Exact Revenge

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. 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 - Tim Green's most recent novel, The First 48 (0-446-53144-8), was published in Warner hardcover in 2/04 and was a New York Times extended bestseller. It has grossed nearly 71,000 copies. - The Fifth Angel (0-446-53085-9, Warner, 2/03), Green's previous novel, hit the New York Times extended bestseller list and has over 450,000 copies in print combined. - The Fourth Perimeter, published in hardcover in 2002, was a New York Times extended bestseller and People Page-turner of the Week. It has close to 480,000 copies in combined print. - The author is a featured commentator on NPR and Fox Sports, and a regular contributor to Salon.com and USA Today. From a *New York Times* bestselling author comes the story of a political candidate who is framed for murder—and determined to exact revenge on the conspirators who ruined his life.