Mark Hebwood answers “Lee Child, have you lost your mind or did...”

Bill Jay asked this question about Night School (Jack Reacher, #21):

Lee Child, have you lost your mind or did someone else write this book for you? Not your style. I was not able to recommend Night School to family. First time

Mark Hebwood I feel the same. I used to love Lee Child but in my view he's lost it several novels ago. It feels as he's losing the grip on his character Jack Reach…moreI feel the same. I used to love Lee Child but in my view he's lost it several novels ago. It feels as he's losing the grip on his character Jack Reacher. For example, Reacher has always had a highly developed ability to do arithmetic in his head, but in one recent novel (I even forgot which one) Lee allows this gift to develop into something near-autistic. Another one of Reacher's uncanny abilities is to pinpoint locations of people with absolute no information about their whereabouts. In this last novel, this ability appears to have defined the entire plot. The main characters know next to nothing about the terrorist they need to find, and yet Reacher and Neagley manage to narrow the search down by staring into the air and inventing things. Like, for example, when Jack comes out with the insightful conclusion that the unknown subject cannot be a particular person shown on a photograph because that guy had a styled haircut, and those who care about their hair cannot be confident about themselves, and hence they cannot be paid assassins because people who murder others for money need to be confident in themselves and hence will not care about their hair. I dont even have a sarcastic comment on this. It's a shame - I feel the Jack Reacher I knew from the early novels has disappeared. I think this was the last Lee Child novel I picked up.(less)

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Kojak Edwards Amen. Could not understand how a group would turn over money before they took possession of the merchandise. Certainly, since transfers could be handl ...more
Aug 18, 2017 06:38PM · flag

Mark Hebwood So do I. Trouble is I would need to read another one to find out whether he's back, and at least for now I am done with the two (Child and Reacher). ...more
Dec 29, 2017 07:39AM · flag

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