Customer Reviews

Avenger

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

While AVENGER is not of the superb quality of DAY OF THE JACKAL and perhaps a few of Frederick Forsyth's others novels, it is still an outstanding work of fiction that should be enjoyed immensely by readers who have the patience to follow the author's narrative methodology. But for reasons detailed later in this review, this book is not for everyone. There are several elements to the story, and the author integrates them gradually in a somewhat unusual fashion, so much of the first few sections of the book are descriptions of events which have occurred in the past and which form the basis for the two complicated and interwoven aspects of the plot.

Attorney Calvin Dexter is a (superbly conditioned) triathelete who lives an apparently ordinary life in suburban N.J., a local boy raised by a working class father (who had been deserted by Cal's mother) and who returned from an Army tour of duty in Vietnam to earn a college degree and seemingly move on with his life. However, his experience as one of the members of the elite but unknown team of "tunnel rats" has combined with his own personal tragedy to form the basis of his alter ego - THE AVENGER of horrific crimes who can be hired to find and return the perpetrators of such crimes to face justice in a court of law. In a world of moral relativism and frequent lack of accountabilty, he still believes in the concepts of right and wrong, and of the possibility of justice and the necessity for punishment. In a parallel thread that forms the basis of Cal's next quest, an idealistic young volunteer,Ricky Colenso, disappears while working for an humanitarian aid organization in Serbia during the upheaval caused by the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Unfortunately for Zoran Zilic, the gangster responsible for Ricky's brutal murder while operating under the protection of Milosevic, Ricky's mother is the daughter of Steve Edmond, a Canadian billionaire and injured RAF ace during WWII. Edmond's vast resources and political connections enable him discover the existence (but not the identity) of THE AVENGER, and Edmond manages to contact Cal and interest him in attempting to uncover the truth concerning Rick's disappearance. As Cal verifies the facts of Ricky's murder and the perpetrator, he agrees (anonymously) to accept Edmond's request to capture Zilec and bring him to the United States to stand trial.

Two factors complicate Cal's efforts. First, he has to locate Zilic, who became very rich as a dealer in contraband and drugs during the war and subsequentlty disappeared. Second, unknown to Cal, the CIA head of counterterrorism, Paul Devereaux, has recruited Zilic to aid in the CIA's efforts to locate and eliminate an Islamic terrorist named Usama Bin Laden (the story takes place in 2001 pre- September 11.) Thus, as Devereaux learns of the existence of THE AVENGER and his quest (but not his identity), the CIA utilizes all means at its disposal to locate and neutralize Cal in order to protect Zilic as one of its most valuable assets in the wor on terror. (It has in fact helped Zilic relocate to his seemingly impregnable compound in the fictional South American Republic of San Martin.)

This is a very methodically organized and well constructed story, but the various threads are only slowly woven together. We are first introduced to Cal, but only gradually learn his history in chapters interspersed with our introduction to Ricky, to Steve Edmond; the the formative events in each of their lives are gradually revealed. Only after the necessary background for the thread that binds their lives together has been provided does the author introduce Devereaux's history and his personal philosophy regarding his justification that in order "to achieve the greater good" he may have to engage in immoral acts and even allow evil to go unpunished.

There are long sections regarding Vietnam and military actions during that war, WWII, the CIA, and other background elements which are crucial to the story but at times read almost like an educational text. There is also incredible detail about Cal's formulation and implementation of his plan, which readers of Forsyth will recognize as one of his trademarks and which serves to prolong the story while making it more believable and increasing the tension. (JACKAL is a wonderful example of this.) However, the conclusion is worth the wait. The outcome is a tribute to Forsyth's narrative skill, although given the complexity of the moral questions raised some readers may disagree with my elation at the ending. Finally,the two page epilog was stunning in its ability to capture the best of the autho's efforts.

So, I highly recommend this book if you want to read a complicated thriller with a lot of detail. The story emerges gradually as the individual elements are pieced together, just as in the construction of an elaborate jigsw puzzle. And in fact, this analogy applies as well to Cal's attempt to fullfill his mission. But I do have two caveats. First, this book is heavy on history and philosophy and is meant to educate as well as entertain, if you want fast moving action and a linear plot, look elsewhere for your entertainment. Second, there are a few instances of really gruesome events decribed in great detail, especially Ricky's murder and Cal's experiences in Vietnam and his family tragedy. The are close to nauseating, and would normally keep me from reading a book with such sequences or at least cause me to reduce my rating. But because they are elemets crucial to the story and because I hold the author in such high regard, I decided to continue reading and did not reduce my rating. But, be prepared if you are somewhat squeamish; however, their description is as minimalist as possible while still achieving the desired impact and relevance. There is also, of course, the standard violence in such a novel, but that should be anticipated by a reader of this genre.

Lets get this straight. Frederick Forsyth is the Master storyteller. Even Masters let it slip sometimes. Avenger is a slip.

