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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Continuing with my Summer of Reading Mysteries, I picked up a Jack Reacher novel. As one who is dedicated to reading series books in order, I thought I was doing that, reading the fourth book in the series. Turns out this is actually the fourteenth book. Oops!
Oh, well. It didn't really seem to matter. The plot of this one did not depend on having read previous books. In fact, Lee Child managed to reprise information about Reacher's past and why he's on the road as a part of the plot, so no harm, no foul.
Reacher has paid the driver of a tour bus, out of Seattle, to come aboard with a church group of elderly citizens who have unaccountably decided to visit South Dakota in the dead of winter. That fact may be the most far-fetched part of this plot.
Before they can reach their destination, their bus swerves to miss a car in a fierce blizzard outside the little town of Bolton, and leaves the road, ending up in a ditch. There is no other traffic and no help in sight. In below zero temperatures and facing the possibility of freezing to death, they are able to get through to the police department in Bolton, but the police there are preoccupied with a murder that has just occurred.
One car with the deputy chief is sent to assess the situation. He takes the most severely injured back to town and sends a Department of Corrections bus for the others.
In Bolton, there is no room at any inn, so the citizens agree to take the elderly passengers and the bus driver in, while the deputy chief takes Reacher to his house for the night.
It turns out that Bolton is home to a prison and also to an old and mysterious government installation where a group of bikers have set up camp and apparently have a meth lab going. The police have recently arrested the head of the bikers group and a local retired teacher has agreed to be a witness against him - if they can keep her alive long enough. It seems that a diminutive Mexican drug lord who goes by the name Plato is sending a cold-blooded assassin to see that she never makes it to court.
Jack Reacher, of course, becomes involved in all of this and becomes a volunteer to help guard the woman who is to testify. At the same time, he calls on sources from the Army to try to find out more about the mysterious federal installation and ends up helping the Army find a fugitive. This part of the plot was truly beyond belief. Reacher made a few too many incredibly lucky guesses about the location of the fugitive.
Child manages to provide a little insight into Reacher's history through his introspective conversations with the witness he is guarding and with the Army major back in Virginia, the one who assists him and whom he assists in finding her fugitive. But he doesn't provide answers to the burning questions of why Reacher travels with no possessions, not even a toothbrush.
Really? Why aren't his teeth falling out by now? Why does he insist on throwing away his old possessions and buying new ones every few days? It all seems very wasteful and a bit sociopathic but a useful plot device, I suppose.
Oh, well. It didn't really seem to matter. The plot of this one did not depend on having read previous books. In fact, Lee Child managed to reprise information about Reacher's past and why he's on the road as a part of the plot, so no harm, no foul.
Reacher has paid the driver of a tour bus, out of Seattle, to come aboard with a church group of elderly citizens who have unaccountably decided to visit South Dakota in the dead of winter. That fact may be the most far-fetched part of this plot.
Before they can reach their destination, their bus swerves to miss a car in a fierce blizzard outside the little town of Bolton, and leaves the road, ending up in a ditch. There is no other traffic and no help in sight. In below zero temperatures and facing the possibility of freezing to death, they are able to get through to the police department in Bolton, but the police there are preoccupied with a murder that has just occurred.
One car with the deputy chief is sent to assess the situation. He takes the most severely injured back to town and sends a Department of Corrections bus for the others.
In Bolton, there is no room at any inn, so the citizens agree to take the elderly passengers and the bus driver in, while the deputy chief takes Reacher to his house for the night.
It turns out that Bolton is home to a prison and also to an old and mysterious government installation where a group of bikers have set up camp and apparently have a meth lab going. The police have recently arrested the head of the bikers group and a local retired teacher has agreed to be a witness against him - if they can keep her alive long enough. It seems that a diminutive Mexican drug lord who goes by the name Plato is sending a cold-blooded assassin to see that she never makes it to court.
Jack Reacher, of course, becomes involved in all of this and becomes a volunteer to help guard the woman who is to testify. At the same time, he calls on sources from the Army to try to find out more about the mysterious federal installation and ends up helping the Army find a fugitive. This part of the plot was truly beyond belief. Reacher made a few too many incredibly lucky guesses about the location of the fugitive.
Child manages to provide a little insight into Reacher's history through his introspective conversations with the witness he is guarding and with the Army major back in Virginia, the one who assists him and whom he assists in finding her fugitive. But he doesn't provide answers to the burning questions of why Reacher travels with no possessions, not even a toothbrush.
Really? Why aren't his teeth falling out by now? Why does he insist on throwing away his old possessions and buying new ones every few days? It all seems very wasteful and a bit sociopathic but a useful plot device, I suppose.
I generally like the Reacher books though they are formulaic. This one was the same as usual except it seemed to be over wordy and written to prolong the book rather than add new or pertinent information. We have this piece of the series addressing, foreign invaders, drug use, bikers, police corruption, small town cops and long distance love affairs. It provided what is necessary for a Reacher thriller but editing could have de-worded it some!
Not as violent as some of the other Reacher books, story line is just as compelling.
Really solid and enjoyable book - I'm very glad that I finally got around to finishing this novel, I had it on a shelf for ages with a bookmark in it but hadn't got around to finishing it, until now, with my passion for reading finally kicking in again.
Saying that though, it wasn't a great book - it definitely had it's moments and I really enjoyed Reacher's relationship with Mrs. Salter in the story but I found Lee Child's writing came off too simplistic in this book, to the point where it bothered me and there is a twist of sorts that I could see coming from a mile away but they do play with that, so it didn't bother me too much.
Still an enjoyable read, I do recommend it if you're looking for a fun thriller and I will definitely be checking out the follow-up novel to this book, sooner rather than later.
Saying that though, it wasn't a great book - it definitely had it's moments and I really enjoyed Reacher's relationship with Mrs. Salter in the story but I found Lee Child's writing came off too simplistic in this book, to the point where it bothered me and there is a twist of sorts that I could see coming from a mile away but they do play with that, so it didn't bother me too much.
Still an enjoyable read, I do recommend it if you're looking for a fun thriller and I will definitely be checking out the follow-up novel to this book, sooner rather than later.
Notes:
Loved the first 2/3 but the last part became boring.
Loved the first 2/3 but the last part became boring.
Det var lidt af et tilfælde at jeg læste denne bog. Har aldrig interesseret mig specielt meget for genren, men der var bare noget ved forsiden som fangede mig. Og sikke et held. Den er jo forrygende spændende, og sindsygt svær at lægge fra sig.
Det er altid fedt når en bog kan åbne øjnene for nye læsemuligheder, og det har Lee Child uden tvivl gjort for mig. Jeg er fan!
Det er altid fedt når en bog kan åbne øjnene for nye læsemuligheder, og det har Lee Child uden tvivl gjort for mig. Jeg er fan!
ack! no one warned me this was a special 4 part series? I was unprepared