Jack Reacher was on the west coast when it happened.
A sniper, loose in Paris, took a shot at the President of France. The shot was
fired from 1400 yards out by someone on an apartment balcony. Some kind of new glass
held saving the life of the politician. As the situation was investigated and
the reality of just how difficult a shot it was to pull off a list of potential
snipers with that kind of skill level was drawn up by those who should know.
It has been determined that several snipers from
around the world are the best of the best for this particular situation. One sniper
in particular is an American that that Reacher knows well having put him in
jail a number or years ago. As the intelligence services of the various countries
are brought in to chase their sniper in advance of the upcoming G8 summit in
England, old contracts of Reacher’s put him in to help with this as he owes a
favor to one of those heavily involved. Just one of the ways-- and there are several--
that this situation is Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel.
Reacher is back and in good form in this latest installment
of the long running series. Duplicity is rampart among all involved as there
are many hidden agendas are at work in this complex thriller. Reacher spends a
lot of time talking to people by way of the Socratic method to sift through the
conflicting information and figure out multiple situations as they arise
throughout the entire book. This is done through page after page of dialogue in
a way that is far different stylistically than earlier books in the series.
In fact the entire novel, while good, is far different
stylistically and not just in terms of dialogue than earlier in the series. Legendary
for his traveling light with only a toothbrush--if that-- resulting in needing
to buy clothes to replace whatever he is wearing, this Reacher hardly ever buys
clothes. In previous novels, Reacher was always interested in the girl and
almost always got her. In this case there is zero sexual attraction at work as
he acts more like her grandfather or mentor.
Considering the age of his parents Reacher could be her grandfather and
yet he can still fight like the Reacher of old in the few fight scenes
scattered throughout the novel. One of which immediately puts the reader in
mind of the classic movie Bond villain, Jaws.
Reacher, often dealing with characters that are little
more than stereotypes, when the time comes is still busting heads and/or various
limbs while taking names as the chase takes him across the globe. He certainly
isn’t mellowing with age and gets the job done-- even when the odds are stacked
against him by both friend and foe. While not nearly as good as early ones in the
series, Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child is a good one that
keeps reader interest page after page and is certainly much better than his
last couple of books.
Personal:
A Jack Reacher Novel
Lee
Child
Delacorte
Press (Penguin Random House LLC)
September
2014
ISBN#
978-0-8041-7874-7
Hardback
(available in e-book and audio)
368
Pages
$28.00
ARC was provided as a result of my winning a copy by
way of LibraryThing
for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
Posts
3 comments:
So funny, I *loved* this Reacher. It comes after The Killing Floor, Echo Burning, and 61 Hours for me, I think. I found it refreshing that Reacher didn't go for the girl half her age. This has got me wondering which your favorite Reacher is, Kevin!
Having read them all, I don't know.
Favorite? They all blur together for me now, but I think I liked the Persuader best. I like the ones that flash back to Reacher's military career, for some reason. I read 'Personal' but I haven't read the two previous ones; reviews on DL and elsewhere put me off.
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