| Avenger
Frederick Forsyth Thomas Dunne Books, An imprint of St. Martin's Press, 2003, 370 ISBN: 0-312-31951-7 The main character, Calvin Dexter, is a young man in the 1960s who, with no better prospects in sight, enlists in the Army and goes to Vietnam. In Vietnam he is recruited as a tunnel rat, a small contingent of daring volunteers who penetrated the vast maze of Vietcong tunnels and attempted to take the war to the Vietcong in their own lair. Following his discharge he goes to college, marries and becomes a lawyer working for legal aid in New York City. But this middle class family man's life changes when he loses both his wife and teenage daughter as a result of actions by a minor drug thug from Central America. With local police too busy to do anything to apprehend such a small fry now living abroad, Dexter decides to take matters into his own hands. Drawing on the killer and tracking instincts acquired in the tunnels of Vietnam as well as upon the specialized talents of clients he has defended over the years, Dexter quietly tracks down and kills the thug responsible for his daughter's murder. But, as others before him have discovered, revenge does not replace the loss. Further, the thug's death, which is an occupational hazard for those in his line of work, was quick and final while Dexter still had to live with his loss. Concluding that the murderer should have to suffer like the surviving victim, Dexter sets up a secret side business dedicated to tracking down and bringing terrorist criminals to justice where they will be forced to spend the rest of their lives in prison. The main plot of the story involves the sadistic murder of a young American aide volunteer in Bosnia during the civil war in that country. The young American happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was brutally murdered as a result. But the young American's grandfather is a wealthy businessman who is close friends with a powerful U.S. Senator. The grandfather first hires an international investigator to find the remains of his grandson and the circumstances of his death. Learning the grisly nature of his grandson's death, the grandfather turns to both his Senator friend in Washington and to Dexter (who operates under such self-imposed deep cover that he is just a mail drop to the grandfather) to find the killer and bring him to justice. The killer is soon determined to be one Zoran Zilic, a cold blooded, but highly elusive, killer. With the end of hostilities in Bosnia, Zilic disappeared from sight. However, a secret section in the CIA, headed by Paul Devereaux III, a dedicated patriot, is in contact with Zilic and trying to use him to eliminate another terrorist whom Devereaux feels is a serious threat to the U.S. In Devereaux's view, Zilic, despite his horrific crimes, has been marginalized as a result of the end of hostilities in Bosnia and, is no longer a threat to the American people. But the terrorist known as Usama Bin Laden is a threat and Devereaux has a plan to use Zilic to eliminate Bin Laden in late September. It is August 2001 as Dexter plots to bring Zilic to justice while Devereaux works to protect him from Dexter. Because Dexter has done such a good job at concealing his identity, Devereaux and the rest of the U.S. government knows him only by the code name "Avenger". Since the book was published in 2003 the reader knows that Devereaux will not succeed in eliminating Usama, but this does little to distract from the tight drama that does not reach a climax until late in the evening of September 10th. Killing and violence are present in the background through out this book but Forsyth spends very little time dwelling on them and the terse descriptions are just sufficient to enlighten the reader as to what is going on. The real action and tension is the careful planning and execution of plans as each of the parties seeks to overcome obstacles and carry out their own plans while thwarting those of their adversaries. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - very upbeat Time/era of story: Spying/Terrorism Thriller Yes Cloak & Dagger Plotlets: Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 % Who's the terrorist enemy here? Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - kicks Setting United States Yes Europe Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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