Tag: Jack Reacher

CTG Reviews: NEVER GO BACK by Lee Child

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NEVER GO BACK cover image

NEVER GO BACK cover image

What the blurb says: “ After an epic and interrupted journey all the way from the snows of South Dakota, Jack Reacher has finally made it to Virginia. His destination: a sturdy stone building a short bus ride from Washington DC, the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. It was the closest thing to a home he ever had. Why? He wants to meet the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner. He liked her voice on the phone. But the officer sitting behind Reacher’s old desk isn’t a woman. Why is Susan Turner not there? What Reacher doesn’t expect is what comes next. He himself is in big trouble, accused of a sixteen-year-old homicide. And he certainly doesn’t expect to hear these words: ‘You’re back in the army, Major. And your ass is mine.’ Will he be sorry he went back? Or – will someone else?”

Classic Reacher. Unputdownable.

When I was halfway through this book I started to slow down, I was so enjoying the story that I wanted to make it last longer. Now that, to me, is a great book. In fact, I think this might just be my new favourite of the series – and that’s a tough call to make because they are all so good.

Anyway, this book sees Reacher finally getting to Virginia. Only Major Susan Turner isn’t there and Reacher is recalled back into the army to face an old homicide charge (and another, more personal relationship-based, legal situation). But does Reacher quit? Of course not, he’s going to find out why both he and Susan Turner are being held on trumped-up charges, and ensure that justice is served.

So I’m not going to discuss the plot further than that because, quite frankly, you need to discover it as you read and I really don’t want to spoil it for you.

What I will say though is that this book is a little different to the majority of the others in the series due to the depth of connection between Reacher and Major Susan Turner. Reacher isn’t alone. Sure, you might say that in previous books he’s always teamed up with someone (often a woman) to sort out whatever situation he’s uncovered. But this is different. With Susan Turner the connection is way more than professional and way more than physical. This isn’t a knight rescuing a damsel in distress. This is a pair of knights, a partnership of equals, a meeting of minds, bodies and souls. And it makes for some gripping reading.

It also shows elements of Reacher that have been less touched upon in other books. Yes, sure, there’s still the great action sequences at the series is famous for, and Reacher is just as tough and able to win a fight (even with his hands behind his back) and he’s super smart at thinking through the complex problems that he encounters. But this time the personal stakes are higher, and so is the tension.

In this book, more than any other, Reacher has the chance to put down roots and, for the first time, it seems like he’s really considering it. Question is, after so long on the road, will he?

Highly recommended.

 

[I bought my copy of NEVER GO BACK from Waterstones book shop]

CTG reports from Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival: Day 3

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the big screen in the Albert Halls

the big screen in the Albert Halls

Onto Sunday, and it was hard to believe that the festival was almost over. But there wasn’t time to feel sad as I was booked into a full day of sessions.

The morning started with So You Want to Be a Crime Novelist? A bunch of eight brave writers pitched their novels to the panel – agent Mark Stanton, editor Alison Hennessey, and last year’s winner (and bookseller) Joseph Knobbs. All the participants pitched brilliantly and showed nerves of steel. Massive congratulations to the winners – Alex Cox and Dan Stewart – who both won a gorgeous Toshiba tablet.

Next was the Masters of the Dark session with Mark Billingham and Stewart Neville (chaired by Peter Guttridge). Both writers talked about how freeing it could be to write a standalone novel after focusing on a series, and touched on their research methods (like going out in a patrol car with a couple of Police Officers for the night shift). They also discussed the art of the plot twist – when it works, when it doesn’t, and when there are just too many of the damn things.

After lunch I headed to the Craig Robertson & Chris Carter session (again chaired by Peter Guttridge) entitled Chasing Serial Killers. They discussed where their ideas for stories begin – a murder scene, a motivation, or a character – and the strange places they can suddenly get ideas. Chris Carter talked about being on the beach when one of his story ideas popped into his mind.

In the final session of the day, At the Top of his Game, the ever-sparkling Peter Guttridge chatted to the ever-charismatic Lee Child with an audience packed to the rafters listening in. Peter focused the interview more on Lee than on Reacher, asking him about his own experience growing up, whether Reacher’s fighting techniques, including the head-butts,  are skills Lee himself honed (answer:  yes!), and what his plans are for the series (answer: three more books agreed, after that he’ll see if people want more – I expect that we will!). Of course Lee’s new book NEVER GO BACK was discussed, but as to whether Reacher finally gets to visit with ‘the woman with the great voice’ that he’s been travelling to meet for the past couple of books, well, I guess you’ll just have to read the story to find out! [No spoilers here!]

