Kemp Ridley’s #CBR4 Review #22: One Shot by Lee Child

So I started reading the Jack Reacher series.  I did this at least in part to try to understand the internet rage over Tom Cruise’s casting, but also because, after reading a whole lot of nonfiction, I desperately needed something light to reset my brain. There’s no better antidote to Edward Gibbon’s sprawling, never-met-a-comma-I-didn’t-like prose than a good thriller.

This shit is actually pretty good.  I was actually kind of surprised by how much it didn’t suck.  The hero, Jack Reacher, is an ex-MP who spends his days walking the earth, having adventures and beating the crap out of people who desperately need it.  In this case, an ex-Army sniper snaps, shoots a whole bunch of people from a parking garage and is arrested soon after.  When Reacher hears a news broadcast about the crime he recognizes the shooter’s name from his time in the army, travels to the scene and gets sucked into the investigation.

Of course nothing is even vaguely as clean-cut as it appears, starting with Reacher’s relationship with the shooter and spiraling out from there. I am not even going to attempt to encapsulate what happens from there, as it would be way, way too easy to drop spoilers. Let me just say that I was a very nice, very quick, kind of pulpy read. I’ve got a nice stack of other Child novels from the library that I’ll be working my way through in the near future and hopefully reviewing.  (Because holy shit, you guys, am I ever behind on my reviewing. I’m lucky if I’m able to review one out of every five or so books I read.)

Valyruh’s #CBR4 Review #48: Zero Day by David Baldacci

Holy cow! Baldacci actually stole a brilliant character from a competitor author and made it work…sort of.  With his latest thriller, author David Baldacci introduces a new hero John Puller, who appears to be modeled precisely on the Reacher “prototype” made famous by author Lee Child. Both Jack Reacher and John Puller (“reacher” and “puller”?) are essentially army cops—Reacher is a former M.P. (military police) and Puller an Army warrant officer. Both are big, brawny, silent, loner types who carry a lot of internal baggage but not much else. Both end up in hairy situations that rapidly evolve into huge conspiracies, and both invariably team up—temporarily–with cool kick-ass female cops/FBI/sheriffs.  Neither have the time nor, it would seem,  the inclination, for a serious relationship with anyone or anything.

There are differences, to be sure. Reacher carries his toothbrush around with him and has no place to call home, while Puller—still active military—has a cat waiting for him back in his minimalist apartment, whenever he drops by for a shower and change of uniforms. More importantly, Puller has a father—a former highly-decorated general slowly dying of Alzheimers—and a brilliant older brother serving a life sentence for some undefined act of treason. But in mode of action, Reacher and Puller are carbon copies, which makes for a rather disconcerting read by someone–like me–who has enjoyed all of the novels of both authors.

In a nutshell, Puller gets deployed to a tiny and dying coal town in West Virginia where a visiting Defense Intelligence colonel and his entire family were murdered. Puller is sent in solo, with no back up, and is told that the case is important and unusual, but is given no further information or instruction. Several more bodies are discovered and his only ally in the investigation is a lady cop related by marriage to the wealthy and despised owner of the coal company that is slowly killing the town and who is Puller’s first suspect. Many characters of varying degrees of believability are introduced to the plot, which unfortunately remains rather opaque throughout much of the novel, but which is finally and dramatically unveiled near the end and then solved in typical big-bang fashion by Baldacci’s hero.

While Baldacci’s writing is always fast-paced, exciting, and filled with lots of political, intelligence, military, and technical savvy, it still falls short of the nuanced ambience of the Jack Reacher novels. The plot of Zero Day, as with many of Baldacci’s books, is just shy of implausible but a fun read for all that.

toepic’s cbr4# Review #8: Persuader by Lee Child

Jack Reacher. The man without a car, without a job and without a change of clothes (gross). But Jack isn’t some boxcar tramp or free lovin’ hippy. he’s a hardnosed, ex-military cop, that’s enjoying living off the grid and answering to no one. Jack wanders the country, somehow stumbling into international plots of intrigue. Persuader is Lee Child’s 7th Jack Reacher novel, and even though I can’t recall a single plausible reason why he ends up guarding the vice president or investigating a Vietnam MIA case, it doesn’t matter because he’s going to kick ass, sleep with some attractive intelligent woman and then kill a bunch of people defending her.

Ok, it sounds formulaic, but Lee Child writes some of the best thrillers out there. I frequently read a Jack Reacher novel after a boring book, to rekindle my love of reading. (I’m looking at you Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.) In Persuader, Reacher saves the son of Zachary Beck, reputed drug kingpin, from kidnapping. Beck is somehow involved with the mysterious Quinn, a former military intelligence officer Reacher thought was dead until a chance encounter outside of a theater. Now, Reacher wants him dead for real. The FBI wants Beck, and the son just doesn’t want to be kidnapped any more.

There are currently 16 Jack Reacher novels. If they continue to be as good as the first 7, I’ll read every one. They are like a great action movie. Smart, but not lacking in explosions, chase scenes and casual sex.

BTW – You can read Jack Reacher novels in any order. The author says it’s ok. Watch an interview with Lee Child after the jump.

Most highlighted quote from Kindle users:

I don’t really care about the little guy. I just hate the big guy. I hate big smug people who think they can get away with things.

If you like the Bourne Identity but wished he hung out in America more, and could remember stuff.

Movie news: A different Jack Reacher novel One Shot, it being written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects). It will star Tom Cruise as a 6’7″ hulking ex-military cop. Good luck with that.

For all my reviews plus more book news, opinions and rants, go to Barely Literary.