Although this story is a rewrite of The Count of Monte Cristo and anyone who knows how that story works out will be familiar with how this novel ends. Having said that, Stephen Fry does write a very readable story. ( )

As most of my friends know, I am a big fan of Stephen Fry, so I guess it's no surprise that I liked this book. But I have read another of his stories so far, 'Making History,' and I didn't think it was all that good. This one, however, really gripped me - I couldn't put it down.

It is the story of Ned, a schoolboy who has a lovely girlfriend, good looks, intelligence, and is destined for Oxford - the type of person that everyone loves but hates at the same time. A prank played on him by his 'friends' turns horribly wrong, and an arrest over possession of cannabis ends up with him becoming an IRA suspect, and he is sent to an insane asylum to rot. He manages to escape, ten years later, in the 1990s; now a full-grown adult, who has never heard of mobile phones or the Internet. He manages to become a dotcom millionaire, and slowly takes revenge on
those who put him into the asylum when he has the power to do so.

It's quite a tragic story, but entertaining in places too. The only part I was unsatisfied was with the ending (as usual!); it wraps up in just a few pages, and I didn't really understand the reasons behind his final decision. Definitely an interesting story, though, and I'd certainly recommend it to others. A very interesting concept, and delightfully written. ( )

I was about ten pages into Revenge when it dawned on me that I had read it before. Another ten pages, and I realised I was reading the re-titled The Star’s Tennis Balls, which I had read when first published in 2000 or so. It was an odd moment of Déjà vu, because I recall having the same feeling a quarter of the way through The Star’s Tennis Balls, which is how long it took for me to realise it was a reworking of The Count of Monte Cristo. Slow, eh?

Stephen Fry has, however, enough literary clout to make me willingly read a book I absent-mindedly purchased by mistake, despite having read it before and having read the full, unabridged classic to which it pays ‘ommige a mere six months prior. I suspect that if he republishes again under the title ‘False Imprisonment, Escape and Retribution’, I’ll pick up another copy and be just as tickled.

Fry’s chief strength is his love of language… no one should pick up his work who isn’t prepared to wallow in dialogue of the frothiest, smoothest, double-edgedest (sorry Mr. F) kind. It’s surprising, in fact, that he can stop playing for long enough to get the story out (if I had his talent, I’d just wrap the reader in words until they suffocated in glee, and damn the point), but fortunately he has his gift under some sort of control, and can move characters, theme and plot along at the exactly the right pace.

If Revenge, (or TSTB, if you prefer) has flaws, they’re minor ones; the updating and recasting feels, in places, suspiciously like a vehicle for Mr. Fry to wax ecstatic about technology and gadgets (now a few years outdated, although he’s carefully not overdone the opportunities for this). It also rather detracts from the villainy of Ned Maddstone’s* oppressors; at least in the first instance of their envy-led schoolboy pranking. However, Fry plays cleverly with the reader’s sympathies; leading it first hither, then stripping it and lending it to another character for a brief time.

‘Revenge’ was as aptly titled to begin with as it was subsequently renamed. The hit and miss nature of exacting satisfaction, the treatment of the ‘serve’ on landing – it’s a ‘best laid plans’ scenario with nastiness at its heart. Fortunately, the nice Mr. Fry is capable of being completely horrible, at least in print, and the only ‘escape’ is the practical one. I was particularly impressed by the downfall of Maddstone’s chief oppressor.

In conclusion: would read again. On purpose, even.

*The anagrams… it’s impossible not to wonder what it must be like inside Stephen Fry’s head. Do any words, at all, get out that haven’t been wrenched and fondled like a Rubik’s cube for all possible permutations and patterns? ( )

Fry's homage to Alexandre Dumas is clever, true, and modern, but I would rather just read The Count of Monte Cristo over again. ( )

Quick fun read. Apparently based on the Count of Monte Cristo, but I've never read that so can't comment how close the plot is. A young and in love boy is set up by the people that envy him and via a series of ludicrous coincidences ends up incarcerated. Once out he vows revenge on the people that put him there. The whole book is wildly implausible, but a real page turner nevertheless. ( )