The Sentinel
Dec. 6th, 2020 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe 25th Jack Reacher book, titled The Sentinel, is a collaboration between Lee Child and his younger brother, Andrew, who will now take over writing the series on his own.
I was a bit apprehensive going in, as recent entries into the series have been wildly variable, and I wasn't sure what to expect from the injection of a new writing voice.
The wonderful tones of narrator Jeff Harding on the audio version helped to settle me in. And the book as a whole was - fine.
It had most of the classic Reacher aspects - though one of them didn't happen until 3.5 minutes before the end - and bits of it did make me laugh ("Reacher was a competent driver. He'd never killed anyone while driving - at least not accidentally.").
But it felt very by the numbers (I mean, most Reacher books do follow a standard template, but this one felt particularly plodding) and the ridiculous intricacies of the bad guy conspiracy lost me a bit by the end.
So, not a fantastic start to a new era of Reacher books, but it was entertaining enough for me to continue to listen to the series as they come out. Perhaps Andrew will find new angles and enthusiasm once he strikes out on his own.
I was a bit apprehensive going in, as recent entries into the series have been wildly variable, and I wasn't sure what to expect from the injection of a new writing voice.
The wonderful tones of narrator Jeff Harding on the audio version helped to settle me in. And the book as a whole was - fine.
It had most of the classic Reacher aspects - though one of them didn't happen until 3.5 minutes before the end - and bits of it did make me laugh ("Reacher was a competent driver. He'd never killed anyone while driving - at least not accidentally.").
But it felt very by the numbers (I mean, most Reacher books do follow a standard template, but this one felt particularly plodding) and the ridiculous intricacies of the bad guy conspiracy lost me a bit by the end.
So, not a fantastic start to a new era of Reacher books, but it was entertaining enough for me to continue to listen to the series as they come out. Perhaps Andrew will find new angles and enthusiasm once he strikes out on his own.
