL. It wasn't long after that book was published that the world learned there really was a Jackal and that, contrary to the ending of Forsyth's work of fiction, he was not killed moments after failing to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, but actually was still out running around. Forsyth's subsequent novels have accordingly been treated as if they are treatises concerning the hidden history of the world. AVENGER is no different, and while it may be a work of fiction, the foundation upon which it is written is chillingly real.

Forsyth spends a good deal of time --- almost the first third of the book --- setting his characters in space and time. As a result there is initially a great amount of jumping around. A lesser writer would have lost the thread of the narrative, and indeed Forsyth is almost a victim of his own cleverness.

Part of the gambit involves an idealistic American youth, fresh out of college, who joins a non-government humanitarian relief effort in war-torn Serbia and is casually tortured and murdered by a band of anonymous marauding outlaws led by a violent and dangerous psychopath who seems to have vanished after the deed was done.

The victim's grandfather, a self-made millionaire, seeks that which is almost impossible to obtain: justice. He wants his beloved grandson's killer brought to the United States and tried for murder before a court of law. For this, he is placed in contact with a man known only as Avenger.

Avenger is Pete Dexter, a former "tunnel rat," the name given to an elite team of American soldiers who conducted seek-and-destroy missions in the network of enemy tunnels utilized during the Vietnam War. Forsyth takes his time explaining what Dexter did, and who he was, just so that we can get an idea of what sort of skills he brings to the table as Avenger.

Dexter now lives quietly, practicing law in a small town in Pennsylvania and giving no clue to his past nor to his occasional work as a highly skilled, highly paid mercenary. There is no smooth way to set all of this up, and at times the narrative almost becomes awkward as it jumps back and forth. Every word of this tale, however, is so interesting that reading it is like being swept down rapids --- you're moving so fast and the trip is so thrilling that the occasional bump becomes an expected part of the ride.

Nothing though prepares the reader for what the beginning of AVENGER portends. Forsyth is a master gamesman and he sets up a situation whereby it becomes vitally important to the safety and security of the United States that Avenger does not complete his mission. The reader is accordingly on tenterhooks, hoping by turns that Avenger does the job he has been retained to do in order to redress a horrible wrong, yet wishing that those aligned against Avenger will prevent him from doing so.

What makes this all the more interesting is that the reader will already know, long before the last page, that Avenger is successful. Forsyth has utilized this technique before. In THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, for instance, everyone knew that the Jackal would fail in his attempt to assassinate Charles de Gaulle. The intriguing aspect of the book was in discovering how he would fail.

The mirror element in AVENGER concerns how Avenger will succeed in his own mission, not only with respect to locating his target, but also with respect to abducting him from a seemingly impenetrable fortress and bringing him back to the United States. The answer will keep you reading --- and thinking --- long into the night. But there is more to AVENGER than this intriguing, suspenseful plot. Forsyth sets up a backstory that has so much relevance to today's headlines that after reading AVENGER you'll be unable to watch or read the news without thinking of this novel.

AVENGER will not only introduce Forsyth to a new generation of readers but will also have his audience, both old and new, repeatedly revisiting his already extensive bibliography. This is a title to read, discuss and analyze.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: Author Frederick Forsyth has no equal when he is at his best,
and this book, Avenger, is one of his best.

No author alive can match his ability to weave together a plausible story that is so complex with numerous charactes
and a multitude of venues.

His story here is almost too complex for a little summary, but
it starts with the brutal, senseless murder of an American aid
worker in Bosnia a few yrs ago by a gangster who, with his little murderous gang, is running wild committing crimes without fear in that war-torn region.

But with the boy's disappearance, his grandfather gets worried,
and he is a man of means, both mentally and financially, and
the grandfather determines to learn the truth about his grandson
and make sure anyone who caused him harm is brought to justice.
That sounds like an impossible, pipe-dream goal, but Forsyth
introduces numerous elements, and he brings in a series of Americans who help, some unwittingly, in tracking down the murderer and his present location. In addition, as in vintage
Forsyth, the action takes place in several countries around the globe, and personnel of government agencies, in more than one
country, get involved, both to aid and to prevent any arrest.

The characters read so true, with emotions we can all identify
with, this book is almost impossible to put down. The action
doesn't just move forward, it springs forward.

Plus, of course, the author handles the technical details with
such accuracy, and such familiarity, it's possible to imagine
he has performed some of those deeds recounted. He has not done
so of course, but his descriptions are a testimonial to his
writing ability.