And then it was over.

All that remains is to say a huge thank you to Dom Hastings and his amazing festival team. Their friendliness, great festive spirit and endlessly positive responses to queries both before and during the festival made for a warm and welcoming atmosphere that I’m sure will bring people back to Bloody Scotland for 2014 and beyond.

[hop on over to www.bloodyscotland.com to check out the early bird offers for Bloody Scotland 2014]

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Just finished reading: High Heat by Lee Child

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High Heat cover image

High Heat cover image

What the blurb says: “July 1977. Jack Reacher is almost seventeen, and he stops in New York on his way from South Korea to visit his brother at West Point. The summer heat is suffocating, fires are raging in the Bronx, the city is bankrupt, and the mad gunman known as Son of Sam is still on the loose. Reacher meets a woman with a problem, and agrees to help her . . . and then the power grid fails and the lights go out, plunging the lawless city that never sleeps into chaos. What does a visiting teenager do in the dark? If that visiting teenager is Jack Reacher, the answer is: plenty.”

High Heat is a Jack Reacher Novella (Kindle Single). It’s 79 pages of fabulous Reacher action, and things get hot in more ways than one!

Reacher is younger, but just as tough (and tall) as readers of the series have come to expect. It’s his first visit to New York and he’s only in town for a short while, but he manages to make the most of it: helping a woman with a problem, identifying a killer on the loose, and even having time for a bit of romance.

If you’re looking for a sizzling summer read to tide you over until the next full Reacher novel comes out at the end of August, you should check it out.

A must for Reacher fans and all those who love a great action thriller.

Highly Recommended.

A sneaky peep at the cover of the next Reacher novel …

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Today the Jack Reacher Official Facebook page shared the cover image of Lee Child’s next Reacher book.

If you want to check it out, nip across to Facebook and have a look here: http://www.facebook.com/JackReacherOfficial

The novel is called ‘Never Go Back’, and it’s out on the 29th August in the UK.

I can’t wait!

 

Just finished reading: A Wanted Man by Lee Child

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cover of A Wanted Man

cover of A Wanted Man

What the cover says: “When you’re as big and rough as Jack Reacher – and you have a badly set, freshly busted nose, patched with silver duct tape – it isn’t easy to hitch a ride. But Reacher has some unfinished business in Virginia, so he doesn’t quit. And at last he’s picked up by three strangers – two men and a woman.

But within minutes it becomes clear they’re all lying about everything – and then they run into a police roadblock on the highway. There has been an incident, and the cops are looking for the bad guys …

Will they get through because the three are innocent? Or because the three are now four? Is Reacher just a decoy?”

 

Firstly, I have to confess, that I bought the hardback of this book as a little treat for myself back in the Autumn, and got it signed by Lee Child at the CWA panel event in November.

Since then, it’s sat on my bookcase waiting for me to read it. I promised myself it would be my Christmas treat although, as it turns out, it’s been more of a New Year treat.

But it was totally worth the wait.

It’s a classic Reacher story. Told in Lee Child’s signature style: slick, fast and as gripping as ever.

When Reacher finds himself a pawn in a criminal getaway, and ends up a suspect in a murder, he has to decide what to do – run, or find out who did it.

In true Reacher fashion, he sets out to work out who did it and why. Half suspect, half unofficial partner to Special Agent Julia Sorenson, they work the case. It’s a real ‘why dunnit’ with plenty of twists and turns thrown in to keep the reader on their toes.

I can’t wait for the next one.

 

What book are you reading this week?

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CTG

CTG

 

My ‘to be read’ book stack seems to grow higher each day. In fact, it’s so tall that it’s become two reading stacks!

 

Right now, I’ve just finished reading A Wanted Man by Lee Child (review to be posted soon).

 

I’ve started reading The Obsession by T.V. Locicero.

 

After that, the next book on my pile is Ghostman by Roger Hobbs.

 

What book are you reading this week?

 

Book to Film: the same, but different?

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English: Tom Cruise on MTV Live in December 2008

English: Tom Cruise on MTV Live in December 2008 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

I’ve always found book to screen adaptations rather hit and miss. There are some that I’ve loved – The Shawshank Redemption and I am Legend, for example. And those I’ve regretted seeing, like The Runaway Jury.

So, as a fan of Lee Child’s fabulous character Jack Reacher, I had mixed feelings about watching the new JACK REACHER film.

