Where Reacher Hunts an American in Germany

Night School by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked it quite a bit. I found this one more rewarding to pick back up than the first couple I've read; either it's a little better or I'm more in the groove with the series.

Reacher is a good character, and I feel like Lee Child uses him well. He's not unstoppable or a super genius, but he's good at the things that an investigator should be good at--like reading witnesses and guessing how a suspect might be thinking and getting ahead of them--and he's especially good at not getting beat up by a random bad guy. And he's not just good at that; the author uses those things in the plot. You can count on him to come out on top in most hand-to-hand encounters, which so far are found in every novel I've looked at.

(I point this out because I've read a few books lately where the main characters are supposed to be good at something but then we don't see it much or at all in the story. Sherlock has got to see clues nobody else sees. Elizabeth Bennet has to say witty things. Captain Kirk better win against the odds. And Reacher needs to show out. He's a good investigator, so he's gonna figure some stuff out in a clever way, and he's a great big guy who can fight, so he better be fighting somebody or I'm gonna be disappointed.) ;)

This novel is set earlier in his career when he was still in the army, and I found that difference interesting. He had to work with a number of people instead of just doing everything his way, and he had to restrain himself in some cases. The constraints made him have to be even more creative than usual, and I think it made the plot work.

I thought it was pretty fun. 4 stars.

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Where Jack Loses His Memory

In Too Deep by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a pretty good read that got better as it went along. I was leaning 3 but the last 100 pages or so hooked me, so a 4 is probably the right call.

I've only read a couple Jack Reacher books, and I only got this one because I was wasting time at the drugstore and wanted something to do. I wasn't hoping for too much, actually. But it moves along with a pretty good pace, and though I don't have a strong attachment to the main character, he is growing on me. Also, the plot gets more interesting about halfway through, so my interest in the story also grew the more I read. It's a solid action-thriller (or whatever category you prefer to put it in) and should satisfy most readers of the genre. I suspect.

Reacher is an interesting character. As a big, smart guy with lots of skills, he's like an underpowered superman, or something of a Sherlock with more punch and an affinity for weapons. Maybe a bit like Doc Savage, now that I think about it, with lots of mental skills, like a great memory and a lot of expertise in investigation. But he has weaknesses that leave him vulnerable in some areas, raising the stakes in many scenes. He doesn't have amazing tech skills or even a phone, so if something needs to be looked up, he has to rely on connections. He also doesn't keep a car, so he's pretty much gotta bum rides. And in this book, he has an injured arm, so he can't come out swinging like he usually does. In one scene, he's in the water trying to climb out onto a dock and just can't manage it with his bad arm, and that changes how he goes after the bad guys. I thought it was a nice touch.

This will probably never be exactly my type of book, but it's pretty good to jump into from time to time, and I enjoyed this one.

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