The Vendetta Contract

by Jon Messmann

The third book in the classic Revenger series... back in print for the first time in nearly fifty years.Ben Martin is trying to live a quiet, mundane life in Morrisville, a small town south of Indianapolis. But his violent past won't let him go. The Mafia has hired Corbett, an expensive assassin who has never failed, to track him down and kill him. Martin's only hope of survival is to turn the hunter into the prey. To do that, Martin must become even more brutal, and more lethal, than the deadly monster who is pursuing him. Martin might live... but only if he murders whatever shred of humanity he still has left."Messmann has figured out how to retain the realistic nature of his series while keeping it all fast-moving and exciting. The Revenger series still has more in common with a literary sort of novel than, say, The Executioner. He makes you care about his characters." Glorious Trash"Martin is the prey this time around. Excitement, tension, thrills, action, death, violence, romance, sex, pursuit and a final confrontation. Followed by a further final confrontation! 4.5 out of 5 stars." The Criminal Library

Mass Market Paperback

Published January 1, 1974

About the author

US author, a.k.a. John Joseph Messmann

Reviews

[Ben A · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book in the series sees a similar start as Ben (aka The Revenger) is once again forced out of domestic life into a fight against the Mafia, but then the novel goes off in different and fun, if not spectacular, directions all the way to the explosive ending.

[Paperback Papa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jon Messmann wrote a million novels (give or take) in all kinds of genres, everything from westerns to gothics, to men's action/adventure, to commercial thrillers. I've always found his writing to be just okay: far from the best, but nowhere near the worst. This novel from 1974 has been touted by his fans as one of his best, so I decided to give it a try.

They aren't wrong.

I found it to be an absorbing, well-written story about Ben Martin, the Revenger, a good guy sworn to destroy the mafia, and the mafia assassin who has been hired to take him out. It's a fast-moving cat-and-mouse story with lots of action, considerable heart (thanks to Martin's alluring love interest who gets caught up in the goings on), and a terrific ending.

At 158 pages, this is yet another book that stands as a lesson to all the spy/thriller writers who crank out 400-pages novels that creep along at a snail's pace and are so convoluted you barely know what's going on. When I finished this book, I felt like I had read a much bigger novel and at no point was I confused. Yes, I realize word-count is about dollars for the publisher. Still, this novel proves that more words do not necessarily make a better story.