Every 13 seconds, someone buys a Jack Reacher book. That statistic was cited in an article on Lee Child in last month’s ATLANTIC. Just in time for the Holidays, a Jack Reacher novel shows up with an entertaining puzzle and some graphic violence. Reacher is wandering around New Hampshire, where his father Stan Reacher, grew up. Reacher decides to visit Laconia, his father’s hometown. However, a quick search at the City Clerk’s office produces no Stan Reacher. Reacher’s father also told people he was born in June, but sometimes he said his birthday was in July. That’s Lee Child’s signal Things Are Not What They Seem.
On a second track of Past Tense, a young Canadian couple have car trouble and find a motel deep in the woods. Yes, shades of Psycho. Eventually, their story and Reacher’s story intersect with violent results. We learn a bit more about Jack Reacher’s family and their secrets. We learn you don’t want to have your car break down in the middle of Nowhere. Do you like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels? GRADE: B+
No. I read the first two and quit. Jack Reacher just seemed too good to be true. The same reason I gave up on the Elvis Cole books by Robert Crais when he started to feature Joe Pike more.
Steve, I know what you mean. Reacher almost has super powers with the stunts he pulls off. Still, as a literary equivalent of “comfort food” this series works for me.
What Steve said. He found a formula and stuck to it. I like to see writers try new things and he doesn’t. It is just about the money.
Patti, with a sale of a Jack Reacher book every 13 seconds, Lee Child has found a winning formula. I’m sure his editors don’t want Lee Child to change his successful template.
I’m still reading the series but now it’s more out of habit than because I really like them. In this new one the second track story is pretty entertaining, but Reacher’s search for his father’s origins is mostly muddled and boring. I’ll probably keep reading the series, though.
Michael, I think Lee Child invented the search for Reacher’s father’s origins just show Reacher’s stubbornness. I, and most people, would have given up with all the problems of delving into the Past with all the missing and conflicting records. But Reacher never quits.
I’ve liked all of the Reacher stories, but this one is below par for Child…too much padding, a diffuse plot, and too little action. Still, there’s something about Child and Reacher that keeps me reading and enjoying the saga. A compulsive habit, I guess.
Jerry, you’re right about there being better and more exciting Jack Reacher novels. But for a quick read, PAST TENSE fits the bill.
I like the series. I have fallen behind, but that is due to reading cut back in general. I only read for reviewing now, and try to concentrate on my favorite authors and first books. Though Child is one of my favorite authors (and person) I know my reviews don’t make a difference to his sales. I like the way he’s now showing Reacher’s vulnerabilities, acknowledging his aging.
Lee is one of the most genial authors I’ve met. For years, he had a “Reacher Creature” party he put on for his fans at Bouchercon. It started out in DC in 2001, but it was during the day and I couldn’t leave my booth to go. The next year at Austin, it was at a nearby bar and a pretty small event. He gave out little goodies sometimes, like reacher dog tags. One year he had 20 army jackets and I got one. The parties were invitation only, but crashers were never turned away. The last party was in 2010 when Lee was GOH at Bcon in SF. I heard someplace the tab was over $60,000. It was open to all attendees and at the bar in the hotel lobby. A lot of people took advantage of it and drank to excess.
Maggie, I met Lee Child at the BOUCHERCON in New Orleans. He was very friendly and approachable. I’m glad his books are selling well.
I have read all of them and liked many, though several recently have seemed padded and draggy in places. I had to return this to the library, but I was not finding either story compelling in the way past, Reacher books drew me in and demanded to know What Happens Next. At their best they are page turners that get you involved and drag you along to the end, So far, this is far from his best.
Jeff, like you I’ve notice the last few Jack Reacher books got longer. I can only assume Lee Child’s editors are urging him to length the novels. To me, less is more.
I have yet to try one. Barbara has read them all, is 2/3 through this one. She seems to always enjoy them. Meanwhile, she hasn’t yet started the latest Louise Penny, which I read the second it came in the door. Different priorities, I guess.
Rick, like you and Barbara, Diane and I have different reading priorities. I read PAST TENSE as soon as I got my hands on it. Diane was excited when KINGDOM OF THE BLIND arrived from AMAZON, but she felt she had to continue reading her Book Club book. With Patrick and Katie flying home next week, I suspect Diane won’t be reading Louise Penny’s latest novel until after Christmas. I don’t have that kind of control!
I READ ONE AND THOUGHT IT SUCKED EGGS! Sorry about the caps lock! I haven’t tried another, and with Lee endorsing The Smirking Dwarf for the movie role I lost my regard for the man! Still, I was happy to have a few drinks on his dime at the Chicago and S.F. Bouchercons!
Bob, someone told me Lee Child wasn’t happy with The Smirking Dwarf as Reacher, but perhaps the money played a factor.
George, there’s something about Lee Child’s writing style that I can’t put a finger to, but I like it very much. I need to catch up on the series, probably in 2019.
Prashant, I find Lee Child’s book quick reads. He has a breezy style that causes the pages to turn quickly!
I posted a bit of this commentary (Maggie and George above) with a link to the post in a group on Facebook where Child comes up a bit, and appended:
As the 2001 Arlington Bouchercon, less than a week after 9/11 and about a mile from the Pentagon, has been the only one I’ve attended, I could have added meeting Lee Child at his first first Reacher party had I known (or known enough about Child to make the effort) to riding otherwise alone in an elevator with Sue Grafton (Alice was slightly annoyed I didn’t tell Grafton how much a fan Alice was…Alice didn’t attend). As it was, I was pretty busy meeting some other people whose work I’d been reading most of my life, and making first face-to-face meetings with the likes of Bill Crider.As the 2001 Arlington Bouchercon, less than a week after 9/11 and about a mile from the Pentagon, has been the only one I attended, I could have added meeting Lee Child at his first first Reacher party had I known (or known enough about Child to make the effort) to riding otherwise alone in an elevator with Sue Grafton (Alice was slightly annoyed I didn’t tell Grafton how much a fan Alice was…Alice didn’t attend). As it was, I was pretty busy meeting some other people whose work I’d been reading most of my life, and making first face-to-face meetings with the likes of Bill Crider.
Of course, memory plays me false…WorldCon in Philadelphia was less than a week before 9/11, Capital Mystery Bouchercon was two months later.
Todd, I was scheduled to attend that BOUCHERCON in Washington, D.C. until 9/11 happened. I canceled my flight and my hotel room and transferred my BOUCHERCON registration to Angela Crider.
Living in Philadelphia as I was, I drove down to Virginia, and slept at my parents’ house in Fairfax over the long weekend. There was a sense of relief to be talking about crime in fiction and people were very nice to each other…rather more so than at Millennium PhilCon, the sf/fantasy convention, in the first week of September, though I also met a number of people whose work I’d been reading most of my life, and a lot of face to face meetings for the first time with FictionMags list members and others.
Todd, thanks for this commentary! I first met Bill Crider at the BOUCHERCON in Philadelphia in 1989.