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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Too many plots going on, and at least one was completely unnecessary.
One of the better recent Reacher books I’ve read - thanks Andrew! The plot was considerably more complex than Lee’s recent works. I went in with low expectations that were slightly surpassed.
Sentences. Short ones. Long ones. There are different kinds. Writers choose. Some go flowery. Some don't. Lee Child chose. He chose short. And choppy. Full stops. So many. Everywhere. Sentences. Cut short. Snipped apart. So choppy. So jarring. Uncomfortable. Hard to read.
Exaggeration? Barely...
I read Killing Floor recently and found it disappointing, but I thought it had a lot of potential and figured maybe some of my gripes with it were attributable to it being Child's debut. I therefore decided to skip to a recent release to see if I liked it better.
Reader, I did not.
The abrupt, choppy prose that grated on me so much in the first book remains in this one. This therefore means it's not a writer learning his craft, but a stylistic choice. I kind of get what he's going for - a fast, punchy, no-nonsense tone (presumably to complement the fast and punchy protagonist) - but I found the end result very irritating to read.
Let's talk about the protagonist...
Jack Reacher is a six-foot-something, tough, fit, clever, physically attractive, vigilante badass... and somehow utterly boring..?
Everything is just so easy for him. A baddie points a gun at him? No problem, he'll just knock out the gunman with a single punch. Baddie sets a clever trap for him? No problem, he knows it's a trap because... instinct! There's a riddle to solve? No problem, one string of unlikely deductions later and he's figured it all out.
At no point did I ever seriously feel like he was threatened or confused or might fail in his task. And, for me, without a genuine risk of harm, failure or other dire consequence all the tension just seeps out of the story. And a thriller without tension...?
I know Reacher is a very popular character and these books are insanely, mind-bogglingly successful. I suspect therefore that I'm in a minority here and it's probably a me thing. It didn't work for me, but it does for lots of other people - hopefully you're one of those it works for!
Exaggeration? Barely...
I read Killing Floor recently and found it disappointing, but I thought it had a lot of potential and figured maybe some of my gripes with it were attributable to it being Child's debut. I therefore decided to skip to a recent release to see if I liked it better.
Reader, I did not.
The abrupt, choppy prose that grated on me so much in the first book remains in this one. This therefore means it's not a writer learning his craft, but a stylistic choice. I kind of get what he's going for - a fast, punchy, no-nonsense tone (presumably to complement the fast and punchy protagonist) - but I found the end result very irritating to read.
Let's talk about the protagonist...
Jack Reacher is a six-foot-something, tough, fit, clever, physically attractive, vigilante badass... and somehow utterly boring..?
Everything is just so easy for him. A baddie points a gun at him? No problem, he'll just knock out the gunman with a single punch. Baddie sets a clever trap for him? No problem, he knows it's a trap because... instinct! There's a riddle to solve? No problem, one string of unlikely deductions later and he's figured it all out.
At no point did I ever seriously feel like he was threatened or confused or might fail in his task. And, for me, without a genuine risk of harm, failure or other dire consequence all the tension just seeps out of the story. And a thriller without tension...?
I know Reacher is a very popular character and these books are insanely, mind-bogglingly successful. I suspect therefore that I'm in a minority here and it's probably a me thing. It didn't work for me, but it does for lots of other people - hopefully you're one of those it works for!
After 27 Reacher books, I'm done. These last 2 have ruined it for me, and I was such a fan. I kept falling asleep during this last one - a number of times, not just once.
Jack Reacher sees a woman being pushed in front of a bus. Another witness says she jumped and that it was suicide. Reacher won’t accept what the police say and is determined to discover why the woman was murdered and it is being covered up. He quickly learns that it is larger than one woman and once again Reacher is determined to assist the underdog.
No Plan B is the twenty-seventh book in the Jack Reacher series. As readers of this series know, no one can outsmart or get one over on Jack and this story is no different. Lee has developed a storyline that was easy to fall into and fun to unravel. Adventure books are always great because readers get to live vicariously through the characters while staying perfectly safe in their own lives; this book is no exception. My kindle almost turned its own pages as the book revealed its secrets.
No Plan B is the twenty-seventh book in the Jack Reacher series. As readers of this series know, no one can outsmart or get one over on Jack and this story is no different. Lee has developed a storyline that was easy to fall into and fun to unravel. Adventure books are always great because readers get to live vicariously through the characters while staying perfectly safe in their own lives; this book is no exception. My kindle almost turned its own pages as the book revealed its secrets.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Jack Reacher will always be a compelling character. He's a very tall man with a strong sense of justice who will see a crime occur and then decide to make things right. Bit of a vigilante who likes to get out of his own jams.
There are three interactive narrative threads: foster teen runaway, father's revenge for his son's death, and a prison-for-profit organization with scams galore. Reacher pairs up with an ordinary middle-aged woman to cross the country and zero in on the core culprits. Decent team.
Good story. Short sentences and chapters so a fast-paced easy read. Not necessarily memorable.
There are three interactive narrative threads: foster teen runaway, father's revenge for his son's death, and a prison-for-profit organization with scams galore. Reacher pairs up with an ordinary middle-aged woman to cross the country and zero in on the core culprits. Decent team.
Good story. Short sentences and chapters so a fast-paced easy read. Not necessarily memorable.