Mary Jo Putney's "Silk and Shadows"
I didn't connect on an emotional level with either of the main characters, but I read the book to the end just to see how Peregrine would achieve his revenge on Charles Weldon. After reading Mary Jo Putney's "Fallen Angels" series, I was expecting some way over-the-top, totally implausible scenes at the big climax and Putney certainly lived up my expectations with those.
Another reader mentioned Judith James' "Broken Wing" as a fine book with a tortured hero - there are quite a few parallels between the characters and their destinies in "Silk and Shadows" and "Broken Wing", and for me "Broken Wing" was a better read.
