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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Enjoyable, the things people do when they are desperate
2020 has fried my brain to the point that I didn't recognize anything in this book until about half-way through and then just enjoyed the rest of the ride. I have been having a hard time focusing enough to read with all the stress of pandemic & social unrest so have to say this style of writing is just my speed at the moment.
There's a whole bit here about how the world's leaders will gather in London and pose for a photograph and how they will all try to appear not to be shoving their way to the front. So, I guess that's kind of a quaint assumption from yesteryear given the sad reality of the orange nightmare's sharp elbows and delicate ego. Let's hope today is the last of his horrible time in office.
There's a whole bit here about how the world's leaders will gather in London and pose for a photograph and how they will all try to appear not to be shoving their way to the front. So, I guess that's kind of a quaint assumption from yesteryear given the sad reality of the orange nightmare's sharp elbows and delicate ego. Let's hope today is the last of his horrible time in office.
Jack Reacher was on the west coast when it happened. A sniper, loose in Paris, took a shot at the President of France. The shot was fired from 1400 yards out by someone on an apartment balcony. Some kind of new glass held saving the life of the politician. As the situation was investigated and the reality of just how difficult a shot it was to pull off a list of potential snipers with that kind of skill level was drawn up by those who should know.
It has been determined that several snipers from around the world are the best of the best for this particular situation. One sniper in particular is an American that that Reacher knows well having put him in jail a number or years ago. As the intelligence services of the various countries are brought in to chase their sniper in advance of the upcoming G8 summit in England, old contracts of Reacher’s put him in to help with this as he owes a favor to one of those heavily involved. Just one of the ways-- and there are several-- that this situation is Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel.
Reacher is back and in good form in this latest installment of the long running series. Duplicity is rampart among all involved as there are many hidden agendas are at work in this complex thriller. Reacher spends a lot of time talking to people by way of the Socratic method to sift through the conflicting information and figure out multiple situations as they arise throughout the entire book. This is done through page after page of dialogue in a way that is far different stylistically than earlier books in the series.
In fact the entire novel, while good, is far different stylistically and not just in terms of dialogue than earlier in the series. Legendary for his traveling light with only a toothbrush--if that-- resulting in needing to buy clothes to replace whatever he is wearing, this Reacher hardly ever buys clothes. In previous novels, Reacher was always interested in the girl and almost always got her. In this case there is zero sexual attraction at work as he acts more like her grandfather or mentor. Considering the age of his parents Reacher could be her grandfather and yet he can still fight like the Reacher of old in the few fight scenes scattered throughout the novel. One of which immediately puts the reader in mind of the classic movie Bond villain, Jaws.
Reacher, often dealing with characters that are little more than stereotypes, when the time comes is still busting heads and/or various limbs while taking names as the chase takes him across the globe. He certainly isn’t mellowing with age and gets the job done-- even when the odds are stacked against him by both friend and foe. While not nearly as good as early ones in the series, Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child is a good one that keeps reader interest page after page and is certainly much better than his last couple of books.
Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel
Lee Child
http://www.leechild.com
Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House LLC)
http://www.bantamdell.com
September 2014
ISBN# 978-0-8041-7874-7
Hardback (available in e-book and audio)
368 Pages
$28.00
ARC was provided as a result of my winning a copy by way of LibraryThing for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
It has been determined that several snipers from around the world are the best of the best for this particular situation. One sniper in particular is an American that that Reacher knows well having put him in jail a number or years ago. As the intelligence services of the various countries are brought in to chase their sniper in advance of the upcoming G8 summit in England, old contracts of Reacher’s put him in to help with this as he owes a favor to one of those heavily involved. Just one of the ways-- and there are several-- that this situation is Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel.
Reacher is back and in good form in this latest installment of the long running series. Duplicity is rampart among all involved as there are many hidden agendas are at work in this complex thriller. Reacher spends a lot of time talking to people by way of the Socratic method to sift through the conflicting information and figure out multiple situations as they arise throughout the entire book. This is done through page after page of dialogue in a way that is far different stylistically than earlier books in the series.
