Exact Revenge [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Tim Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2005

A New York Times Bestselling Author

From bestselling author Tim Green comes a gripping tale of retribution and redemption in which an up-and-coming attorney/politician is framed, convicted, and sentenced for a terrible crime - and masterminds a harrowing escape to exact revenge.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The world is Raymond White's oyster: a working-class boy from Syracuse who made good, he's got a Princeton degree, rugged good looks and the gorgeous girlfriend to match, and partner status at a law firm by age 25. But in this lively modern-day retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, just as White is poised to run for Congress, he is framed for murder, convicted and thrown into solitary confinement. After almost two decades of hard time, White is befriended by a fellow prisoner, lifer, "thief and part-time murderer," Lester Cole. "Exact revenge.... If you don't do it, you'll be a professional victim. You exact it and it's exact. Not just a reaction, but planned out. Precise. It needs to send a message," Cole advises, beginning his tutelage about life, literature and the location of a billion dollars worth of loot that they'll split after they escape. Cole dies in the breakout through the sewers of the Big House, but White goes on to retrieve the money and put in motion his reprisal plan against the former colleagues who framed him for murder. White takes down his enemies one by one in a fun, fast-paced update on the Dumas formula that will have readers booing the bad guys and rooting for the wronged hero.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In the early 1980s, Raymond White had it all--partnership at a law firm, a beautiful girlfriend about to become his wife, a close relationship with his father the rocker (in a quarry, that is), and the prospect of a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Why, then, when the novel opens, is he trapped in solitary confinement, doing time for a murder he didn't commit? That's the question he tries to answer, and he has plenty of time to work it out: what happened, who set him up, and how he plans to exact revenge. It's clear who masterminded the whole operation from the start, but we don't grasp how deep the deception goes. After 18 years, White is out of prison and dead set on making things right. What follows takes place at a heart-pounding pace, with suspense constantly building in a manner similar to The Fugitive, as White's chase for the truth forces his enemies to start chasing him. Green's writing can still be a bit heavy-handed, but he knows how to get a narrative steamroller moving and keep it going. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 551 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786278153
• ISBN-13: 978-0786278152
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,977,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tim is the NY TIMES BESTSELLING author of fourteen highly successful suspense novels, including soon-to-be-released FALSE CONVICTIONS and national bestseller ABOVE THE LAW, as well the non-fiction New York Times Bestseller, THE DARK SIDE OF THE GAME which was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. His last five novels have all been national bestsellers hitting the charts between #22 and #30 on the NY Times Bestseller list. While his first five novels used professional football as their backdrop, his most recent works have drawn more on his experiences as a lawyer exploring the themes of ambition and revenge.

Tim is also the author of a memoir entitled A MAN AND HIS MOTHER: AN ADOPTED SON'S SEARCH which was featured in PEOPLE magazine, Entertainment Tonight, and ABC's Prime Time.
His writing career began at Syracuse University where he was a Rossman Scholar for Humanities, a Syracuse Scholar, an NCAA Top Six Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa, and co-valedictorian of his class. While studying English Literature, Tim became acquainted with the renowned minimalist Raymond Carver, and had the opportunity to study under the award-winning writer and professor Tobias Wolff.

During his studies, Tim also played football for the Syracuse Orangemen with a career that included a consensus All-American honors as well as his recent induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1986, he was selected in the first round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons where he was a star defensive end for eight years. During his NFL career, Green began his thirteen year career as a commentator for National Public Radio, wrote columns for USA Today, and received his law degree with honors at Syracuse University. Because of his accomplishments both Sports Illustrated and the Los Angeles Times have called Tim Green the "Renaissance Man" of sports. After his playing career, Tim spent eleven years as an NFL analyst for FOX Sports and recently hosted FOX's nationally syndicated news magazine, A Current Affair. His other broadcast experiences have included ABC Good Morning America's legal commentator, Court TV's Pros and Cons, host of FOX Sports Net's Emmy nominated show NFL TOTAL ACCESS, and Comedy Central's Battlebots. Recently, Tim hosted the ABC Prime Time reality show, FIND MY FAMILY.
In 2007, Tim wrote FOOTBALL GENIUS, his first novel for young readers, and an instant NY Times Bestseller. The success and enjoyment of working with his own kids on the project resulted in FOOTBALL HERO, which was released in 2008. In both novels, Tim models the main characters after his own children, submerging them into a suspenseful world that blends adolescent life and sports with the visceral realm of the NFL. FOOTBALL HERO was selected as a Junior Library Guild choice and a GMA summer page turner for young adults. Most recently he released BASEBALL GREAT, another NY Times Bestseller, as well as FOOTBALL CHAMP. Tim's newest young reader novel, RIVALS, will be released in stores in March 2010.
Tim lives with his wife, Illyssa, and their five children in upstate New York. More information about Tim can be found at his Web site www.timgreenbooks.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inexact Replica, May 9, 2005

By 

T. Slaven (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exact Revenge (Hardcover)

Plot: See Dumas, Alexander (pere), The Count of Monte Cristo.

Characters: See above; substitute Lexis (sic) for Mercedes. No kidding! And look for a cameo by Bonaparte.

Prose style: Mixture of first person and third person; combines a style that could be called "lawyerish" (a la John Grisham) with an unaffected bluntness that could be called "linemanish."

Genre: Crime/fantasy-adventure.

