Book Review - Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
Category Book Review Lee Child Gone Tomorrow
Jack Reacher is one of my favorite novel characters, so I'm excited when Lee Child puts out another installment in that series. In Gone Tomorrow, Child delivers a classic Reacher mystery, putting Jack in the middle of something that has numerous layers and plenty of danger. While Reacher's "I don't live anywhere or own anything" philosophy doesn't get a heavy workout here, his persistence and sense of duty certainly does. This was not a read that I easy put down until I finished.
Reacher is on a subway train headed into New York, and he sees a woman that triggers all the checkpoints on the suicide bomber behavior checklist. As a former MP, he decides to approach her in an attempt to keep her and himself alive. Instead of carrying a bomb, she has a gun and proceeds to commit suicide as Reacher is trying to talk her down from her obvious distress. This death triggers more than just the local police, and when the feds and a mysterious 3rd party start asking Reacher for the information she was supposedly in possession of, he decides to act like he *does* have the information, just to see where this all leads. As the different layers and characters emerge, Reacher soon has entire organizations, both federal and international, trying to get his information and then "erase" him from the scene. The question becomes which one(s) are telling the truth, and which ones will he trust with the final answers.
Child kept the pacing on this one tight. Anywhere that Reacher showed up, there was a good chance that some group was already there ahead of him, wanting to take him out of the action. Child was able to use Reacher's lack of roots effectively to keep him moving and flowing with whatever the changing environment threw at him. His street fighting strengths also came into play, as most of the groups who wanted to "interview" him didn't care to play nice. The fight scenes were well-detailed, and getting the look into Reacher's mind as he took on the killers made for interesting reading. And finally, I was intrigued by Reacher's ability to take a normal scene or situation, and draw out tactical and strategic information to be used to get the information he needed. Most people would miss 90% of what actually is going on.
All in all, an excellent installment in the Reacher series, and I'm already looking forward for the next one.
Jack Reacher is one of my favorite novel characters, so I'm excited when Lee Child puts out another installment in that series. In Gone Tomorrow, Child delivers a classic Reacher mystery, putting Jack in the middle of something that has numerous layers and plenty of danger. While Reacher's "I don't live anywhere or own anything" philosophy doesn't get a heavy workout here, his persistence and sense of duty certainly does. This was not a read that I easy put down until I finished.
Reacher is on a subway train headed into New York, and he sees a woman that triggers all the checkpoints on the suicide bomber behavior checklist. As a former MP, he decides to approach her in an attempt to keep her and himself alive. Instead of carrying a bomb, she has a gun and proceeds to commit suicide as Reacher is trying to talk her down from her obvious distress. This death triggers more than just the local police, and when the feds and a mysterious 3rd party start asking Reacher for the information she was supposedly in possession of, he decides to act like he *does* have the information, just to see where this all leads. As the different layers and characters emerge, Reacher soon has entire organizations, both federal and international, trying to get his information and then "erase" him from the scene. The question becomes which one(s) are telling the truth, and which ones will he trust with the final answers.
Child kept the pacing on this one tight. Anywhere that Reacher showed up, there was a good chance that some group was already there ahead of him, wanting to take him out of the action. Child was able to use Reacher's lack of roots effectively to keep him moving and flowing with whatever the changing environment threw at him. His street fighting strengths also came into play, as most of the groups who wanted to "interview" him didn't care to play nice. The fight scenes were well-detailed, and getting the look into Reacher's mind as he took on the killers made for interesting reading. And finally, I was intrigued by Reacher's ability to take a normal scene or situation, and draw out tactical and strategic information to be used to get the information he needed. Most people would miss 90% of what actually is going on.
All in all, an excellent installment in the Reacher series, and I'm already looking forward for the next one.
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