In fact the entire novel, while good, is far different stylistically and not just in terms of dialogue than earlier in the series. Legendary for his traveling light with only a toothbrush--if that-- resulting in needing to buy clothes to replace whatever he is wearing, this Reacher hardly ever buys clothes. In previous novels, Reacher was always interested in the girl and almost always got her. In this case there is zero sexual attraction at work as he acts more like her grandfather or mentor. Considering the age of his parents Reacher could be her grandfather and yet he can still fight like the Reacher of old in the few fight scenes scattered throughout the novel. One of which immediately puts the reader in mind of the classic movie Bond villain, Jaws.
Reacher, often dealing with characters that are little more than stereotypes, when the time comes is still busting heads and/or various limbs while taking names as the chase takes him across the globe. He certainly isn’t mellowing with age and gets the job done-- even when the odds are stacked against him by both friend and foe. While not nearly as good as early ones in the series, Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child is a good one that keeps reader interest page after page and is certainly much better than his last couple of books.
Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel
Lee Child
http://www.leechild.com
Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House LLC)
http://www.bantamdell.com
September 2014
ISBN# 978-0-8041-7874-7
Hardback (available in e-book and audio)
368 Pages
$28.00
ARC was provided as a result of my winning a copy by way of LibraryThing for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
There’s a bookshelf off the lobby of the building I live in. And though I’ve got many many books of my own, I grabbed this out of idle curiosity of ‘this guy is popular.’ Perfectly enjoyable page-turner. I’d read another.
When an ace sniper barely misses the French premier, the list of suspects is extremely short, with the American contribution to the pool a sociopath Jack Reacher once caught and put in Leavenworth. Of course, this means the CIA and State Department have to find him at a bus station and bring him in to help them and a perky female agent avert world catastrophe!
Way more dialog and less action that I would expect from Lee Child
So far, this is my least favorite Reacher novel. Child is great at plot in general, but I find the international spy ones a lot duller and formulaic. I really disliked the weirdness about anti-anxiety meds, and Casey Nice is a cardboard character. The twist at the end was also pretty blah.
Not my favorite of the Reacher books. This one was a bit slow.
Since I started reviewing, the Reacher series has been going through a saga of sorts. Culminating in the meeting of Reacher and his sexy female replacement/counterpart in the Military Police. I was disappointed in that tale, that Child didn't take a dare and change the series forever by having Reacher 'settle down' or at least form a relationship deeper than wham bang bang thanks ma'am.
Instead he returned to his vagabond ways and Personal is the first installment since. The first striking thing about this novel is Child's decision to write in 1st person. Unless I'm mistaken Reacher has previously been presented in 3rd person throughout the series. Really the only difference though, aside from the 'I' statements is no gratuitous descriptions of Reacher's physique or appearance (which arguably are some of the best parts)
The other twist is that in this tale Reacher becomes an international man of mystery and is sent to London, in a similar vein to the above point, this doesn't actually mean much, aside from English place names, a statement of how 'things are the same everywhere' and tiresome references to Sherlock Holmes.
Plot is the strongest point of this novel, and while the secondary characters lack the depth of past novels, the fast paced and 'personal' storyline will keep Reacher fans happy.
The ending line in particular stood out, which is not something I usually compliment in a novel, but for this one Child really pulled out an amazing image, (almost) literary level. Booker prize here comes Reacher.
Instead he returned to his vagabond ways and Personal is the first installment since. The first striking thing about this novel is Child's decision to write in 1st person. Unless I'm mistaken Reacher has previously been presented in 3rd person throughout the series. Really the only difference though, aside from the 'I' statements is no gratuitous descriptions of Reacher's physique or appearance (which arguably are some of the best parts)
The other twist is that in this tale Reacher becomes an international man of mystery and is sent to London, in a similar vein to the above point, this doesn't actually mean much, aside from English place names, a statement of how 'things are the same everywhere' and tiresome references to Sherlock Holmes.
Plot is the strongest point of this novel, and while the secondary characters lack the depth of past novels, the fast paced and 'personal' storyline will keep Reacher fans happy.
The ending line in particular stood out, which is not something I usually compliment in a novel, but for this one Child really pulled out an amazing image, (almost) literary level. Booker prize here comes Reacher.