I didn't really know quite what to make of this book. It is, of course, a modern re-telling of The Count of Monte Cristo, and its thematic elements are virtually the same as the Dumas classic. What, then, is the point? Why bother, other than as an act of ego by the author to proclaim that he's just as good as the masters? But is he, if the whole work is derivative?

These questions troubled me as I read this book. But the story is well-enough told that I decided at last that the motive must be to make the story accessible to modern readers, who can tolerate only short chapters and straightforward prose. On that level, the book works. It is fun reading, just as was the original, and combines fantasy wish fulfillment with ambiguous moral judgments. I don't think there is great art in this -- it is like a masterwork painting duplicated by a talented student -- but it is entertaining. I found it fun to read, even though I sometimes felt guilty taking pleasure in something so derivative, and I recommend it, particularly to those who have not read the original and therefore are free of the burdens of comparison.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (4+) Lives Changed Forever by a Few Random Moments, May 31, 2005

By 

Tucker Andersen (Wall Street) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Exact Revenge (Hardcover)

I am familiar with the story of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas but have never read the book; thus, this review of Tim Green's modern day version of that classic work will make no comparisons of the relative virtues of the two novels although the obvious differences between them deserve a brief comment. This is a much shorter and less complex work than Dumas' book, which is well over 1000 pages in length. This difference combined with its modern day setting in upstate New York will undoubtedly make it much more attractive to today's typical reader of action oriented psychological thrillers. In summary, Green does not attempt to recreate a modern day version of that classic work but rather utilizes the essence of the adventures of Dumas' character to weave an intriguing tale of betrayal and how the victim decided to EXACT REVENGE. Each section of the book begins with a quotation from THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO - taken together they serve both to pay the proper credit to Dumas' for his masterpiece and foreshadow the action which is about to unfold. In summary, as the titles of these sections indicate - this is book about BETRAYAL, ESCAPE, ASCENSION and REVENGE.

This is the story of Raymond White, written in the intensity and with the introspection that a first person narrative allows. The opening lines are "there was a time when people wished that they were me. The only boundaries I had were the limits of my imagination." Raymond had been a highly successful NY attorney, a self-made success about to be nominated for political office and hoping to marry the beautiful woman with whom he was deeply in love. Following the conclusion of a very important deal, he agreed to secretly deliver a letter of unknown contents from a dying Congressman to a local woman in upstate New York. This simple act resulted in his BETRAYAL, his conviction for a murder which he did not commit, and the loss of all he held dear - his father (who died while he was in prison), his job, his girlfriend and for a while his hope for the future. We meet White while he is still in prison - twenty years after his 1985 trial he has stayed alive by committing acts which keep him in solitary confinement and away from the dangers posed by his fellow prisoners.

Suddenly, in another seemingly random event White saves an old inmate named Lester Cole. In gratitude, Cole gradually overcomes White's distrust and skepticism and convinces White that he can in fact not only survive but achieve the impossible, ESCAPE from the supposedly escape-proof Auburn NYS maximum-security prison in which they are incarcerated. Lester also teaches White his three rules of survival at Auburn. The third and most important is "EXACT REVENGE". "If you don't do it, you'll be a professional victim. You exact it and it's exact. Not just a reaction, but planned out. Precise. It needs to send a message." Yes, the double entendre of the title is intentional.

In addition to the hope that Cole's plan offers for potential escape, Cole also eventually comes to trust Raymond enough to confide to him that he has a hidden cache of wealth from his exploits. These have the potential to provide the means for Raymond's establishment of a new identity and his ASCENSION to a position of power which will enable him to achieve the REVENGE which he so desperately desires to inflict on the villains of twenty years ago.

This is a well-constructed story, taut and spare and with an intriguing subplot regarding Raymond's partially Indian heritage. There are also a few shocking twists as the story progresses. The author Tim Green is intimately familiar with upstate NY and is a member of the NYS Bar and his knowledge adds realistic detail to the story. After my enjoyment of THE LETTER OF THE LAW and THE FOURTH PERIMETER, I was terribly disappointed by his one star novel THE FIFTH ANGEL. Thus, I am very pleased that his latest two books, which continue to examine the themes which formed the basis of that book (i.e., the achievement of justice and retribution outside the legal system), have been much more enjoyable and philosophically consistent.

Despite my praise and the fact that the story captivated me, I did not rate it five stars for several reasons, all of which I freely admit are a matter of personal taste. First, taken as a whole the series of coincidences which combined to allow Raymond to create his new identity strained my credibility even while creating a fascinating story. Second, Raymond's desire to exact a full measure of vengeance before he could move forward with that new life and enjoy his good fortune was understandable but very unsettling to me. Third, Green's vision of humanity as revealed in Raymond's acts of revenge, while definitely less dark than that of Dennis Lehane (who is a much better author than Green), still detracts quite a bit from my enjoyment of his work. Thus, for me the conclusion is made somewhat bittersweet by the knowledge of how Raymond arrived there. Nevertheless, this is not only a good story but also has provides the material to form the basis for an interesting philosophical discussion of the interplay of the concepts of revenge and justice.

Tucker Andersen

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, July 27, 2005

By 

Victoria (Honolulu, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exact Revenge (Hardcover)

I wasn't expecting much from this book since i tried to read some of tim green's stuff before and for some reason, didn't care for any of those. However, when i heard that it was essentially a remake of Count of Monte Cristo, I knew i had to read it. I loved count of monte cristo since i was a kid and i have to say that tim green adapts the story very well. It will definately keep you intrigued. There was a few weak spots but overall, very enjoyable.