“Personal” by best-selling author Lee Child, is the 19th in his exceptionally popular series starring retired military cop Jack Reacher. Child never disappoints his wide legion of readers, who love his fast-paced, violent tales.
This time out, nomadic Reacher gets in a lot more trouble, but most of the action takes place overseas, notably in England and France.
The entertaining tale opens with Reacher arriving in Seattle, after brief stops in San Francisco and Portland. He spots an issue of Army Times and finds a classified ad aimed directly to him to contact a former superior.
Soon he’s on his way across country, getting involved in a highly classified mission. His goal is to stop an international incident that could have intensive, wide-reaching political and economic effects.
A sniper has attempted to assassinate the President of France in Paris, from a distance of 1400 yards, using 50-caliber American-made bullets. There are few marksmen around the world that have that capability; Reacher is drawn into a search for the clever sniper.
The main suspect is John Kott, who was recently released after serving 15 years in prison. Kott also has personal reasons for wanting Reacher dead; the military cop caught him in Columbia after a vicious murder.
Reacher joins forces with pretty 28-year old CIA operative Casey Nice; they go over to France and England to investigate possible leads and are joined by other experts.
While it takes a little while to get going, the pace accelerates, with plenty of surprising plot twists.
Reacher gets caught in the middle of deadly violence between various mobsters. One of the gang
leaders is particularly memorable, a huge, hulking giant almost 7 feet tall.
leaders is particularly memorable, a huge, hulking giant almost 7 feet tall.
The book’s hero is dubbed “Sherlock Homeless” by another of the characters – it’s a fitting description as Reacher attempts to figure out what’s really going on.
This carefully crafted tale is a bit unusual as it’s told from a first person viewpoint, a departure from Child’s earlier
novels. It abounds with crisp dialogue, detailed descriptions and a gripping plot that makes it tough to put down.
novels. It abounds with crisp dialogue, detailed descriptions and a gripping plot that makes it tough to put down.
If you saw the movie “Jack Reacher” starring Tom Cruise, you’ll enjoy this series, although the book’s quick-thinking fictional main character is significantly taller and larger.
Ray Walsh, owner of East Lansing’s Curious Book Shop, has reviewed crime
novels and Michigan books regularly since 1987.
Find this book and other great titles
at the Curious Book Shop, an independent
book shop in East Lansing, founded in 1969.
Curious Book Shop
307 East Grand River Avenue
East Lansing, Michigan
517.332.0112
This review was originally published by the Lansing State Journal on September 7, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment