The Affair, by Lee Child
First, I was confused. The story is a flashback, but for some reason I had a hard time catching onto that. I remember feeling irritated because I couldn’t figure out exactly where, in time, we were. Then I was hooked, as the story settled into the flashback and I figured out this is where Reacher began. This is his backstory, how he came to be. Why he travels so light. The whole of it. There’s more to come, I know, but this is where it all started. I have to say, it was quite fun delving into the why of it all. If you are a Reacher fan, you will love this book. It’s like snooping in someone’s medicine cabinet. It has everything I’ve come to love from a Reacher novel: Reacher, of course, in uniform…grrrrr! A couple of love-making sessions that steamed up the mirror and a mystery with clue upon clue and twist upon twist. If you haven’t read any Reacher stories, you’ve been missing out. Go…buy one…right now. I’ll wait.
First Line: “The Pentagon is the world’s largest office building, six and a half million square feet, thirty thousand people, more than seventeen miles of corridors, but it was built with just three street doors, each one of them opening into a guarded pedestrian lobby.” Well, ain’t that interesting. Great tourist information, for sure. Typical Reacher style, definitely. Not a real hook for me though. Mind you, it picks up pretty quickly as Reacher enters the building, so don’t give up based on the first line. Plus, I suppose there are those who will be fascinated by knowing all that about the Pentagon.
This was a fantastic read, and one of my favorites of the entire series. The last few books I felt like Lee Child was losing his steam a bit. Like maybe he was tired and done with Reacher. But this one proves he’s not done just yet. The structure does feel a bit Hollywood, perhaps in anticipation of a movie now that One Shot is finally in production? Whatever the reason, if you ever liked a Reacher book don’t miss this one. If you’ve never read one, start with this one. Then go back and read the others in order. 1 star each for great plot, excellent writing, fun pace, grrrr factor of lead character, and 1 for overall greatness. Lee Child, you outdid yourself with this one. 5/5 stars!
Faster -Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton.
An ex-con with a mission to kill the people who killed his brother. I know I wouldn’t want The Rock after me, that’s for sure! He did an awesome job with this. You could really see the internal struggle as he goes from person to person. The ones he kills, let’s just say they deserve it. It’s not often you can root for a bad guy like that. But the people he killed were worse! You can also see the humanity behind the pain driving him in this revenge journey all over his face. A twisty ending to the plot left me saying “wow, this is f’ed up”. But…satisfied. If you like action, cop drama type things…this is worth a watch! 1 star for great acting, decent plot, strong female cop character, and twisty ending. Minus 1 star for being so freaking dark. 4/5 stars.
Do you feel it written in a confusing manner that threw you off? That’s why you didn’t catch on to the flash back? I haven’t read it, but may have to add it to my TBR pile.
Thanks for the movie review. Looks fun!
I think when I looked back on it I missed a critical sentence that would have pointed me down the right path. Yes, he should have worked on a little clarity there. The whole book is a flashback, and then within the flashback is a flashback. It’s subtle. If you are a Reacher fan, you’ve spent all this time (15 books worth actually) moving forward in time and to have it suddenly leap back to when he’s in the military was a bit jarring. The opening scene is a tense run through the Pentagon to an office…where he flashes back to how he came to be there. Yep, had trouble following that. But it might just be me reading too fast.
Yes, it’s a new book but no I didn’t expect to go backward in time as much as he did. Mind you, I’m very happy he did it and the result is one of his best yet. So it’s well worth the read. If you haven’t read any of the series, then it won’t bother you at all I don’t think. Or not as much.
If you haven’t read any of these…omg go get one! This one actually is a good place to start, oddly enough. You’ll then know why he’s moving around the way he does in all the others. Or, if you want to experience it like the rest of his fans, start with the first one he published. It was good too 🙂
I have never read anything of Lee Child’s – I really need to! Especially since right now I’m reading an ARC of Diane Capri’s first book in The Hunt for Reacher series, Don’t Know Jack, and it’s great! So there’s another one to add to your TBR pile. 🙂 I think it’s due out sometime next week.
Oh yes, you really should read them :-D. Seriously! Yummy. I had that book on my TBR already but had no idea it was in reference to Lee Child. Now I must read it next!
Melinda, I didn’t read this post back in January because I hadn’t read The Affair yet (and was crazy busy getting Don’t Know Jack ready to launch). Now that I’ve read The Affair, I have to agree with you it’s 5 stars all the way! I didn’t find the flashback thing confusing but only because I knew it was a flashback in advance of starting to read. The entire series of Reacher books bounces around his personal timeline, so I didn’t find it too jarring. And I’m a person who always wants to know “the rest of the story,” so I loved learning about how Reacher got his start!