Jack Reacher - any good?
Discussion
Currently reading "Reacher said Nothing." Andy Martin. Left it for a while, restarted.
It's not a Reacher novel but a sort of meta novel where the author shadows Lee Child off and on during the process of writing Make Me, including book tours and various family stuff.
It's interesting if you're a follower of the genre, includes oddball stuff like how author James Grant chose the name Lee Child, and how the name Reacher came about, apparently he had lost his job, out of work, no money, struggling to write and survive, shopping in the local supermarket an old lady asked 6ft4in Grant to reach for something on the top shelf. His wife commented that if all else failed he could get a job in the supermarket as a Reacher. Click!
Killing floor, first novel, first draft written in pencil, second draft in pen, felt he had to earn the right for ownership of a computer.
Interesting just how much Child agonises over a single word, for example should it be "onto" or simply "to"?
By the way, contains lots of spoilers, so if you've not read Make Me, might be better to read that first.
On another related subject, now had two or three audio books from the series, to pass the hours away behind the wheel. All have been read before, yet it's interesting how many times I hear something and think, really don't remember this in the book.
It's not a Reacher novel but a sort of meta novel where the author shadows Lee Child off and on during the process of writing Make Me, including book tours and various family stuff.
It's interesting if you're a follower of the genre, includes oddball stuff like how author James Grant chose the name Lee Child, and how the name Reacher came about, apparently he had lost his job, out of work, no money, struggling to write and survive, shopping in the local supermarket an old lady asked 6ft4in Grant to reach for something on the top shelf. His wife commented that if all else failed he could get a job in the supermarket as a Reacher. Click!
Killing floor, first novel, first draft written in pencil, second draft in pen, felt he had to earn the right for ownership of a computer.
Interesting just how much Child agonises over a single word, for example should it be "onto" or simply "to"?
By the way, contains lots of spoilers, so if you've not read Make Me, might be better to read that first.
On another related subject, now had two or three audio books from the series, to pass the hours away behind the wheel. All have been read before, yet it's interesting how many times I hear something and think, really don't remember this in the book.
Stan the Bat said:
bingybongy said:
Stan the Bat said:
The new one is out now.
Used an Audible credit for it yesterday.(Only joking it’s actually a library of audiobooks and dramas. Really good when on the road lots). You can subscribe to a certain number of credits each month.
surveyor said:
It a service that allows you to listen to books when you are not able to read.
(Only joking it’s actually a library of audiobooks and dramas. Really good when on the road lots). You can subscribe to a certain number of credits each month.
It's an Amazon audio book service.(Only joking it’s actually a library of audiobooks and dramas. Really good when on the road lots). You can subscribe to a certain number of credits each month.
I work alone so listen to hours of them.
Adenauer said:
Nearly finished the new one, Blue Moon.
Mr Child is losing his touch, I'm afraid. There are parts in this one that will make you say, 'really?'.
3/10 gunshots from me, and that's being very generous.
And still way better than Past Tense, Reacher becoming history for me soon sadlyMr Child is losing his touch, I'm afraid. There are parts in this one that will make you say, 'really?'.
3/10 gunshots from me, and that's being very generous.
I well remember the pace and excitement of Killing Floor, all going fast
perdu said:
Adenauer said:
Nearly finished the new one, Blue Moon.
Mr Child is losing his touch, I'm afraid. There are parts in this one that will make you say, 'really?'.
3/10 gunshots from me, and that's being very generous.
And still way better than Past Tense, Reacher becoming history for me soon sadlyMr Child is losing his touch, I'm afraid. There are parts in this one that will make you say, 'really?'.
3/10 gunshots from me, and that's being very generous.
I well remember the pace and excitement of Killing Floor, all going fast
yellowjack said:
With my birthday in November, the new Lee Child book is usually a shoo-in for a present from my wife. This year though, she took me out for dinner and to see Dave Gorman live. sadly I think the reason for that is an indication that Reacher should either be retired quietly or expire in a blaze of glory soon. "I didn't buy you Blue Moon because the last two Reacher books are still gathering dust in your bedside cabinet" says it all really. I was an 'early adopter' of the Reacher books, and long enjoyed them, waiting in anticipation for the new one and always buying (or being bought) the hardback edition. Now, with the release of Blue Moon, I'm three books behind, and quite frankly I'm not that bothered about catching up anymore. Although I would really like to see some of the early books made for movie or TV release. You could get a relatively unknown actor to play him for TV with a two to three season story arc taking in the books in (Reacher's) chronological order, perhaps with a couple of flashback/forward suspense elements, but also making the character a little more three-dimensional and "filling in gaps" in his timeline with screenwritten episodes not adapted from the books. I think TV would suit the character better than film really, allowing a book to stretch over perhaps half a season rather than editing things down to fit a feature film release length. But for me, for now at least, the books seem to have gone off the boil a little...
Tend to agree with much of this, could see something similar to the way the Bosch TV series took interwoven mini plot arcs and cases from the books without being a simple transference of Book x > Season y. Though slightly different with Reacher as each book is largely a one off, apart from odd characters appearing.Would love to see who they cast as Frances L Neagley though.
Mr Tidy said:
I can relate to that - TC is the sole reason I haven't even tried to watch any of the films. 
I've seen both the films, and despite reading all the books, didn't find them all that annoying, just watchable films with enough bits from the books to be vaguely familiar. I guess the people who make films with Tom Cruise (I can't call him "TC", to me "TC" is a lovable rogue of a cat) are very used to making sure he isn't looking up at everyone, and the oft-repeated descriptions of how big Reacher is just don't feature. There's one on Film4 later in the week.I bought series 1 of the Bosch series on DVD, I must get around to watching it before it turns up on a Freeview channel. Any time I think I'm going to dig in, I get a load of stuff on TV to watch and there's no time. My recorder box is a bit overloaded at the moment.
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