Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #449356 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-16
• Released on: 2004-08-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"The master is back," the promo goes, "with his best thriller since The Day of the Jackal." A bold statement: while no Jackal, this strong and memorable novel is his best in decades, and as good as The Odessa File and The Dogs of War. It is the story of vigilante Cal Dexter's pursuit of a Serbian warlord into the jungles of the fictional Republic of San Martin. Dexter, former Vietnam tunnel rat, now small-town attorney and clandestine kidnapper of refugees from justice, is after Zoran Zilic, a gangster who has escaped Serbia with a fortune but not before savagely killing an American aid worker who happens to be the grandson of a billionaire mining magnate. It's the magnate who sets in motion the operation against Zilic, first through a man known as "The Tracker," who locates him, then via the Avenger, whose task is to bring Zilic to American justice. But Zilic is protected in his South American jungle compound not only by the best security money can buy but also by a top FBI man who plans to use the warlord to help take out a dangerous terrorist named Usama bin Laden; much of the narrative takes place within weeks of 9/11, and is laced with irony. Forsyth fans won't be surprised that the action, always exciting, is supported by numerous briefings on matters geopolitical, historical and scientific; with Jackal, Forsyth established the now traditional formula of thrillers that educate as well as entertain. The digressions are frequent early on but no page lacks interest and the novel's second half, which focuses on the Avenger's attempted snatch of Zilic, is pure gold. This will hit bestseller lists high and hard and a sequel seems likely.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
In 1982 Frederick Forsyth set a standard for the international thriller with his now classic The Day of the Jackal. His novels since have been complex and compelling, but not until Avenger has Forsyth crafted as chilling a tale. Eric Conger guides us through the convergent subplots around the death of a young American aid worker and the circuitous route of retribution set in motion by his tycoon grandfather. Conger's cool detachment helps the listener follow the many threads of the story while driving the suspense. His characters--from ex-Vietnam tunnel rat Cal Dexter to Serbian warlord Zoran Zilic--are clear; his accents are expert and his pacing as perfect as Forsyth's. The settings change from Serbia to a South American jungle, flashback to Vietnam, pass through CIA headquarters and bucolic New Jersey, and end on September 10, 2001. Forsyth's attention to detail and calculated coincidence are handled with finesse. Eric Conger's success with nonfiction narrative serves him well. He's able to move listeners through the historical detail on Vietnam and Serbia without ever letting the intrigue lag. His performance gives the difficult blend of involvement and objectivity that highlights the keen suspense. R.F.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
*Starred Review* The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, The Odessa File--these Forsyth blockbusters helped define the international conspiracy thriller. Forsyth's newest novel, his fourteenth, could well return him to those lofty heights. Once again, his crisp narration leads readers through labyrinths of criminal and espionage plots and through land mines of warfare, historical, contemporary, and threatening (the book stops on September 10, 2001). One of the amazing features of Forsyth's writing is the way he spotlights seemingly random, unconnected events, usually involving armed conflict, and then gradually weaves them all together into a seamless plot. This time out, World War II, Vietnam, Bosnia, and Cambodia take turns commanding center stage, held together by two protagonists: a middle-aged lawyer and an aging business tycoon, who have both suffered devastating losses. The tycoon's loss, that of his grandson on a relief mission in Bosnia, becomes subsumed in the mission of attorney Calvin Dexter, grieving father and former 'Nam tunnel rat, whose mission in life is to bring justice to those who have gotten away with murder. Perhaps the most fascinating part of the book is the in-depth chronicle (based on real-life stories of surviving veterans) of the excruciating, perilous work of the tunnel rats in ferreting out the Vietcong in their vast underground lairs. Forsyth's extraordinary care with detail, his solid voice, and his exquisite pacing make this a totally engrossing thriller. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Throughly enjoyable
I just finished this book and I am totally satisfatied. It's like I had a great meal.

Entertaining education
This appealed to me simply because I have an interest in 'vengeance' storylines as opposed to revenge, and although I enjoyed it it didn't move me in particular, not emotionally at least. It was a tremendous odyssey however, winging its way from such unusual places as Vietnam to Canada to Dubai and on to Surinam - among many others. Chief among those others was Bosnia, and I have to admit I welcomed this history lesson about a series of conflicts that I never truly understood as well as I do now, thanks to Fred! Likewise the guerrilla warfare in Vietnam, even the Second World war - how superbly the author entwines fact with fiction and fills us with, if we're honest, a lot of unexpected knowledge on the way through this somewhat long-drawn-out mission of justice. Thanks to fascinating background on the central character of Cal Dexter, in particular his years as a 'tunnel rat' against the tactically superior Viet Cong army, we know that he is more than capable of carrying out the seemingly impossible task of finding and returning the Serbian war-lord to the paymaster who recruited him for his role of avenger. The tale contains more than passing associations with Al Qaeda too, and their 9/11 strikes, leaving the reader to wonder how it might have been avoided, or how Usama Bin Laden could have been found just days later. Not classic Forsyth I guess, but a mightily interesting tale nonetheless, and worth reading more than once.

Good, but not up to par
This is a good story but not up to Forsyth's previous efforts. I found it difficult to connect the sub-plots early on, but everything eventually came together and sped to an exciting conclusion. Some careless editing, however: "Pres." for "President" and "Dir." for "Director."