Revenge
This book is a thundering action adventure story with the good guys always winning.
L. Ray Vinson’s Revenge is a thundering action thriller through the heart of Colombia to dusty Afghanistan, featuring buddy-cop special agents who bring American justice to enemies of the United States.
Ralph and Sammy report directly to the president and operate in near secrecy. Armed with a plethora of weapons and gadgets, they’re sent into Mexico and South America to end the drug trade once and for all. Just as they close the books on the mission, they’re needed in the Middle East to infiltrate a meeting of nearly every terrorist commander. Racing against the clock, they set in motion plans that not only destabilize the bad guys’ organizations but free the innocents under their reign. Firepower and brainpower serve them well as they dish out justice and seek their revenge against America’s enemies.
Revenge is cut-and-dried action adventure. The Perfect Warrior agents—Ralph and Sammy—boast incredible talent with weaponry and technology (including forty-eight-hour-long invisibility granted by a chemical compound). Guns blaze, evil men fall, and the guys get the girls. In this case, the agents get a small respite in the form of a dual wedding ministered by the president himself.
All in all, this a standard adventure story with the good guys guaranteed the win. Vinson fleshes out the action with secondary and tertiary characters’ points of view showing either the aftermath of the Perfect Warriors’ missions or the behind-the-scenes planning stateside.
Guaranteed wins, though, mean that Ralph and Sammy face no obstacles to their goals. They walk in, kill all the bad guys, rescue all the data and money, escape nearly unscathed, and recover quickly. The action, dialogue, and characterization hovers mainly on the superficial.
The book almost reads like two separate novels smashed together, with the events of the Colombia mission neatly tied up before a rough transition to the Afghanistan mission. Some background characters—the drug cartel’s “girlfriends” and local cops—provide unnecessary exposition that muddies the flow of the plot. Minor spelling and formatting errors stack up and compound the rushed and unfinished feel.
Revenge is the second book in the Perfect Warrior series and cuts off with a warning for the next book. This book is a thundering action adventure story with the good guys always winning, the bad guys always losing, and America reigning supreme.
Reviewed by
John M. Murray
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
