Worth wading through the wisecracks
Released to coincide with his New Zealand visit, Lee Child’s 23rd Jack Reacher novel will deliver fans exactly what they expect from the tough-as-nails, ex-military cop loner. A man who lives on the edges of society, Reacher doesn’t have a job, a home or even a driver’s licence. The word itinerant was made for him — sounding somewhat military and belligerent at the same time — he’s the modernday version of Clint Eastwood’s “High Plains Drifter”.
Child also borrows from another allAmerican anti-hero in Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe, the private investigator: the cunning, wisecracks and ability to lose a love interest before getting to first base are pure Marlowe. But, whereas Marlowe puts himself in harm’s way for $100 a day plus retainer, Reacher seems to carry a trouble magnet in his pocket: he’s the wrong guy, in the wrong place, at the wrong time but with a heart as big as a Midwestern sky.
The book starts in a slow and drifting manner with two parallel narratives that are seemingly unconnected. Reacher stumbles into a New Hampshire township that just happens to be his deceased father’s birthplace and decides to try his hand at family tree cultivation, while a wide-eyed couple from rural Canada are, apparently, on their OE, looking for fortune in the land of opportunity.
The wisecracks flow thick and fast from Reacher’s mouth and start to wear thin after about 30 pages or so. Then the pace picks up and Child’s razor-sharp pencil gets to work spinning us through small-town dodgy dealings, interstate gang connections and global blood-lust all washed over with a dose of good old macho posturing.
The old cliche of “I couldn’t put it down” rings true with this book. This is a perfect Christmas present for your dad, your mum, aunt, uncle, sister or brother. Or even your kids, if they can put the phone down for a day or so.