The Best Revenge Read online

  A delightful trend in fiction publishing is the practice of authors donating naming rights for a character to a worthy charity that in turn auctions off the opportunity to have a character named after a real live person. This time the process resulted in a strange outcome. The high bidders at the auction were Mark Reese and his wife Martha Graves Reese, who is the sister of Kansas Governor Bill Graves. She asked me to create a character using her brother’s name. I did my part (I actually included the real governorand a fictional counterpart, in addition to finding a role for Martha) and I thank Martha and Mark Reese and Governor Bill Graves for their graciousness and generosity.

  Special thanks to some other writers. Candice DeLong(Special Agent) , Christopher Whitcomb(Cold Zero) , and David Fisher(Hard Evidence) . Their nonfiction books were especially helpful for background research and—for any readers interested in learning more about the unique culture of the FBI—the books were illuminating and entertaining, as well. Any damage done to the facts should be blamed on me, not them.

  Finally, I thank my friends and my family. To say this work wouldn’t be possible without them is trite, but true. My mother, Sara, is more excited about each new book than even I am. And my wife, Rose, and my son, Xan, inspire and energize me in ways that are as essential as oxygen.

  Also by Stephen White

  WARNING SIGNS

  THE PROGRAM

  COLD CASE

  MANNER OF DEATH

  CRITICAL CONDITIONS

  REMOTE CONTROL

  HARM’S WAY

  HIGHER AUTHORITY

  PRIVATE PRACTICES

  PRIVILEGED INFORMATION

  Published by

  Delacorte Press

  Random House, Inc.

  New York, New York

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents

  either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales

  is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2003 by Stephen W. White

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

  Delacorte Press®is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  White, Stephen, 1951–

  The best revenge / Stephen White.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 0-440-33415-2

  1. Psychotherapist and patient—Fiction. 2. Government investigators.

  3. Psychologists—Fiction. 4. Ex-convicts—Fiction. 5. Revenge—Fiction.

  I. Title.

  PS3573.H47477 B47 2003

  813′.54—dc21 2002067593

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