Mislaid bombs
Lee Child was a fair-to-middling novelist in the UK and went to the US to try his luck. It proved to be the right decision. The yanks took to his thrillers and he became much-sought-after. His suspense anthologies are also popular.
Child’s literary creation Jack Reacher was original, a military-police major discharged by the downsizing US army. In a series of stories, he wanders the length and breadth of the nation solving crimes he happens upon. Like the Lone Ranger, albeit on foot, he comes and goes but has no home.
In adapting him to the screen, Hollywood had a problem. In every book, Child describes his hero as being six feet, five inches (2m). No top actor comes anywhere near that, A deal was apparently made t o give Tom Cruise the role, and in his subsequent writings Child would omit mentioning his character’s height.
In the event, Cruise has become as associated with Child’s Jack Reacher as Matt Damon is with Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne.
Night School, not yet filmed, is Child’s most recent Jack Reacher tale. The title, we are told early on, is a misnomer. The plot has it that US spy masters have picked up a brief, intriguing message on the internet. An American is asking US$100 million (3.5 billion baht) for something.
What does he have that’s worth that much? Who is he? Who is the prospective buyer. Three of Washington’s finest are assigned to get to the bottom of it: Jack Reacher back in uniform, an FBI special agent and a CIA analyst. It takes them nearly 400 pages to accomplish their mission.
The author spices up the plot with Iranians, Saudis, Yemenis, Pakistanis and neo-Nazis. The main venue is Hamburg. All the excitement is about a crate containing 10 dirty bombs the Americans misplaced in Germany during the Cold War. A GI stationed there found it and is selling it to the highest bidder. He is beaten to death during negotiations. The bombs are hijacked.
While a Lee Child fan, this reviewer rates Night School as contrived. Best is Jack Reacher‘s street smarts against superior numbers. The reader is left with no doubt that there is no love lost between him and Britain’s World War II foe.