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Revenge
Determined to find and kill the European torture specialist encountered in his North Vietnamese prison camp, repatriated Air Force Lieutenant Richard Silva follows his few tenuous clues into international espionage, political intrigue, betrayal, and murder
431 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
210 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Noel Hynd
62 books218 followers I've been a published novelist for longer than I care to admit, since 1976. I'm frequently asked, however, how I first got published. It's an interesting story and involved both Robert Ludlum and James Baldwin, even though neither of them knew it --- or me --- at the time.
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 1, 2016
Very good book. Keeps your interest through out entire book.
Very good book. Keeps your interest through out entire book.
This book does a great job of reflecting what US soldiers went through during the Viet Nam war and many other wars. it's nice to see that one that suffered so severely got his revenge. it also shows why there is not much trust in the American Politicians .
Very good book. Keeps your interest through out entire book.
This book does a great job of reflecting what US soldiers went through during the Viet Nam war and many other wars. it's nice to see that one that suffered so severely got his revenge. it also shows why there is not much trust in the American Politicians .
August 29, 2021
Revenge. Noel Hynd
A tortured Air force pilot. A resident of the infamous Hanoi Hilton. The prisoner of war prison. His interrogator a rogue French intelligence agent. A sick sadistic bastard. Upon his release, Richard Silva only has one thing that occupies his every day existence. Revenge. He strikes a deal with a group of very secretive people. He has to kill for them in order to get the information and location of his torturer known as the Imp. What know unfolds is a twisted tale of deceit, promises and lies. The French agents tracking him in France where the Imp resides gain a strong understanding of Silva. In the end France and America understand the injustice Silva has endured. Also, he accomplished his mission. An excellent read!!!
A tortured Air force pilot. A resident of the infamous Hanoi Hilton. The prisoner of war prison. His interrogator a rogue French intelligence agent. A sick sadistic bastard. Upon his release, Richard Silva only has one thing that occupies his every day existence. Revenge. He strikes a deal with a group of very secretive people. He has to kill for them in order to get the information and location of his torturer known as the Imp. What know unfolds is a twisted tale of deceit, promises and lies. The French agents tracking him in France where the Imp resides gain a strong understanding of Silva. In the end France and America understand the injustice Silva has endured. Also, he accomplished his mission. An excellent read!!!
November 25, 2021
Ok But Not Great
This was an easy read with an interesting premise. But it’s not one of Hynd’s better ones. The ending is rushed, unlikely, and therefore not satisfying. More cliches than usual in a book like this. A way to past the time if you can’t find something better to do.
This was an easy read with an interesting premise. But it’s not one of Hynd’s better ones. The ending is rushed, unlikely, and therefore not satisfying. More cliches than usual in a book like this. A way to past the time if you can’t find something better to do.
March 13, 2025
Noel Hynd, Robert Ludlum, James Baldwin I love, have read and own Most of the books!
I read the book years ago and I was still captivated by the complexity and suspense of the story line!
I read the book years ago and I was still captivated by the complexity and suspense of the story line!
June 19, 2018
DNF; gave up at one third of the story due to plausibility issues, just too much for my standards.
February 5, 2020
A surprisingly good story for me, very enjoyable.
May 3, 2020
A very exciting and action-packed novel. I enjoy all on Noel’s books...keep them coming! 👍
May 11, 2021
A great read
Surprise ending. Characters well portrayed. Suspenseful and exciting. All of the author’s books are well written and a great source of entertainment.
Surprise ending. Characters well portrayed. Suspenseful and exciting. All of the author’s books are well written and a great source of entertainment.
September 6, 2021
Very good
Wel we8tten plot. Characters,saying something similar? Enjoyed reading thus very much looking forward for other books by this author. He mixes,fact and fictionb
Wel we8tten plot. Characters,saying something similar? Enjoyed reading thus very much looking forward for other books by this author. He mixes,fact and fictionb
March 17, 2024
Disappointed
I read the trilogy Trumans Spy, Eisenhower’s Spy and Kennedys Spy. They had greater depth and a bit more polished character development. The main character conversations were more like dialogue from a Bogart movie.
I read the trilogy Trumans Spy, Eisenhower’s Spy and Kennedys Spy. They had greater depth and a bit more polished character development. The main character conversations were more like dialogue from a Bogart movie.
November 3, 2015
Fast- paced and well constructed
Hynd is a low-profile writer of compelling fiction. Almost everything of his is available on Kindle.
This is a post Vietnam novel about an ex-POW seeking retribution who becomes embroiled with a mysterious group of Americans using them for their own purposes. He becomes a man hunted by three factions. There is a big police procedural component, and it is excellent.
Revenge is Tom Clancy-esque, but much more precise and propelled. The structure would lend itself to movie treatment without modification.
I look forward to reading every book he has written.
Hynd is a low-profile writer of compelling fiction. Almost everything of his is available on Kindle.
This is a post Vietnam novel about an ex-POW seeking retribution who becomes embroiled with a mysterious group of Americans using them for their own purposes. He becomes a man hunted by three factions. There is a big police procedural component, and it is excellent.
Revenge is Tom Clancy-esque, but much more precise and propelled. The structure would lend itself to movie treatment without modification.
I look forward to reading every book he has written.
March 23, 2016
Richard Silva is a pilot who is shot down during the Vietnam war nd taken to Hanoi where he is kept and though his injuries are treated he is still badly abused and many of the men are shot right in front of him. He can not get it behind him when he goes home. He keeps thinking about the European who did some of the worst torture he received. He makes a deal to find this man and the story unfolds with him getting ready to go and then going to Europe to find him. Many other events are part of the story. If you like to read Noel Hynd then you will like this one.
July 23, 2014
Wow, I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't put the book down. The main character was well developed and I like the way the author blended all the characters together. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good spy novel. The covert, strategic aspects of this novel were on point and believable.
April 2, 2016
Revenge
Interesting story of how an American POW from Viet Nam gets revenge on one of his torturers. There were long parts that could of been eliminated throughout the story and I found the end to be utterly ridiculous.
Interesting story of how an American POW from Viet Nam gets revenge on one of his torturers. There were long parts that could of been eliminated throughout the story and I found the end to be utterly ridiculous.
December 11, 2008
This was my first novel in 1975. It has its flaws but it's not bad, even after all these years...... Plus I got a movie deal on it, so what's not to like?
March 9, 2014
A Fun read!
March 12, 2014
The best story I have read on Kindle
Fast paced and engrossing. I loved it because of the characters, their motivation, and the overall interesting plot and details.
Fast paced and engrossing. I loved it because of the characters, their motivation, and the overall interesting plot and details.
June 8, 2015
Actually 3.5. Some rough confusing places but all in all, kept my interest.
May 5, 2016
A novel worth reading
I had previously read his novel "Truman's spy" which was enjoyable, thus this one, it was apparent that this was the first.
I had previously read his novel "Truman's spy" which was enjoyable, thus this one, it was apparent that this was the first.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews