Review: The Best Revenge

Alan Gregory is a psychologist in private practice with two interesting patients - Kelda James, an FBI agent seeking a possible psychological solution for relief from a chronic leg pain problem, and Tom Clone, an ex-medical student who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, and who has recently been released from death row, and prison, on the strength of DNA evidence recently unearthed by, you guessed it, Kelda James. This is not pure coincidence, and Alan finds himself in the middle of an exercise in maintaining confidential communications, necessary to his profession, after Kelda refers Tom to him. There are others, including some members of the police, who still believe that Tom is guilty of murder, and they would like to see that he is sent back to prison. All is not as it appears. Alan finds himself being pulled in a multi-directional tug of war, between his family, his responsibilities to both of his patients, his friend Sam, the police detective investigating an attack on Tom's grandfather and eventually Tom himself, and his profession.

The story is told from different points of view - Kelda's, in the third person, Tom's, again in the third person, and Alan's, in the first person. The action sometimes skips forward and back in chronological sequencing, but the cumulative effect is to drive the story forward in a straight line, ratcheting up the tension and suspense, until the climactic ending in the Rocky Mountains. Is Tom a cold-blooded murderer, possibly even a serial killer? Why did Kelda, a hero with a future in the FBI, risk her career to get Tom out of prison? The author leaves you guessing, playing with your emotions, and the reader is never really sure until the end.

The book jacket calls this a novel of suspense, and suspenseful it surely is. The writing is not flashy, just straight forward, no nonsense, narration and action. It is the 11th in a series featuring Alan Gregory, and it is a series worthy of having the first ten sought out and read.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, John Purcell, Jr. - RAM

Book Review: The Best Revenge