This book is better than 98% of the action/fiction books out this year. But, possibly one of Forsyth's worst ever. This is the same man who gave is The Veteran & Icon in the last 5 years and absolute classics like Day of the Jackal, Dogs of War, Fourth Protocol, Negotiator & Fist of God apart from his short stories.

The plot should have been a short story. The book is 80% background stories & 20% plot.

To sum it up, so-so but nothing close to the Master's best work.

It's a pity Forsyth is barely known to most readers beyond his first and famous "Day of the Jackal". Some fourteen novels later, we find our author can be invariably counted upon for suspenseful stories, exciting action, and often ironic outcomes. Before "Avenger", his just prior book of five novellas, the "Veteran", exemplifies his knack for good story-telling and twisty endings, becoming one of our personal favorites of the year.

All these rewarding and entertaining qualities are back in this latest novel. Forsyth takes a little while, in a series of almost self-contained short stories, to give us the background of our leading characters, as well as educate us on some of the U.S. Intelligence machinations prior to 9/11. But the story soon takes off for real as Army Vet Calvin Dexter, who we learn is the self-appointed mercenary of justice called The Avenger, hunts for a murderous Serb. The challenges he must overcome, including the target's virtually impenetrable physical security, leave us in wonder of the man's cleverness and guile. The end is to say the least both satisfying and heavily ironic -- for if this tale were indeed true, it would have actually, and of course accidentally, facilitated the terrorist attacks by Bin Laden. You won't be disappointed for a minute with this latest Forsyth thriller!

With his latest work, Forsythe is back with a vengeance. This book is outstanding. The central character, Calvin Dexter, is a complicated man. On the surface, he is a successful small-town gentleman lawyer, who in his spare time trains as a tri-athlete. Below the surface, he has a history as a highly skilled Viet Nam veteran and, as the reader comes to find out, in the present day operates secretively as the Avenger - the righter of wrongs for people with no where else to go.

As the story opens, the grandson of a very wealthy Canadian businessman is brutally murdered in Bosnia, setting the wheels in motion for a contract with the Avenger to bring those responsible to justice. Forsythe effectively intermingles past and present to lay the foundation for the storyline, introduce a host of characters, and to bring meaning and motivation to Dexter's character. Dexter has blue-collar roots and is an up-from-the-bootstraps success story. Highly intelligent, although not highly educated (his law degree notwithstanding), Dexter comes from the school of hard knocks - able to think strategically and tactically. He is a character with an abundance of courage, integrity and personal fortitude - all of which will be required as he goes up against seemingly impossible odds to fulfill.

Forsythe is able to effectively weave cultural and political facts and actual events into the story to provide a realistic backdrop for the action - and there IS action. Avenger was very difficult to put down. The story moves forward with pace - full of suspense and plot twists that the reader has come to expect from Forsythe. For anyone interested in the action thriller genre, Avenger is a "must read."

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

"Ici Chacal. Ici Valmet" words that will forever be a part of thriller lore from one of the best stories of a master storyteller. Words immortalized in what I thought was the king of all thrillers - "The Day of the Jackal".

"Avenger" is much like his earlier work - maybe too much like it. Thats why I hit him one star down. For any other writer this would be 5 stars easily. With Forsyth, we expect much and Forsyth usually delivers.

The pages will fly by. Each chapter merely whets your appetite for the next as the plot and the plans unfold. I said plan(s), as in plural.

In the tradition of "Day of the Jackal" Cal Dexter, the Avenger is after Zoran Zilic, the killer of his clients only grandson a relief worker in Serbia. He is hired to bring Zilic to justice to answer for his crimes. Zilic is hiding on a remote island with an army of bodyguards and protected by the local military dictator. Zilic also has a "guardian angel". Dexters work is cut out for him.

We have a classic cat and mouse scenario. The bad guys know the Avenger is coming thanks to his guardian angel. Dexter must use every skill and trick learned as a Viet Nam "Tunnel Rat" to accomplish his mission and survive the encounter.

I docked this book 1/2 star for making Dexter a little too smooth. Things maybe were a little easier than they should have been for him. The endless perfect passports for one thing stretched credibility just a little. I docked him another 1/2 star for maybe being a little too reminiscent of "Jackal".

Make no mistake, this is the work of a master, and I can't imagine any thriller fan being disappointed with it. Those who have read Forsyth before will recognize his style, and maybe wish he had stretched himself just a little more. This book is not as good as "Jackal" in my opinion (which is sure to garner a few "not helpful" votes), but make no mistake this is an excellent book but I believe Forsyth to be capable of better.


Read and enjoy.

Fifty-one year old attorney Pete Dexter practices law on the Jersey-Pennsylvania line and runs triathlete events relatively successfully. People who know him picture a quiet unassuming friendly fellow, but Pete has a second job as the AVENGER, a renowned bounty hunter, that he keeps secret from his neighbors. Pete maintains a Manhattan apartment as his center of human hunting operations in which he answers ads in Vintage Airplane magazine asking for the AVENGER.

