998 and counting …
Finished Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child. This is one of his books about ex-military policeman Jack Reacher.
In this one, Reacher is bumming around Oregon when he gets a message that one of his old Army buddies is in trouble. He goes to Los Angeles, where he learns that someone threw his buddy out of a helicopter — and that several other members of his old Army unit are missing. So Reacher teams up with Frances Neagley, another one of his former officers, and they start digging into what happened. Along the way, they join forces with two more members of their unit and uncover a conspiracy to sell weapons to the highest bidder …
I really like the Reacher series — they’re just fun, action-packed reads. This one is no exception. I loved the interaction between Reacher and the members of his old unit in this one, as well as Reacher questioning whether he’s really happy bumming around the country with only his toothbrush and his passport in his pocket. This is definitely one of the more realistic, sympathetic portrayals of Reacher in the series.
In fact, I thought this was going to be one of the best books in the series — until I got to the end. Then, it all spun out of control for me because Reacher does something that just seemed completely out of character for me — he waits to take out the bad guys and save his friends. I won’t spoil the ending here, except to say that I can see that Child was going for poetic justice with it — it’s very eye-for-an-eye. But I just couldn’t help but think that someone as smart as Reacher would take out his enemies as soon as possible, rather than set them up in an elaborate trap — and make his friends suffer while he carried out his plan.
But overall, this is still an entertaining read. If you like thrillers, you have to check out this series. Thumbs up.
Up next: Something About You by Julie James.
Books in my TBR pile: About 20.
What about you guys? Anyone planning to read something good this weekend? Share in the comments.