Once in a while, every reader has picked up a book whose title seems to have little or nothing to do with the story. That is not the case with REVENGE, where this particular goal keeps the mayhem and the bullets flying practically from beginning to end. James Patterson and Andrew Holmes, who introduced former British SAS soldier David Shelley in the BookShot novel HUNTED, bring the cool-headed but very independent security specialist back for a most welcome return.

REVENGE begins with the suicide of a young woman known as Faye, who commits the tragic act while working as an internet sex cam model. It is revealed in due course that her real name was Emma Drake. Several years ago, Shelley, while engaged to his now-wife Lucy, guarded Emma against a kidnapping threat directed toward her incredibly wealthy parents. Her end would have bothered him in any event, but he is drawn into the investigation when he learns that she attempted to call him, without success, shortly before ending her life. Her father, Guy, is beside himself with grief and is determined to retaliate against her employer, a powerful Chechen mobster named Dmitry.

"REVENGE is a quick read that is perfectly paced and filled with action. The plotting is exquisite as it never loses sight of the main storyline while keeping the number of characters to that ever-elusive count of 'enough.'"

Shelley, with a somewhat sketchy ex-military security team retained by Guy, becomes involved in a poorly planned strike against Dmitry’s business. This only infuriates Dmitry more, prompting a bloody war between the two sides that ultimately leads to the mobster taking a hostage for ransom. There are any number of people in the mix with their own agendas who are working at cross-purposes. A couple of them are obvious, but many of them are not. The result is a great deal of fun for readers, with the twists, turns and revelations dribbling out slowly at first but more rapidly as the book progresses, especially in the last third.

While this is very much a plot-driven novel, the characters are by and large extremely interesting, even if they meet an early, though not entirely unexpected, demise. Shelley is expertly developed as a former commando who hasn’t quite kept up with his physical fitness regimen, but still retains most of the tools in his deadly skill set. He remains able to get the job done by the bittersweet conclusion, though not without getting into and (probably) out of some trouble on the domestic side.

REVENGE is a quick read that is perfectly paced and filled with action. The plotting is exquisite as it never loses sight of the main storyline while keeping the number of characters to that ever-elusive count of “enough.” Holmes, a well-known British thriller author in his own right, meshes well with Patterson in their second collaboration --- so much so that readers undoubtedly will wish for numerous encores, with David Shelley along for the ride.