Would it live up to the book (one of my favorite of the series)?

Could Tom Cruise really play the ‘larger-than-life’ character of Reacher?

But I was curious to see the film, and so last night I ventured off to the cinema to view it.

And I liked it.

It was true enough to the book and the character for me to recognise them, the action was slick, and the pace kept moving (and me interested). And it didn’t matter that Tom Cruise’s Reacher didn’t look exactly as I’d pictured Reacher in my mind as I read the books. The character was there, just a bit different. For me it worked.

I wonder if they’ll make another one?

I hope they do.

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My Favorite Books of 2012

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My favorite books of 2012

My favorite books of 2012

At this time of year everyone seems to be making lists of their top ten, twenty, fifty or hundred things of 2012.

So, just to be a little different, I’m not going to make a list.

Instead, I’m going to talk about my five favorite books of 2012 and why I loved them. And I’ll talk about them in the order that I read them in.

Here goes …

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham (Orion). This part police procedure, part psychological thriller follows Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths on her first murder case. It’s beautifully written, darkly quirky, and leaves you wanting more. And luckily for us there will be more. I believe the second book in the Fiona Griffiths series will be out in 2013.

The Fall by Claire McGowan (Headline). This  crime thriller tells the interwoven stories of three strangers – Charlotte, Keisha, and DC Matthew Hegarty – who are thrown together in the aftermath of a murder in a nightclub. With hugely compelling characters, a super-rapid pace and numerous twists and turns, it’s a real page turner. Claire McGowan’s next book, The Lost, is definitely one to look out for when it comes out in April 2013.

The Affair by Lee Child (Bantam Press). Another great Jack Reacher novel. This one is set six months before the opening of Killing Floor and follows Reacher on a mission in a small town in Mississippi. It’s everything you’d expect – quick-paced action, imaginative problem-solving, a love interest, and the bad guys getting Reacher’s very own brand of justice.

Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne (Headline). This young adult crossover novel is a real rollercoaster read. In diary form, it tells the story of Emily Koll, Archway Young Offenders Institution’s most notorious inmate. It’s sad yet funny, tense yet light-hearted, chilling yet warming, and fragile yet powerful. Through Emily’s story of love, grief, hate and revenge, you discover what drove her to do what she did.

Sleepwalkers by Tom Grieves (Quercus). This gripping psychological thriller follows the stories of adult Ben and teenage Toby – two strangers experiencing vivid and terrifying dreams – as they try to make sense of the jumbled up fragments of forgotten memories that haunt them. A real edge-of-your-seat read, I found this story un-put-downable.

So, there you have it. My favorite books of 2012.

What were your favorites?

The Affair by Lee Child

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A sizzling-hot thriller with enough twists to keep you guessing to the end

“March 1997.  A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Carter Crossing, Mississippi.  Just down the road is a big army base.  Is the murderer a local guy – or is he a soldier?

Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover.  The country sheriff is a former US Marine – and a stunningly beautiful woman.  Her investigation is going nowhere.  Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or doesn’t she really want to find the killer?”

The story features a Jack Reacher who’s still employed by the army, and is set six months before the opening of The Killing Floor.  He’s still the Reacher fans of the series know and love, but he’s a little younger, a little less savvy of military politics, and perhaps (even) more of a Romeo than we’ve seen before.

To me this story is very much a modern day western.  There’s a town full of uneasy tension: where locals rely on the army base trade to keep the dollars flowing their way and keep their businesses alive, but harbour simmering resentment against them.  Reacher, as always, plays the inquisitive outsider to perfection. This story marks the beginning of the end for his military career.

It’s hard to write a review of this book without including a spoiler, but it’s a fast paced read with enough curve balls and misdirection thrown at Reacher to keep you hanging on right to the end.  While the story is just as strong as previous books, and Reacher is no less willing to fight (literally) for what he believes is right, personally I found it gave a little more time to a romantic encounter sub-plot than in the majority of other books in the series.  And this certainly added an additional fizz to the experience!

Okay, so you’ve probably guessed, I’m a bit of a Lee Child fan.  Even so, I rate this book as one of the best in the series.  Whether you’re a devoted regular, or a newcomer to the Jack Reacher series, I think you’ll find it a great read.

Highly recommended.

Ps.  The film JACK REACHER, based on Lee Child’s book ONE SHOT and staring Tom Cruise as Reacher is due for release in December 2012.  You can find out more at http://www.leechild.com/

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