Billionaire Canadian mining mogul Steve Edmond hires the Avenger to kill Serbian Zoran Zilic, Milosevich's sadistic henchman for murdering his grandson. Following the trail from Serbia to South America just like he did the Cong in the tunnels of Nam, the Avenger closes in on the kill. However, the CIA does not wink this time, as they fear the consequences of this particular murder. To avoid global chaos Agent Kevin McBride must stop the Avenger anyway he can.

THE AVENGER is a typical Forsyth tale in which the action-packed plot uses real world events as a backdrop to a non-stop thriller that deeply focuses on a specific incident. The story line moves rather quickly forward as Pete begins his latest quest of vengeance for his client. Pete is an extraordinary individual who feels his soul is clean though he is obviously a paid killer. Kevin commiserates with Pete, but also knows orders and fears the outcome of a successful output by the Avenger. A strong tale though no DAY OF THE JACKAL, fans of the author and anyone who appreciates a taut international thriller will enjoy THE AVENGER.

Harriet Klausner

I wanted to like this book, did like it, but not as much as I'd hoped. The story starts out with Attorney Cal Dexter practicing for the Olympic Triathlon and we're told how difficult the event is for a young man, much harder for Dexter and his fifty-one years. After his grueling exercise he comes home and finds an add in an airplane magazine he takes, advertising for an Avenger, but the Avenger aircraft are all in museums. The ad is for Cal, as he's sort of a viligante in his other life.

In a nutshell a rich guy's grandson went missing during the conflict in Bosnia and now, years later, grandpa wants to know what happened and he's willing to pay whatever it takes. The first guy he hired found out the boy had been killed, now granddad wants the boy's remains brought home and he wants the killer brought to justice. Not so easy as the killer is a Serbian warlord who has long since disappeared.

Lots of goings on in this book, much suspense, a lot of time shifting that takes a bit of getting used to, but you can tell there is a master storyteller's hand had the helm of this yarn. I just wished I liked it as much as I'd liked Forsyth's earlier stuff, maybe it was because it seemed just a little too easy for Dexter to catch the bad guy. Ah well, four stars from me.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Even after all these years, I remember the thrills that Frederick Forsyth generated in my adolescent heart with his early works, such as 'Day of the Jackal' 'The Odessa File' and 'Dogs of War'. Not only were they well crafted novels of international intrigue with subtly communicated opinions on the machinations of the international military/industrial complex, they always contained a neat twist, with an often overlooked clue dropped almost offhanded early in the story which later is discovered to be critical to the plot's resolution. So I looked forward to this latest offering. Sadly, I was left unsatisfied; but more because of what I think is sloppy editing than the author's lack of skill.
Cal Dexter (not 'Pete' as one well known and prolific reviewer has mistakenly written all over the net) is the kind of modern hero that we all can respect. The child of a broken marriage and a nomadic childhood with a blue collar father, he volunteers for the Army during the Viet Nam era, serving with distinction as a 'tunnel rat', one of an elite corps who braves the subterranean maze beneath the battlefields to find and eliminate Viet Cong fighters. He bonds with a better educated superior officer and through this relationship finds the drive to leave the service and work his way through law school. Although offered a lucrative position with a well established firm, he chooses instead to become a public defender, championing the rights of the unfortunate.
From this point on, I am going to have to be a bit cryptic, since as any reader of Forsyth's work knows, enjoyment of his books depends on a reviewer being very discreet about how the plot twists, in order to avoid spoiling the surprise ending. In the case of 'Avenger', this is again essential. Suffice it to say that a series of personal tragedies compels Dexter to lead a double life. He leaves public service and sets up a low key private practice in a suburban town near New York City, but in secret becomes 'Avenger', a skilled bounty hunter dedicated to bringing killers and the like to face justice. It is as Avenger that he is contacted by a billionaire whose only grandson has been brutally murdered while serving as a relief worker in Yugoslavia. Unbeknownst to him, the murderer is protected by high level US government agents, who are planning to use this evil man to reach an even more important target, and are ready to sacrifice the life of our hero to achieve what they believe is a greater good.
The plot is resolved with typical Forsyth cunning, and with a typical Forsyth 'twist' at the end. The problems with 'Avenger', that keep it from being one of Forsyth's better work, mostly concern sloppy editing. For example, at one point, a character converses with a Yugoslav in what the author specifically states is in English; but a few pages later, the same character is specifically described as not understanding English. This is the most obvious of the flaws; there are many others, as well as inexplicable style conventions, such as the use of 'f***' instead of the printing of the word. And according to some who know the areas of the world in which the novel is set, there are many errors when it comes to the geography.
All in all, 'Avenger' is still above the crowd, as any Forsyth book would be expected to be. But the annoyances do take away from the enjoyment, and the 'twist' is not up to Forsyth's best. Those less critical will still have a good read, but for those of us who have looked forward to the return of Frederick Forsyth, it can only be wished that he had had an editor who was more dilligent.

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.