Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Revenge Game
SERIES: Revenge Club Book 1
AUTHOR: Jax Calder
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 452 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2025
BLURB:
Andrew
I’ve come a long way since being the gawky, geeky, gay kid who was constantly picked on growing up. Having just sold my tech start-up for so much money it broke my phone calculator, I’m now at a loose end wondering what to do next in my life.
Then I run into Justin. Justin, the golden boy from high school. Justin, the popular jock who turned my life into a living hell for four years.
And do you want to know the kicker? He doesn’t even recognize me.
Even worse, it looks like karma hasn’t done its thing because Justin definitely doesn’t seem to have been punished for his previous sins.
Maybe my next mission in life is to give karma a helping hand…
Justin
My life looks perfect from the outside – good job, good friends, no worries. Only I know it is all based on a lie. I’ve never been honest with anyone about my sexuality.
Then I meet the new IT guy at work who has just moved into my apartment building too. Given I seem to be having an extraordinary run of bad luck with technology at the moment—like having my email randomly decide to spam the entire company with images of trolls in intimate embraces —Drew’s been a lifesaver. And the more I get to know Drew, the more I want to confess my secret in the hope we can become something more.
But I can’t help the niggling feeling Drew is hiding something from me…
REVIEW:
First things first, make sure you are ready to suspend belief here, because you have to. But once you do, this was such a lovely, funny, emotional story! There are some heavies in here, like bullying and parental abuse, and I loved that the author didn’t gloss over anything as if things were simple. Bullying etches harm on your soul sometimes, things you carry with you through adulthood, and it shows here. The same for the emotional abuse an adult puts on a child. Both of these happen in the story.
Andrew and Justin went to the same high school, where Justin was part of the crew that bullied Andrew unmercifully. Andrew bears the emotional scars from it, even as he has become incredibly successful. He started IT while in high school to get away from all the nastiness. He founded a company, NovaCore, and it became very highly sought after. Then “…I started my tech company, which I sold a few months ago for the kind of money that sounds made up when you say it aloud.” Now he is looking for what to do next in his life, and to this end, he moved to London. New place, new start. Except what happens, of course, is that he runs into his former bully, Justin. Andrew has had Justin’s actions lodged in his brain since high school and Justin doesn’t even recognize him. “How is it possible that someone who starred in my nightmares for four years, who shaped every decision I made from which hallway to take to which college to choose, doesn’t even remember my face?” He is beside himself about it, and since he has unlimited funds, time on his hands, and a desire for revenge, he hatches an insane plan. Again, suspend belief.
Andrew uses those funds to get himself an apartment in Justin’s building and a job at Justin’s work. He sets about giving karma a helping hand in bringing some justice for Justin’s past actions. The things Andrew does were humiliating to Justin without being dangerous or truly harmful. It was interesting to see Andrew get to know Justin the person and the reasons behind the bullying in high school. Also, Justin is no longer the person he used to be. Andrew also comes to realize “Shit, I’ve never truly articulated how those years of constant bullying rewired my brain, how they planted seeds of doubt that grew into forests of disbelief.” He’s never believed anyone could be interested in him because of it.
They initially become friendly because Andrew considers it a way to keep the revenge going, but they become real friends, and they share so much about themselves. Andrew can’t continue the humiliation but he also can’t seem to tell the truth. The deception went on a little too long for me – Andrew knew he had to come clean and was agonizing about it but let it go too far. “Somewhere between plotting revenge and falling in love with him, I became the worst kind of bully.” And what do you do then? Especially when he finds out not only the story behind the bullying, but what Justin has been struggling for his life.
Side character Leo, Andrews right hand man and best friend, is awesome and his story will be great. I surprisingly loved Xander, the Dragon Sphere fanatic, who is slobby, gifted, and funny. I enjoyed this book so much, and I was pulling for both of them, even when I wanted to shake Andrew and tell him to spill!
RATING: 
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