"Past Tense" by Lee Child

Above: "Past Tense" - Lee Child - 382 Pages.

I had promised myself that I would never read another Lee Child book. Child's Jack Reacher novels are formulaic. The more Child novels you read, the more their plots blur. I had enough sense of who Jack Reacher was, and what he did, that after reading six or seven novels, new Child novels didn't add all that much to the reading experience.

Also, any Lee Child lover would be upset by Child's agreement to cast Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher for movie versions of his novels. All of Child's Reacher books, sixteen or so, are now optioned for films. So far, "Jack Reacher," based on "One Shot," and "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back," have been produced as films.

Tom Cruise??!!! It's like asking Chalk to play Cheese. Who wanted to help Lee Child to sell more books after he prostituted himself with Cruise? Not Mwah (sic)! Nothing against Tom Cruise personally, but, certified Child readers will know what I'm talking about.

Don't get me wrong. I liked Reacher; tall, stoic, tough, clever, wise, with no possessions other than a bank card and a tooth brush. Clunky, lace up oxfords. Imagine throwing out your clothes every three or four days and getting new ones at Shopko or Walmart.

Reacher is a special character. But, how many times do you have to read the obligatory plot segment where Reacher beats up five or six louts before your reading the same thing over and over again?

Still, when I saw "Past Tense," Child's latest Reacher book, on a shelf at Shopko on South State in Salt Lake City, impulsively, I bought it. I had been doing some heavy, "note taking" type of reading lately ("Darwin's Doubt," "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs," "Borrowed Time," yada) and I thought, maybe its time for a break... time to read some "escape."

In "Past Tense," Child reassured by starting the story as he always does... with an intended Reacher migration. Reacher, mid autumn, anticipating the cold weather, hitch hikes out of a small town on the coast of Maine, with San Diego as a destination in mind. Of course, true to Child style, Reacher gets waylaid.

This time: Laconia, New Hampshire.

But, wait! Reacher remembers that his Dad lived in Laconia. Maybe he can postpone his journey and stay in Laconia for a couple of days to find out a little more about his roots... and, so begins the story.

In pursuing his research in Laconia, Reacher meets the obligatory, helpful female cop (unlike other Reacher novels, no sex in "Past Tense,"), gets in the obligatory dust-up where he takes care of five guys all at once in a street fight, and feigns the obligatory insouciance about threats thereafter.

Of course, the female cop, Ms. Amos, is on pins and needles about the possibility of more bad stuff going on in Laconia... she fears mafia types will be coming up from Boston to take out revenge on Reacher. Reacher calmly continues his family research.

Simultaneously, four millennial guys (one of whom is named "Reacher"!!!! (read the book to find out the linkage... it has to do with Reacher's family search project) with tech knowledge, money, and too much time on their hands, are running a hunting business from a motel twenty miles away from Laconia.

Two Canadian kids, young twenties, boy and girl, are ensnared by the four and set up for the hunt... uh...errr... not as hunters.

The hunters are six, older, rich white guys who, seeking "new experiences (oh those slovenly, old white guys... responsible for so much evil in the world... this nod to modern PC proclivities left me a little cold)," have found the sordid hunting business on the dark web. They bring sacks of cash to pay for their hunting privilege. Before the bow hunt, they leer at their imprisoned prey via closed circuit TV and through the secure window of a prison bar reinforced motel room.

Reacher, persona non grata in Laconia, but not finished with his Laconia family research, seeks an out of the way motel, to take the pressure off of Amos.

Need I say more? Well, a bit. Reacher participates in the denouement of the parallel plot lines, his past, and the hunt, as the pages almost turn themselves. Reacher's family research culminates in a surprising twist about his past, and the Canadian kids have more spunk than their captors bargained for.

OK. I admit it. It was a fun and quick read.

How long can Lee Child keep me on the hook like this? Lee Child is the reading equivalent of being addicted to "Candy Crush." And, sadly, after more wasted dollars than I want to admit, I've been there too.