Top 10: books about revenge
- Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn: Amy Dunne disappears under mysterious circumstances, leaving husband Nick the prime suspect in her possible murder.
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë: Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliffe grow up together. When she won’t marry him due to his lowly status, Heathcliff runs away. Many years later, he returns to unleash his wrath.
- The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne: Puritan Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter on her chest to mark her crime of adultery, while her lover remains unnamed. When Hester’s husband returns, he determines to uncover the identity of the lover.
- The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas: Accused of a crime he did not commit, Edmond Dantes is imprisoned on an island. After many years dwelling on how he was wronged, Edmond escapes and returns to society as a rich man.
- Great Expectations, Charles Dickens: Orphan Pip’s fortunes are changed by a mysterious benefactor. Pip falls for Estella who treats him mean, with guardian Miss Havisham pulling the strings.
- True Grit, Charles Portis: Mattie Ross seeks revenge after a drifter murders her father. Rooster Cogburn, a seasoned one-eyed gunfighter, and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf are her reluctant sidekicks.
- Nutshell, Ian McEwan. Hamlet-inspired in utero noir. An unborn foetus discovers his mother and her lover (his uncle) are having an affair and plan to bump off his father.
- Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie: When a man is murdered on the train, Hercules Poirot discovers many of its passengers had cause to wish the man dead.
- Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Raskolnikov reasons that to kill the pawnbroker would do the world a favour. After the event, Raskolnikov suspects himself of baser intentions.
- The Harpy, Megan Hunter. When his affair comes to light, Jake strikes a bargain with wife Lucy: she gets to hurt him three times in return.
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