As the various characters play out their role, in different countries, the reader can't wait to read on to learn how the
complex story elements are going to come together. And there
are some surprises along the way, even for the veteran Forsyth
fan.

An absolute must for anyone who enjoys reading a thriller,
especially for someone who wants to delve into the international
scene. His story is topical and current in today's world, and
many interesting questions are raised in the story; some, but
not all of them, are answered. And we have to seriously wonder
about the rest.

Do not miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful
Review: A page turner with recent history, philosphy, and payback in the mix. A good from an old master.

Rating:
Summary: Master of vengeance
Review: Cal Dexter, the protagonist in Frederick Forsyth's fast moving adventure thriller, Avenger, is a multi faceted character. Dexter, a small town New Jersey lawyer has deep blue collar roots. He put himself through law school using the GI bill after serving multiple tours in Vietnam. Acting as primarily a "tunnel rat", his suicidal mission was to infiltrate the vast, booby trapped underground tunnel complexes fashioned by the Vietcong and inflict whatever damage was possible.

Dexter, a widower, had his happy family life destroyed by the kidnapping and subsequent murder of his daughter. His beloved wife feeling responsible for the tragedy took her own life. Making a new life for himself, while practicing law, he used his vast commando experience to become a clandestine and highly paid private tracker and secret agent. Well known to the CIA and FBI by reputation and code name, he is recommended to Canadian nickel mining magnate, Steve Edmond.

Edmond, a self made multi millionaire commissions Dexter to avenge the death of Edmond's grandson Ricky Colenso. Colenso, a moralistic college student had trekked to Bosnia to help distibute food to the masses ravaged by the civil war raging in the former Yugoslavia. He had been apprehended and murdered by a pillaging Serbian marauder Zoran Zilic, a former chief enforcer for deposed Yugoslavian despot, Slobodan Milosevic.

Dexter was to bring Zilic to justice. Unfortunately he was sequestered in a fortress like compound in the South American country of San Martin and under military protection. Even worse, Zilic was an essential pawn in a CIA plot hatched by bigwig Paul Devereaux to trap Osama bin Laden.

Forsyth using present day history and government figures conjures up an extremely feasible plot with intricate and well thought out twists in this very worthy novel.

Rating:
Summary: Could it be real?
Review: Do you really know what happened between 1995 and sept 10 2001.
As many the books of FF you will never know if this book is real or not, but what you will really know is that you could not leave the book until the end, it has two or three things about Vietnam that are really ugly, but the way that FF writes is unique and no matter how ugly he describes the things that happened, you will read them.
The story of the avenger is sad, as all the avengers, but real good, since Vietnam till the end of the book, the story of the rest of the characters is good but not as good as the avenger.

Rating:
Summary: Absurd comparisons!!
Review: Man, to say this is his best book since Day Of The Jackal must be a joke! ODESSA FILE is better, DOGS OF WAR is better, DEVIL's ALTERNATIVE is better.

What Forsyth's book lacks now is that sense of real iminent danger present in his classics. HT anguish of the French detective trying to find the Jackal; the hunt, by Peter Miller, to find Odessa; the Ucranian revolutionary guy in the Devil's Alternative.

Recently, all his books seems rushed, and all the characters are without any dimensional. It seems like every character is a consumate pro". Everybody does what it is supposed to do and that's it. No inner feelings. No contradictions. No dillema. The children are "Pro children", the women are "Pro women", the killers are "pro killers"... well, you got the point. Also, the famous "journeys across the world" that his characters do, one of FOrsyth's trademarks, are uninspiring nowadays: rushed, no thriller, no lurking danger, easy.

Other than this, comes the absurd rating some reviewers can give. If you give AVENGER five stars, you are simply saying that it is in the same status as DAY OF THE JACKAL, what any reasonable fan know this is not true!

AVENGER is a turn-pager, no doubt about that. But it's not a great book at all, altough much better than some of his last books.

Rating:
Summary: Mix and Match-Terrorism
Review: From the Jungles of Vietnam to the Rocky mountains of Afganistan Mr Forsyth twirls his tales of our darker history. He certainly has a great mind for fiction or a good source of true knowledge to lead him in a path of total enjoyment to all he writes. I have to read a few of his books I have missed so I will proceed on that trail immediately. Do read this book, it will make you think.

