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AVENGER
by Frederick Forsyth
Corgi, September 2004
469 pages
6.99GBP
ISBN: 0552150444


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

To say Frederick Forsyth writes international political thrillers with an emphasis on things military would be something of an understatement. Forsyth cemented his reputation when he wrote the unforgettable THE DAY OF THE JACKAL in 1971.

The author has a background as an RAF pilot as well as a journalist who covered many of the world's trouble spots. His novels reflect his professional life as he melds fiction with fact in a manner that frequently makes it impossible, unless one does some research of one's own, to determine where the one leaves off in favour of the other.

AVENGER begins with a 51-year-old practising the triathlon. The fact that he is well outside the record set by Olympians does not please lawyer Calvin Dexter. This sets the scene for the hero of this tale. He laboured on building sites with his father when a lad, but joined the army as a volunteer in order to obtain a decent education at the end of his time.

During the Vietnamese war, Dexter became one of the elite Tunnel Rats, soldiers who descended into the myriad tunnels of the Viet Cong in order to defeat the enemy. He was teamed with a superior officer and together they became known as the Mole and the Badger. An efficient assassin, Cal would appear to need to drop that aspect of his career when he successfully completes the study of law and sets up his own small private practice but instead, having lost both wife and daughter, as a sideline, he takes on extremely lucrative work as the Avenger.

The grandson of a successful Canadian businessman goes missing in the former Yugoslavia, where he went, driven by his conscience, to act as an aid worker. He is murdered by a group of men led by Zoran Zilic. The millionaire calls upon the Avenger to trace Zilic, who leaves Yugoslavia on the fall of the savage regime and finds refuge in the tiny country of San Martin.

For Cal Dexter, the assignment is tricky and uncomfortable. What he does not at first know is that the CIA have plans for Zilic which involve keeping him alive. Thus, the Avenger must view all sides as the enemy despite his own nationality -- and there seems to be someone with an interest in keeping him, partially at least, informed.

This is an extremely exciting narrative. There is a great deal of credible detail involved in telling just how Dexter goes about his seemingly impossible task. He is beset by enemies on all sides and the reader might well believe that his assignment is hopeless. There is, in fact, a surprise for everyone at the conclusion of the book.

Reviewed by Denise Pickles, August 2004

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