Summary
Jack Reacher is back, and while he may be flirting with age and the notion of eventual failure, it’s also one of his most streamlined adventures. That’s for damn sure.
“I’m not as young as I was, but I’m not old yet” laments Jack Reacher in this twenty-fourth Lee Child novel. “Overall, I’m doing ok.” There’s a pervading sense of inevitability to Reacher’s fate that runs throughout BLUE MOON, even though this is one of Child’s most fluid and back-to-basics adventures in years.
The setup, as is often the case, is simplicity itself. Reacher is travelling by bus, spots an elderly man with a large wad of cash and saves him from being mugged. Discovering that the man, Aaron Shevik, and his wife are in deep with loan sharks, Reacher soon finds himself in the middle of a turf war between rival Albanians and Ukrainian gangs.
The body count seems to be even higher than usual, including a scene where Reacher literally piles up corpse after corpse as they come running at him.
The broad plotting resembles the simplicity of Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars and is also reminiscent of Child’s earlier books Nothing to Lose and Worth Dying For. Once the triangular structure of the Sheviks, the mob and Reacher is firmly established – with Reacher’s single-serve female companion thrown into the mix as usual – the action is relentless and straightforward. Existing fans will find that while there is a well worn track being ridden, it rips along at such a pace as to smooth over any narrative familiarities.
Yet hanging over this one-way street is another type of inexorable fate. Despite the book taking its title from Reacher’s contention that “this is a random universe,” Child seems to have injected a vein of mortality into our anti-hero’s noggin. Reacher talks about having won every time, but his first loss can’t be too far away. Although Reacher is confident that it won’t be this time, coupled with the musings on ageing one must wonder whether the 65-year-old Child is considering retiring his character or simply reflecting on the passage of time. (The next book is a monumental 25th after all).
Nevertheless, Reacher shows no signs of slowing down the physicality just yet. The body count seems to be even higher than usual, including a scene where Reacher literally piles up corpse after corpse as they come running at him. Bordering on self-parody, the vibes nicely alongside Child’s history of anatomical exaggerations of Reacher’s hands and other body parts. (Speaking of which, this also has one of the most unintentionally hilarious sex scenes: “Experimental all around. 20 minutes soup to nuts”).
Following a couple of books that played it safe, and the phoned-in feeling of Past Tense, this latest comes back with a renewed vigour. Whether that is a prelude to an implied winding down is yet to be seen, but it’s good to have a reliable action-thriller once in a while. That’s for damn sure.
2019 | US | WRITER: Lee Child | PUBLISHER: Bantam Press | LENGTH: 384 pages | RELEASE DATE: 29 October 2019
