https://killingmykindle.com/2018/11/22/episode-1-43-you-are-standing-at-a-crossroads-in-the-forest/ Wherein I review: 159. Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle 160. Past Tense (Jack Reacher #23) by Lee Child The Mountain Goats and Text-Based RPGs. What the hell is there not to like? And choosing your own adventure has become the modus operandi of the Jack Reacher series, and I’m still all in. Also, I’ve fallen hopeless behind in my damn reviews. Tis the season!
Airport fiction, a great read, and a new favorite.
69. Die Trying by Lee Child (3 stars) I’m not entirely sure why I keep returning to these kinds of books. I don’t know what “kind” of book it is, other than “airport fiction”. You know the kind; the mass market vaguely defined fiction that goes down easy without leaving much of an aftertaste. Easily digested and forgettable, these books cover the literary landscape without leaving any kind of quantifiable mark. They exist to sell books, and they sell books because they exist. I don’t […]
There’s a man goin’ ’round takin’ names, And he decides who to free and who to blame
Jack Reacher is a loner. A hobo. Pushed from the military following restructuring in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse, he now wanders America, taking in the breadth and scope of the land he once served. He has no stated goal. No home, no familial ties, no friends, no job. He has nothing but the clothes on his back and the cash in his wallet. He’s a force of nature. He just is. He’s also a giant. Taking a detour through Georgia and looking for […]
Jack Reacher in Europe, with an unexpected twist
While I won’t claim it’s his best, or even that great, I found this latest (19th) Jack Reacher story an intriguing enough premise, a rapid page-turner (including the ballistics details which others found boring but which I enjoyed), a truly scary bad guy, and an unexpected punch-to-the-gut ending. Someone has taken a long-distance shot at the French president, but special bullet-proof glass protected him from assassination. The CIA decides, along with Europe’s top intelligence agencies, that this was just a practice run aimed at […]
Who do ya call? Jack Reacher!!
This is my first Lee Child book, and I’ve heard quite a lot of buzz about him, especially right around the time that Tom Cruise movie came out. You know the one, where he steps out of a movie car into a crowd of people waiting for the bus and doffs a cap given to him by a helpful bystander. Anyway, Deep Down came in a series of e-books gifted to me by my friend (This Is How You Lose Her was another one) and […]
Jack Reacher finds his lady love
An old Jack Reacher novel from 1999 that I somehow missed during my Reacher marathon years, this one reminded me of how much fun Child’s plots could be. And how the stress of having to churn out Reacher novels that can appeal to the likes of Tom Cruise are clearly threatening to ruin this delightful adventure franchise. Retired military MP Jack Reacher is hand-digging swimming pools by day in Key West, and working as a bouncer in a nudie club at night, and reveling in […]