I'm an award-winning creative director and have worked in the advertising industry for the past twenty years. I've worked on brands like Pepsi, Citibank, Sheraton, Unilever, Emirates, and DHL in over twenty countries. I've been fascinated with the glitz, glamor, and grit of the advertising world since I was a teenager. My second book, just like the first, is set in this unique world. As a writer, my inspiration has always been John Grisham. I aspire to use advertising as the backdrop for my stories the way Grisham uses the law. I choose revenge because revenge has moved humankind forward. Every story has traces of revenge embedded in it.
The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas (père) in 1844. The book is timeless, and that’s why I am recommending it. It is as relevant today as it was a century ago. It also inspired me to fall in love with the revenge genre. But, of course, having the burning desire to settle a few scores myself was the primary reason I started writing.
The epic tale of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge, in its definitive translation
Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas' epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized…
If I could recommend one book that impacted my life, it would be The Fountainhead. It changed the way I approached life and had a profound influence on where I stand today. The reason is finding the best three-dimensional protagonist I’ve ever read. What I admire about Ayn Rand’s character building is I have never read a protagonist with so many flaws who embraces his ugliness and stays true to himself. I also feel Howard Rourke inspired Don Draper from Mad Men. This is a character that will remain with the reader forever. The drive to seek revenge from society shapes the character and makes it unique and intriguing.
I grew up reading Sidney Sheldon, and if you don’t know him, stop reading anything else and google him. Master of the Game is a masterclass in characterization. Revenge, of course, is the underlying theme, but the story is epic and has more twists and turns than a German pretzel. I read this book thirty years ago, and I can still feel the tension Jamie McGregor felt crawling through the diamonds on a South African beach and can relate to his struggle to seek revenge.
Kate Blackwell is the symbol of success—a beautiful woman who has parlayed her inheritance into an international conglomerate. Now, celebrating her 90th birthday, Kate surveys the family she has manipulated, dominated, and loved: the fair and the grotesque, the mad and the mild, the good and the evil—her winnings in life.
Praising John Grisham’s writing is like showing a candle to the sun. Even though none of his books are underrated, The Partner seldom makes the list of his best works. What I love about this book is what I aspire to do as a writer—the book pulls you in from the first sentence. It’s like sitting in a rocket that thrusts into space without picking up speed. The reader is forced to turn the pages one after the other till the book ends. There is an underlying theme of revenge in almost all the characters, including Patrick Lanigan, and this motivation keeps driving the story forward. If I had to pick one writer who is a master at pacing novels, I would choose John Grisham every time.
The Silent Patient falls under the psychological thriller genre. Spoiler alert; it also falls in the revenge genre, but you only find that out in the end. One caveat, you have to be patient while reading it (pun intended). Midway through the book, I wondered what the hype was about and questioned whether the buzz was manufactured—it wasn’t. The book reminded me of the roller coaster that gradually goes up, stops, and falls downwards at breakneck speed. The last time an ending made me jump up in bed was when I watched The Sixth Sense. Alex Michaelides deserves every accolade that he has received and more.
"An unforgettable―and Hollywood-bound―new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy." ―Entertainment Weekly
The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband―and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five…
“I never knew revenge could be beautiful,” Max said. “It will be.” Ryan smiled and raised his glass, “Worthy of its place in poetry books and art galleries.”
The only desire Ryan Walker has is to kill himself. That ambition ends when his boss tries to kill him. Paralyzed and broke, he wakes up in Head Lion—an exclusive club for retired billionaires. He has no idea how he got there or how to get even. The only thing Ryan knows is that he does not want his revenge to be ordinary. Head Lion is an epic tale of a mind-reading ad guru who seeks revenge. He embarks on his journey to bring down a media empire with the help of his rival, anonymous letters, and a community of forgotten mavens.
This book is set in Montauk, under looming threat from a warming climate and overdevelopment. Now outsider Clancy, a thirty-six-year-old claims adjuster scarred by his orphan childhood, has inherited an unexpected legacy: the power to decide the fate of Montauk’s last parcel of undeveloped land. Everyone in town has a stake in the outcome, among them Julienne, an environmentalist and painter fighting to save the landscape that inspires her art; Theresa, a bartender whose trailer park home is jeopardized by coastal erosion; and Molly and Billy, who are struggling to hold onto their property against pressure to sell. When Clancy…
The Stark Beauty of Last Things is set in Montauk, the far reaches of the famed Hamptons, an area under looming threat from a warming climate and overdevelopment. Now outsider Clancy, a thirty-six-year-old claims adjuster scarred by his orphan childhood, has inherited an unexpected legacy: the power to decide the fate of Montauk's last parcel of undeveloped land.
Everyone in town has a stake in the outcome, among them Julienne, an environmentalist and painter fighting to save the landscape that inspires her art; Theresa, a bartender whose trailer park home is jeopardized by coastal erosion; and Molly and Billy, who…
