Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series

  • Killing Floor (1997)
  • Die Trying (1998)
  • Tripwire (1999)
  • The Visitor (2000); same as Running Blind
  • Echo Burning (2001)
  • Without Fail (2002)
  • Persuader (2003)
  • The Enemy (2004)
  • One Shot (2005)
  • The Hard Way (2006)
  • Bad Luck and Trouble (2007)
  • Nothing to Lose (2008)
  • Gone Tomorrow
Lee Child was born in 1954 in Coventry, England. Lee Child is the pen name of British thriller writer Jim Grant. He is married and lives in New York state. His first novel in this series, Killing Floor, won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel.

Gone Tomorrow is the 13th novel in the Jack Reacher series (see also the review of Nothing to Lose). It is a strange and strangely appealing series. And it is one of the most successful thriller series in the world, currently selling six million books or so a year.

Jack Reacher himself is clearly part of the Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child answer to the question of why this series is so successful. He is a retired Army MP, 6-foot-5, with a very distinguished career apparently (albeit one which is never quite revealed in its entirety, rather only hinted at). Now he is a drifter who finds big trouble wherever he goes has adapted a weird life style.

Jack Reacher is a born street fighter with enormous fighting skills. He owns nothing, buys a new set of clothes when the current set gets dirty, cleans up, puts on the new clothes and throws away the old set. He is a somewhat mysterious, elusive, and strange character – and sufficiently different from the rest of us to be attractive in his differentness.

In Gone Tomorrow we meet up with Jack Reacher on the New York subway late at night. He happens to see a passenger, Susan Mark, that acts strangely and in a way that makes Reacher conclude that she is a suicide bomber on a mission. He approaches her, and instead of setting off a bomb, she commits suicide. This could have been the end of the story, but it turns out to be the beginning.

All of a sudden Reacher – just a witness, an innocent bystander – is chased by the FBI, the Department of Defense, NYPD and a strange group of terrorists. Susan Mark had something a lot of people are willing to go to great lengths to get hold of, and they all suspect or fear that Reacher may know where it is. So now Reacher must flee or fight for his life. And as Reacher never backs out a challenge, there will be trouble. Big trouble.

Gone Tomorrow is definitely one of the best of the series. Perhaps it is even the best so far. It is a fast paced thriller with an intricate plot, lots of great action, a slowly unfolding mystery and an explosive and very violent conclusion. It has good guys, shady guys and really bad guys. And lots of flat-out-violence. But at the same time it is a smart thriller with lots of good, sound, deductive reasoning. A great mix. I loved it.mYou do not want to miss out on Gone Tomorrow!

Links to the books by Lee Child: amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

Nothing to Lose, by Lee Child

It was a coincidence. I was at the library to pick up some books. While I was waiting, I saw Nothing to Lose lying there. So I picked it up. Looked at it and borrowed it. And later I read all the other books I had waiting for me. Finally I started on Lee Child’s book with the boring cover.

And reading it, at first I thought it was simply odd. Nothing to Lose, by Lee Child A lone hero walking into trouble for no apparent reason other than his stubbornness. Walking from the strange city of Hope into the even stranger city of Destiny. It all seemed odd to. Simply.

But I continued to read, curious as I am. And gradually the book grew on me. Partly because I wanted to find out what was going on – thinking there had to be something more. Partly because this represented to me a kind of new genre of thriller. A bare bones, no frills thriller if you want. No spying, no agents, no super duper huge or advanced or whatever organization. Just a guy. And, admittedly, a somewhat strange guy. Named Jack Reacher.

Later I have read up on the book, the author and the series. I have noted that a book reviewer in New York Times, Janet Maslin, calls Jack Reacher a “minimalist character”. I think that is an apt description. He is minimalist. The thriller is minimalist!

But Child’s Reacher is actually, when you get to know him, an utterly addictive hero. He is a 6 feet 5 inches ex-military cop that excels in unarmed combat, and he is as cool as a cucumber. He may get a little worried when he is up against six guys in a bar, and start to ponder their combined body weight relative to his and such things. But he delivers the goods. And, as well, his powers of deduction are second to none and a joy to observe!

So, yeah, I liked this guy. I liked the way Reacher dealt with power abuse, crime and corruption. And I liked the way he dealt with a disgusting born-again businessman impatient for apocalypse.

I don’t actually think this is the best book in the series, having now read several of them. But it is more than good enough, and quite spectacular in its minimalism. So Nothing to Lose is a book I recommend!

Links to Lee Child's books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.
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