Never Go Back
Lee Child’s eighteenth Jack Reacher novel, Never Go Back, comes out in just over 24 hours. Once I start a Lee Child book, I’m powerless to resist. This presents a conundrum, because our annual Nantucket vacation begins tomorrow. Will downloading and reading a new Reacher novel enhance our vacation, or will it get in the way?
Maybe the answer depends on the weather. Reading would be perfect on a stormy day. But if the sun shines, we should be walking on the beach, riding bicycles over to Sconset, touring historic homes.
It doesn’t help that Janet Maslin gave the book a rave review last Friday in the NYT. At least I think the review is a rave. I didn’t get too far into it, for fear that I’d learn too much. The first paragraph was enough.
Lee Child’s bodacious action hero, Jack Reacher, has already tramped through 17 novels and three e-book singles. But his latest, “Never Go Back,” may be the best desert island reading in the series. It’s exceptionally well plotted. And full of wild surprises. And wise about Reacher’s peculiar nature. And positively Bunyanesque in its admiring contributions to Reacher lore.
Gosh. With praise like that, how can I wait even a minute?
Okay, I’ve just pre-ordered it for my Kindle. Maybe if I’m lucky Amazon will make it available tomorrow night and I won’t even have to wait until Tuesday. Oh, and more good news. Thunderstorms with 80% chance of rain Tuesday.
Thanks for the tip – I’ve read Jack Reacher novels #1 and #2 this week and am working on #3 (using Kindle for Mac and Kindle for Android).
What did you think of it? I was a little disappointed with the ending being a little lame, but nonetheless I still finished it within 24 hours. In an interview with the Book report radio show (an archived version I found on their site) Child makes mention of his next novel (already!!!) called “20 seconds ago” which I’m excited about, if only to hope for a stronger finish.