When the CIA shoots down a plane in the imaginary nation of Kurmia, an innocent pregnant woman is aboard. She is kidnapped by a ruthless international mercenary by the name of Morgan, who forces her to be his mistress. She gives birth to a child that Morgan assumes is his, but in fact it is probably the child of her husband. Morgan raises the infant, a girl called Angie, to be a mercenary. By the time Angie is eleven, her mother dies of malaria. Shortly afterwards, Morgan discovers that Angie is probably not his daughter, and becomes hostile to her. Angie Steals from Morgan, injures his pride, and flees from his control. Morgan spends many years trying to hunt her down—and their feud provides the central conflict for this action novel. Esther Carney’s vivid account of Angie’s adventures as a thief, martial arts and weapons expert, and FBI Special Ops agent in Avenging Angel runs some 639 pages, most of them filled with action, mayhem, and torture. Because of Morgan’s relentless pursuit, Angie spends most of her life on the run, making few attachments and making most of her living as a thief, and undercover agent for the FBI. She also searches for her father. In the process she makes many enemies and many friends, on both sides of the law. The action, which follows Angie from her early teens to her early twenties, is breakneck, and sometimes exhausting to read. It follows a pattern established by Edgar Rice Burroughs and other action writers in which the protagonist flees one perilous situation, has a brief respite and then is plunged into another. As we catapult from Angie’s escape from Morgan, her recapture by Morgan, her capture by the law, her escape from the law, her recapture by Morgan, her re-escape, and so on, the narrative has a relentless and breathless flavor reminiscent of the old RKO serials. It makes you turn pages, but as a storyline, it’s nothing new. While this girl is an unlikely assassin or action figure, Ms. Carney does make her into a convincingly hardboiled action figure, with no hint of the implausible tough girl action you might see, for example in an episode of “Charlie’s Angels.” Ms. Carney writes of hand to hand combat and firearms at least as convincingly as most action authors out there—and she makes the toughness of this young woman credible. Simultaneously, she also makes Angie a charming if rough edged young beauty that brings out the romantic or paternal instincts of the best men she encounters—a more daunting challenge and less credible success. The men in this book are mostly jerks. At worst they are murderers, rapists and torturers who end up getting what they deserve. At best they are violent, sentimental, and untrustworthy and get off relatively lightly for their indiscretions. The women, of which there are only a few, do a little better. Angie, raised as a professional killer is a remarkably caring individual, giving the conditions under which she has grown up. Her sister (or half sister) Alli is perhaps the most sympathetic female in the novel. The literature of revenge is very old, and with some exceptions (Hamlet, The Count of Monte Cristo) not very interesting. What does make revenge tales interesting is when the protagonists have a choice of whether to pursue vengeance or not—and how they deal internally with that struggle. Monte Cristo could have done nothing, even after escaping from prison. Hamlet could have stayed in England and never returned to Denmark. In circumstances like these, the struggle of the lone avenger overturning impossible odds is supplemented by an inner struggle, not borne of necessity, but of resolve, anger, anxiety, responsibility, and inner doubt. When the wronged protagonist is basically a good person, the issue of morality can also be used to enrich the narrative stew. In Avenging Angel, these dramatic tools might have been used to better effect. Although Carney’s book is entitled Avenging Angel, Angie is not totally consumed by her desired to be revenged on Morgan, even though he has murdered her mother and destroyed her life. In fact, she spends most of her time fleeing from Morgan and other evil parties, engaging in deadly violence only when she is forced to defend herself or engage in pre-emptive attacks to take out those trying to kill her. In the end, she takes the battle to Morgan, only when it is completely obvious that she will never be safe until he and his henchmen are dead. Although I would have liked to see a shorter book (639 pages is an exhausting marathon for an action novel!) with action driven more by inner motivation rather than necessity, Avenging Angel is sure to please readers who like seeing a lot of action and enjoy cheering for the underdog. They are sure to enjoy this book.

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“The book, called Avenging Angel, is an action packed book about a girl, Angie Ryan, who was raised in South America in a camp full of mercenaries. Angie was raised as the daughter of the head mercenary, Colonal Morgan. Just before her mother passes away, she tells Angie that Morgan isn't her real father. Her real father is back in the States. Angie's mother dies before she can tell Angie her real last name, or the name of her father.

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