EXACT REVENGE

The world is Raymond White's oyster: a working-class boy from Syracuse who made good, he's got a Princeton degree, rugged good looks and the gorgeous girlfriend to match, and partner status at a law firm by age 25. But in this lively modern-day retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo , just as White is poised to run for Congress, he is framed for murder, convicted and thrown into solitary confinement. After almost two decades of hard time, White is befriended by a fellow prisoner, lifer, "thief and part-time murderer," Lester Cole. "Exact revenge.... If you don't do it, you'll be a professional victim. You exact it and it's exact. Not just a reaction, but planned out. Precise. It needs to send a message," Cole advises, beginning his tutelage about life, literature and the location of a billion dollars worth of loot that they'll split after they escape. Cole dies in the breakout through the sewers of the Big House, but White goes on to retrieve the money and put in motion his reprisal plan against the former colleagues who framed him for murder. White takes down his enemies one by one in a fun, fast-paced update on the Dumas formula that will have readers booing the bad guys and rooting for the wronged hero. Agent, Esther Newberg. (May)