Contents of blog copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2023
I've been gone a while. I started reading fanfiction to escape and I got sucked in an abyss.

I have no idea if someone else is hosting similar challenges. I just grabbed some of what I have hosted before.

Here's to a happy year of great reading
Jan2023: Not much has changed. Writing a fanfiction now O_o as well as reading but I bought 7 new books in December and hope to get those read soon. Crossing fingers about adding challenges (late!)

Friday, September 20, 2013

The Enemy by Lee Child (#173)

My SIL doesn't read quite as much as I do but was very excited about a series she was reading. I had heard of it but hadn't read any of them but she mentioned it over several visits (she isn't local). Then the announcement about the movie comes and she's still talking about the books.

I bit.

I'm now reading the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I started at the beginning and am currently on #8. So far I know this about each book.
  1. Someone is going to die
  2. Reacher, not Jack, will investigate
  3. Someone will want it covered up
  4. Reacher will get even and figure out what happened
  5. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it

I started Wednesday and the only reason I didn't finish very early Thursday morning is I needed to go see my Mom. Trust me, I would have finished it and then gone to bed otherwise. In The Enemy, Reacher is still in the military and yes, someone has died. Four someones actually but the first one looks to be of natural causes and the second was his wife (not natural causes).  Reacher has a man in handcuffs that he is questioning but I don't want to tell you his name. I just really liked this part. . . .

[name] didn't move. He sat absolutely still. He was hunched way forward, with his wrists fastened to the chair down near his knees. I sat still too. I wasn't sure what to do. Our own Delta guys were trained to resist interrogation. I knew that. They were trained to counter drugs and beatings and sensory deprivation and anything else anyone could think of. Their instructors were encouraged to employ hands-on training methods. So I couldn't even imagine what [name] had been through, in five years with the GRU. There was nothing much I could do to him. I wasn't above smacking people around. But I figured this guy wouldn't say a word even if I disassembled him limb by limb.

So I moved on to traditional policing techniques. Lies, and bribery.
The Soviet GRU was a kind of cross between a military police corps and Delta Force so I'm reading along wondering what Reacher will need to do to break this guy. There is so much left of the book but he seems perfect for it. Number 1 has already happened and I think there are more to come. Number 2 is in the works but remember number 3? Yeah, his direct boss is all about PR and "the big picture", "the Army must look good" so the over the top gay bashing was just a training accident. Poor guy's head was hit when his jeep fell on it while he was changing a tire.

back to reading. . . .

and for the Back to School challenge. . . US snipers are right-handed because of the way the rifle is built. Sounds right, how to I check if this is fact.

not good words to read...
...it was still a bad decision.
off to continue reading to find out just how bad of a decision it was. . .

This one had twists on top of twists. Spots of panic, never Reacher of course, just me. There were tears and satisfaction. I'm so glad I've got the next in the series in the house :-)

Dang, I need to read a couple of others first but One Shot is waiting for me

The opinion expressed is mine. Offered purely to tell you about a book I checked out of the library. Book details and synopsis are from the publisher. Except for the page numbers, that came directly from the copy I read.



The Enemy
Jack Reacher
Lee Child
978-0385336673
Delacorte Press - Random House
May 2004
393 pages
hardcover (ebook, audio, paperback, large print)
Age range: high school
 
Military related Mystery/Thriller
source: public library

finished reading: September 20
Grade: B+

Jack Reacher. Hero. Loner. Soldier. Soldier’s son. An elite military cop, he was one of the army’s brightest stars. But in every cop’s life there is one case that changes everything. For Jack Reacher, this is that case.

New Year’s Day, 1990. In a North Carolina motel, a two-star general is found dead. His briefcase is missing. Nobody knows what was in it. Within minutes Reacher has his orders: Control the situation. Within hours the general’s wife is murdered. Then the dominoes really start to fall.

Somewhere inside the vast worldwide fortress that is the U.S. Army, Reacher is being set up as a fall guy with the worst enemies a man can have. But Reacher won’t quit. He’s fighting a new kind of war–against an enemy he didn’t know he had. And against a conspiracy more chilling, ingenious, and treacherous than anyone could have guessed.




copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2013

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read the first Jack Reacher years ago. The length of the series now has me deciding whether to start it (same goes for the JD Robb Naked In series). In your opinion, if someone has read the first book, do you need to read each book in order to understand enough to enjoy it, or can one skip a few? Thanks for sharing this review.

Book Dragon said...

I'm sure you could could skip around. I like to read my series in order and the author has asked us to read them as published. I did come across one that if I had read it first I don't know if I would have read the rest but don't remember which one that was.

Unknown said...

I got introduced to Reacher a bit more than a week ago whilst listening to Elaine Charles (Book Report radio show Miami base but the whole thing's archived on their site) interview Child about his most recent novel 'Never go back'. That same day I bought it and finished it by the time I got back from work the next day - wow! So here's me feverishly looking for other books and the recommendations - thank you very much! If 'The Enemy' is in the library I will choose it before any others.

Disclaimer

In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Book Dragon's Lair. All books I review are either borrowed, purchased by me, given as a gift, won in some kind of contest, or received in exchange for an honest review.