Jack Reacher - any good?
Discussion
lastexile69 said:
Davey S2 said:
Currently on the second book in the James Reece series by Jack Carr which I'm very much enjoying.
I've read both The Terminal List and True Believer in this series - enjoyed them. 
Also enjoyed all the Evan Smoak - Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz.
Funnily enough I've now started the Prodigal Son book 6 in the Orphan X series. Really enjoyed the previous ones.
Adenauer said:
Monkeylegend said:
I would add Harlan Coben and his Myron Bolitar books to this list as well.
Just ordered Deal Breaker, I'll report back once I've read it 
Not sure any more how many I've already read but I started another last night 'One False Move', and for me they are brilliantly written, I couldn't stop chuckling last night whilst reading it. Just the tonic for today's f
ked up world.So thanks again, Monkeylegend.
Adenauer said:
Adenauer said:
Monkeylegend said:
I would add Harlan Coben and his Myron Bolitar books to this list as well.
Just ordered Deal Breaker, I'll report back once I've read it Not sure any more how many I've already read but I started another last night 'One False Move', and for me they are brilliantly written, I couldn't stop chuckling last night whilst reading it. Just the tonic for today's f
ked up world.So thanks again, Monkeylegend.
Have you tried Linwood Barclay, who is very similar to Coben, and also John Grisham who writes some excellent court dramas and crime thrillers.
Monkeylegend said:
You are welcome
Have you tried Linwood Barclay, who is very similar to Coben, and also John Grisham who writes some excellent court dramas and crime thrillers.
Not yet, but I will do.Have you tried Linwood Barclay, who is very similar to Coben, and also John Grisham who writes some excellent court dramas and crime thrillers.
I also now know what you meant when you said 'articulate' a long time ago.
They both really crack me up. Myron's just been to see Frank Ache and everything went deathly silent when the phone rang and it was Win.
Bloody hilarious.
Adenauer said:
Monkeylegend said:
You are welcome
Have you tried Linwood Barclay, who is very similar to Coben, and also John Grisham who writes some excellent court dramas and crime thrillers.
Not yet, but I will do.Have you tried Linwood Barclay, who is very similar to Coben, and also John Grisham who writes some excellent court dramas and crime thrillers.
I also now know what you meant when you said 'articulate' a long time ago.
They both really crack me up. Myron's just been to see Frank Ache and everything went deathly silent when the phone rang and it was Win.
Bloody hilarious.
I think he has a new one just out so am waiting for that to appear in the charity shops.
I think we all wish we had a little bit of Win in us.
The other really good author to look for is Robert Crais and his Elvis Cole, Joe Pike characters. Think I have mentioned him before but again I would love to be even a little bit like the Joe Pike.
Articulate
I often answer the phone with that if I know who is calling.
RC1807 said:
Started reading Reacher's latest scuffles in "The Sentinel" a couple of nights ago in bed.
Now 25% through it.
I was out of reading material and noticed this in paperback for a fiver in Tescos yesterday so I picked it up. I read the first couple of chapters last night and so far to me it reads like a usual Lee Child written book.Now 25% through it.
Silverage said:
RC1807 said:
Started reading Reacher's latest scuffles in "The Sentinel" a couple of nights ago in bed.
Now 25% through it.
I was out of reading material and noticed this in paperback for a fiver in Tescos yesterday so I picked it up. I read the first couple of chapters last night and so far to me it reads like a usual Lee Child written book.Now 25% through it.
The first Reacher I didn't bother finishing.
Edited by blingybongy on Wednesday 12th May 06:56
I read The Sentinel recently and it really isn't a patch on the earlier Reacher novels.
At a push I'd say it was a tiny bit better than Blue Moon (which was, for me, the worst Reacher so far by a wide margin) but only by a gnats c*ck.
The writing style is definitely a little different in places in The Sentinel (presumably due to the collaboration now) but for me it was stuck between two styles. At times it was clearly trying to be classic Reacher with the short monosyllabic dialogue and descriptive style, yet at other times it had far lengthier exposition and a great deal more "this is the bit where we explain it for you over several pages without dialogue just in case you can't keep up".
Both are the worst 2 entries in the Reacher catalogue in my view.
Readable? Certainly. It's competently paced (apart from a few places) and the dialogue is snappy enough.
Enjoyable? Without doubt as a pick up and read when you don't want anything more than escapism.
But for fans of the Reacher canon, I'd say it was disappointing.
At a push I'd say it was a tiny bit better than Blue Moon (which was, for me, the worst Reacher so far by a wide margin) but only by a gnats c*ck.
The writing style is definitely a little different in places in The Sentinel (presumably due to the collaboration now) but for me it was stuck between two styles. At times it was clearly trying to be classic Reacher with the short monosyllabic dialogue and descriptive style, yet at other times it had far lengthier exposition and a great deal more "this is the bit where we explain it for you over several pages without dialogue just in case you can't keep up".
Both are the worst 2 entries in the Reacher catalogue in my view.
Readable? Certainly. It's competently paced (apart from a few places) and the dialogue is snappy enough.
Enjoyable? Without doubt as a pick up and read when you don't want anything more than escapism.
But for fans of the Reacher canon, I'd say it was disappointing.
Well I’m plowing on with this, about half way through now and so far it’s pretty much by the numbers. The only thing I have noticed is he/they have all the characters using the phrase “all kinds of” constantly. Is this what someone mentioned above where all the characters end up speaking like Reacher in the end?
Started reading ‘The Midnight Line’ and (risible plot device about a West Point ring aside) really enjoyed the pacey, hard-boiled start, thinking it might have been a return to form, but then it deteriorated into an excruciating dull 100 pages or so of Reacher doing nothing but driving between houses looking for someone.
The endlessly boring descriptions of the dust thrown up by travelling cars and parking positions reminded me of ‘61 Hours’, when Child also banged-on interminably about the cold weather.
It’s like the pressure of churning out a book every year leads him to start well enough, then pad / fill the middle with gibberish, before arriving at the ending and a royalty cheque.
The endlessly boring descriptions of the dust thrown up by travelling cars and parking positions reminded me of ‘61 Hours’, when Child also banged-on interminably about the cold weather.
It’s like the pressure of churning out a book every year leads him to start well enough, then pad / fill the middle with gibberish, before arriving at the ending and a royalty cheque.
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