Saturday, July 01, 2006
The Hard Way
Jack Reacher is a former Army military police investigator who retired when he felt he was no longer needed and now travels the country, a bit under the wire, going wherever he chooses. He has no drivers license, no credit cards, no address, and carries only the clothes on his back and the toothbrush in his pocket.
In each book of this series by Lee Child, Reacher is caught up in someone's mess due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and his code of honor compels him to do what he can for the side he believes to be right. There is typically an opportunity (or several) for him to use his military training to outsmart the bad guys, and a woman to warm his very temporary bed.
The dialog is clipped in a military sort of way. It feels exactly right for someone like Reacher who grew up in a military family. The way Reacher notices and remembers everything around him and his ability to always know precisely what time it is make him seem superhuman yet he is flawed and that only makes him more human. He is analytical with the clues yet can dismiss the facts and go with his guy feeling when it disagrees. He makes mistakes but always makes up for it in the end.
In The Hard Way, Reacher witnessed the pickup of ransom money. The man whose wife and step-daughter were kidnapped wants Reacher to help recover them. Reacher will do whatever he can to bring the woman and her daughter home despite the fact that he doesn't like or trust the man who hired him. When Reacher starts to have doubts about the truth, he has to figure out who he can trust.
Lee Child's novels are consistently high octane. I try to save them for when I have an uninterrupted weekend to read it cover to cover. They never wait long once they make it into my hands and I haven't been disappointed yet.
Most of the books in this series stand alone nicely. Reacher is a loner who travels so he meets new people in each book. There were some at the beginning of the series where people reappeared though, and one which went back in time to when he was still in the Army.
In each book of this series by Lee Child, Reacher is caught up in someone's mess due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and his code of honor compels him to do what he can for the side he believes to be right. There is typically an opportunity (or several) for him to use his military training to outsmart the bad guys, and a woman to warm his very temporary bed.
The dialog is clipped in a military sort of way. It feels exactly right for someone like Reacher who grew up in a military family. The way Reacher notices and remembers everything around him and his ability to always know precisely what time it is make him seem superhuman yet he is flawed and that only makes him more human. He is analytical with the clues yet can dismiss the facts and go with his guy feeling when it disagrees. He makes mistakes but always makes up for it in the end.
In The Hard Way, Reacher witnessed the pickup of ransom money. The man whose wife and step-daughter were kidnapped wants Reacher to help recover them. Reacher will do whatever he can to bring the woman and her daughter home despite the fact that he doesn't like or trust the man who hired him. When Reacher starts to have doubts about the truth, he has to figure out who he can trust.
Lee Child's novels are consistently high octane. I try to save them for when I have an uninterrupted weekend to read it cover to cover. They never wait long once they make it into my hands and I haven't been disappointed yet.
Most of the books in this series stand alone nicely. Reacher is a loner who travels so he meets new people in each book. There were some at the beginning of the series where people reappeared though, and one which went back in time to when he was still in the Army.
# posted by Kim Reis @ 7:54 PM 
