The Revenge Of Adam Defoe

 revenge, "thriller"

Book description from Amazon

Is the greatest revenge really served cold?

Dr. Yoav Walberg is one hell of a lucky guy. He is heir to a huge fortune, engaged to a beautiful woman and is soon to be appointed to a senior position in a prestigious hospital. However, when his best friends become jealous of his success, they plot a devilish and sophisticated scheme against him. Will he notice the deadly spider webs woven around him in time to avoid the bite that will bring about his inevitable death?

As fortune continues to play with him, after three miserable years, Dr. Walberg in tragic coincidence arrives in Tibet, where he has once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to start his life from scratch.

After many years, he turned into the known and successful American businessman, Adam Defoe. Will Adam Defoe uncover the true story behind the attempt on his life?

Will he pity the responsible? The powers he must outwit are very dangerous, and he finds himself, once again, fighting for his life.

Hahaha, I am amazed at myself for reading this train wreck in its entirety. I chose the book for this month's Kindle lending program because of the glowing 5 star ratings/reviews. I'm wondering if I read the same book they did. Although I like revenge stories, this novel didn't deliver in its execution. The novel is really really really really painful to read. The author wrote it like it's a cheesy 80s movie/TV show script or storyboard without the drawings. It is beyond dreadful.

One of the tedious things I didn't particularly like is the author describing in detail the hair color/style/length, eye color, clothing color and style, of every character including those who don't have anything to do with the story and only appear once, for example, a waiter. And he does this throughout the friggin' book. He also is prone to describing the enormous luxurious houses - living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc. And he never forgets to remind the reader of Yoav's magnificent incredibly ripped body. Who writes like that? How did this get published on Amazon Kindle?

Note: The author did mention that this is one of his screenplays but if it is in a book format, he should have hired a competent editor to polish the text.

On to the story. Spoilers.

The story begins in Israel. The main character, Dr. Yoav Walberg is described as handsome, engaged to be married to an equally beautiful model-looking girl. He is a good kind person, almost a saint. One member in his close circle of friends from childhood who is also his lawyer is jealous and covets Yoav's coming inheritance and the super beautiful girlfriend. Another friend is married to Yoav's ex-girlfriend, also extremely beautiful, who is still in love with him and the friend knows it. He is also extremely jealous. The third friend is a fellow doctor and resents Yoav for getting the promotion he desperately wants. The 3 friends conspire to have him killed by manipulating a situation with a notorious mobster. The means of doing it is unbelievably cheesy. Yoav survives the assassination attempt but is left in a coma for 2 years. He wakes up but is wheelchair-bound and partially deaf. While he is in a coma, his girlfriend marries the lawyer and they have a son. Strange that Yoav and the ex nor the lawyer never have a single conversation about this betrayal.

After 1 year living as an invalid, he decides to go with his Indian caretaker to the caretaker's homeland in Northern India. The plane crashes in Tibet because of bad weather and surprise, surprise! Yoav is the only survivor. He is rescued and healed by the monks; one massages him daily with oils while reciting prayers over him; he is fed exotic food. Yoav is completely healed and no longer deaf. Miraculous Tibet! Oils, prayers, special scorpion soup diet, and daily meditations; just like Kickboxer in the movies. The monk then trains him in martial arts and naturally he excels in it too. He is Chuck Norris Yoav after all. It is now time for him to leave Tibet. He becomes a revered martial arts fighter in Japan. Next stop in Yoav's journey is Hong Kong where he learns and excels (surprise!) in the stocks trade, takes a new identity as Adam Defoe, born in Hong Kong. Of course, he is unrecognizable as Yoav because he lost so much weight doing his martial arts training and he shaves off all his hair a la Kung Fu's David Carradine. Hokay. Last stop is New York New York. He's now oozing with money, may be richer than Donald Trump. After 10 long years and agonizing 1½ days of reading, the promised revenge is here at last.

He goes back to Israel, plans, and gets his revenge (anti-climactic IMHO). Meanwhile the same mobster who tried to kill him the first time hires a team to assassinate him..again. Chase scene on a highway: huge truck, 2 motor bikes, an SUV, lots of weapons. Well, what do you know, he survives! The team leader [who has a terminal illness BTW] goes to Tibet to investigate. He meets the monks and stops the assault on Yoav/Adam right at the minute he is cornered by the assassination team. Just like in a cheap movie thriller. Yay! Yoav succeeds and gets back the girl and his son too!

Gaahh! Lamest copy of The Count of Monte Cristo revenge theme.

I do not recommend the book. I'm serious.

Ah, yes, Kickboxer and The Delta Force are waiting for me.