"Night School" by Lee Child
Above: "Night School." Lee Child. I finished reading this book today. 369 pages.
I think a part of every man wants to be Reacher. He carries only a tooth brush and a bank card in his pocket. He doesn't need a watch to tell the exact time. He has no home. He lives on overnight busses and in cheap motel rooms. He buys new clothes at Walmart every three days or so, and trashes the dirty clothes he wears. And... of course.... he's a real bad ass.
I've read most of Child's books featuring Jack Reacher, a retired MP who spent most of his army career in Europe.
This latest one, released in October 2016, is a bit of a departure from Child's usual pattern. Stereotypically, Reacher, current time, is on a bus in the middle of the night somewhere in the American mid-West. He runs into some one in trouble, which, in turn leads to an outsized, complex challenge which Reacher, using super ordinary mental and physical skills resolves. Also, there is usually a female relationship, the climax (no pun intended) of which happens over a fairly descriptive two to three pages of each novel.
The departure? "Night School" occurs "15 years ago" while Reacher is still in the army. Rather than randomly running into a situation, as is the MO for most of the Child books, Reacher, as a highly valued problem solver, is sought out, along with a CIA and an FBI person, by superiors at the highest levels to help resolve a potential terrorist threat in Germany.
A deep cover double agent Iranian rooms with three Saudis in Hamburg. He alerts his superiors about a $100MM deal coming down between some unknown person, likely an American, in Germany and baddies in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Child's talent for intricate plot and metaphor is amazing. At the books start, we find Reacher wearing 30 year old Marine pants one of his army supply buddies found in a cache of old surplus clothing. Child notes that the pants look exactly the same as trendy Banana Republic pants sold for a couple of hundred dollars. Reacher paid his friend five dollars. Child makes the point that the large marine pants supply had somehow missed an inventory control audit and there was no official record of their existence.
Fast forward to the denoument. The $100 million deal involves a similarly lost trove (to the Marine pants) of ten mini atomic bombs lost during the cold war period, but known to the step father retired soldier of the contemporary soldier who schemes to spirit them to Afghanistan for the huge payoff. Wyley, the scheming soldier, plans to use the proceeds of the illicit sale to purchase a huge ranch in Argentina.
The comparison between the "lost pants" and the "lost bombs" is just one of many fascinating literary devices used by Reacher to unwind his plot.
The relationship is there... this time with Reacher's superior, a 40 year old female CIA big wig, who is as amazed with his sexual prowess as much as she is with his hyper confident and competent problem solving ability.
Its a good, page turning read... with, it seems to me, a little more effort put into it than some of the more recent, formulaic Reacher novels.
And yes, I think its a travesty to have 5'7" Tom Cruise to play the 6'3" Reacher in the movies.
I think a part of every man wants to be Reacher. He carries only a tooth brush and a bank card in his pocket. He doesn't need a watch to tell the exact time. He has no home. He lives on overnight busses and in cheap motel rooms. He buys new clothes at Walmart every three days or so, and trashes the dirty clothes he wears. And... of course.... he's a real bad ass.
Oh yeah, this book also has the obligatory scene where he takes out six guys in a fist fight.
You have to love it! A great antidote to the current trend to feminize the male gender.