Crime Stories About Vengeance

Even when it seems straightforward, revenge is complicated. The books below, though, represent revenge in the way many of us think about it first: criminal violence directed at those who have harmed a person's loved ones. Where these action-packed tales are classic in the narrative devices and tropes that they use to represent vengeance itself, they are unique and complex in their representation of the guilt, hate, shame, and grief that plagues those who have loved and lost.

Taking place after the brutal murder of a young, interracial gay couple, Razorblade Tears follows the fathers of the dead as they seek to exact revenge on their sons’ unknown killers. Like many of the protagonists featured in this list, the fathers are deeply flawed and ignorant, especially in their shared homophobic perspectives and refusal to accept their sons’ sexualities. S. A. Cosby’s writing probes at the havoc that rigidity and hate wreak on family units, and readers are prompted to consider whether those perspectives negate the love and guilt the fathers express once their sons are dead.

Small Mercies takes place in 1970s Boston, when busing was implemented to integrate public schools. Written from the perspective of Mary Pat, an Irish mother living in a largely white neighborhood, it tells the story of her quest for the truth after her daughter disappears at the same time a Black high schooler passing through the neighborhood is murdered. As in the story of Razorblade Tears, Mary Pat is forced to acknowledge her own ignorance and deep-rooted racism, as well as that of her community, all while mourning the loss of her family and using any means necessary to uncover the truth.

Translated from Japanese in 2014 after being adapted into a film in Japan in 2010, Confessions is an award-winning debut novel by Kanae Minato that traces a schoolteacher’s twisted plot to punish the students who murdered her daughter on school grounds. The initial plot to harm the killers is enough to give the reader chills, but the ever-escalating chaos brought onto the killers and their families is what makes Confessions a surprising work of horror and suspense.

The Collective tells of yet another grieving parent willing to do almost anything to seek justice for the assault and death of her teenage daughter at the hand of an affluent college student. Alison Gaylin explores the ethics of revenge through the mother’s involvement with a group of grieving women who call themselves The Collective. The Collective primarily spotlights the questionable morality of revenge itself, rather than treating violent retaliation as fully justifiable in its ultimate purpose of punishing wrongful actions.

Tom Lin weaves an intricate narrative that tells the tale of love lost and self-discovery through an incredibly violent chase for revenge in The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu. The book is made compelling in its genre-bending, revisionist Western-meets-magical-realism tale. Ming Tsu draws on the skills he learned during his brutal upbringing and leans on the support of supernatural members of a traveling circus to bring justice to those who kidnapped the woman he loves.

What’s your favorite vengeance story? Share your thoughts below!