Rating:
Summary: A good book, but not great
Review: I have been a big fan of Frederick Forsyth for many years. This book is closer to what I have come to expect from him. Having been so displeased with The Phantom of Manhattan, I was hesitant to pick up another one of his books. I was happy to find this book was very entertaining, suspenseful and fast paced.

Contrary to Publishers Weekly, I do not think this is one of his best in decades (The Fist of God and Icon were both better). There isn't a lot in this book you cannot predict well before it is revealed. Regardless, it is an enjoyable book. The timeliness of the story and the integration of many people from current headlines blurred the lines between fact and fiction very well (I'm sure most people who read this book prior to March 2004 assumed terrorism expert Richard Clarke was a fictional character in the book).

I recommend reading this book; but if you want classic Forsyth, I would suggest some of his earlier novels.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful
Review: A page turner with recent history, philosphy, and payback in the mix. A good one from an old master.

Rating:
Summary: Just can't put it down
Review: The premise of the story is a little extraordinary - among the thousands who died in the chaos that followed the breakdown of the Yugoslavia was an idealistic American young man who had volunteered to provide humanitarian assistance in the conflict zone. I used the adjective extraordinary because this young man was unusual among the victims, even among the relief volunteers, in that he came from a very, very wealthy family, which could unlike most families of other victims, could afford move heaven and earth to discover the truth of his death, and hire the Avenger bring the perpetrator to justice.

Unlike other thrillers which focussed on only a main characters, the author dealt fairly evenly with the cast of Avenger. In Part One of the book, chapter titles such as the The Hard Hat, The Victim and The Magnate provided detailed backgrounds of the the Avenger, the victim and his wealthy grandfather who was a World War 2 veteran. These main characters were further developed in subsequent chapters, while supporting cast such as the investigator hired to find out what happened to the victim merited their own chapters such as The Tracker. The culprit who became the object of the hunt also got his own chapter in The Killer.

The author made clever use of compartmentalisation to weave different threads to represent different stages of development from different perspectives. Besides introducing the major characters, chapters in Part One also helped to set the stage to explain why despite their wealth and influence, the family of the victim could not get the legal authorities to apprehend the culprit and had to turn to hiring a bounty hunter. It also had a glimpse into the consideration of taking the law into one's own hands, the difference between killing the culprit and bringing the culprit to face legal actions. I thought the author had written too short a section here and the subject offered more potential for scope.

One thing the author had done well was to avoid repetitive scenes in introducing the characters. It would have been too much of a bore to see different characters go through similar rites of passage to become the kind of people they were at the onset of the story - priviliged/underpriviliged childhood, distinguished service in the military before making good on their own merit. Here, the author managed to brew a different flavour for each individual. Unfortunately, these rich background materials were almost lost in the later parts of the book, except for the Avenger's. Sharp-minded readers could recognise characteristics and tools-of-trades from the Avenger's background being utilised in bringing the culprit to justice.

The end of Part One introduced a twist to the development - the hunt for the culprit would be hampered by the fact that the culprit might be being protected by some government agency.

Fewer major characters were introduced in Part Two, which detailed how the culprit was finally tracked down, and which government agency was protecting the culprit. Characterisation slowly gave way to plot development. Readers are introduced to the issue of "setting a thief to catch a thief". While this is a familiar old theme, the author painted a bleak picture of what it actually means to have to make deals with ruthless criminals in order to go after targets they consider more dangerous. By now, the cast of characters had grown considerably, but the skillful characterisation means that readers are in little danger of losing track of the names.

The last Part of the book deals with the build up to the climax of when the Avenger would finally confront the criminal. Here, readers see the Avenger being hunted down in a manner akin to the assassin in the author's early book, Day of the Jackal. The Avenger had not only to go through false identities, but also lay false trails and avoid traps by authorities. The manner in which the Avenger penetrated the heavy wall of protection surrounding the culprit is highly original which would become a classic. I saw some reviewers commenting he had too much luck on his side. My own careful reading indicated that luck had nothing to do with it, the Avenger was a survivor of Nam, and was a Tunnel Rat. He was also a student of history. He had to outthink worse opponents, and the so-called luck was actually advanced planning. Luck was Luke Skywalker walking into Jabba's den and had Jabba decide to bring him and his friends out of the den to the Pit of Sarlaac. Knowing where your opponent would run to and to wait for him is not luck.

In no part of the book did the Avenger depend on his superior firepower, martial prowess, personal charm or gadgets or some invicibility that plagued characters such as James Bond. This is indeed another masterpiece from the author.