Lee Child - Bad Luck and Trouble (2007)
Reviewed by Rae Helmsworth
What happens when everything you believe about yourself is called in to question? What if, without warning, you’re forced to examine your life and the way you live it, and the results of that examination are maybe not what you’d hope? And what if, as you’re grappling with these issues, you have to try to save the lives of several of your closest friends?
These are not questions one would expect to be confronting Jack Reacher, loner-hero of what is arguably the best series being written today. Lee Child’s tough guy protagonist is no anti-hero, nor is he a knight in shining armor. Through ten previous novels, readers have come to know Reacher as an extraordinarily smart, almost supernaturally tough, self-sufficient wanderer who, when he decides something needs doing, gets the thing done with his own unique blend of brains and brawn. As savvy, tough, and principled as Reacher is, his deeper emotions are usually hidden. We see plenty of the pissitivity that’s unleashed when his sense of justice is offended, but he’s a "save 'em and leave 'em" kind of a guy.
Now, in his eleventh novel, Bad Luck and Trouble, Child does more than throw the usual fiendishly clever plot twists and turns at the reader. He throws a few zingers at Reacher, too, and the result is deeply satisfying. As Reacher is confronted by his past, we learn more about this enigmatic man and what makes him tick. And, in typical Reacher fashion, he is as unflinching in his self-examination as he is in facing down an armed bad guy with nothing but his fists and his wits.
The story opens with a bang: what we think might be an air rescue is really a helpless man being pushed out of a helicopter, three thousand feet above the desert. Reacher enters the picture when his former Army colleague, Frances Neagley (yes, Reacher fans, she’s back) summons him with a code only he could figure out. If most of us found an unexpected one thousand and thirty dollars in our bank account, we’d go shopping. Reacher, with his self described "junior-idiot-savant facility with arithmetic," almost immediately realizes that the 1030 is an Army code for "officer urgently needs assistance," figures out that Neagley is the source, and is off to Los Angeles to help his old friend in need.
It seems that someone is murdering the members of their old unit and soon, the remaining members, led by Reacher, are on the hunt. And then things get really interesting.
In many ways, Reacher is stubbornly naïve and just as stubborn about living an unexamined life. He wanders, he kicks ass, and then he wanders some more; but introspection is not part of his repertoire. Here, surrounded by his old friends, Reacher realizes several things. First, that he actually has friends. Second, that he has missed them, and the camaraderie they shared back in the day. And finally, Reacher is forced to consider the idea that maybe, just maybe, the choices he’s made since he left the Army were not the right ones. Could he have chosen to be something other than alone and homeless? Could he have had a fuller life? And now, through the choices he’s made, has he become a failure by society’s standards? And, the most important question: does he care?
Lee Child could easily stick with the tried and true: Reacher meets bad guy, Reacher wallops bad guy, Reacher rides off into the sunset. But every book brings both the comfort of the familiar and the excitement of something entirely new. In Bad Luck and Trouble we get both meticulous procedural and break-neck thriller. We get the Reacher we’ve come to know and admire, but we also get to know him better, and begin to get a glimpse of the core of this thoughtful, surprising, exceptional man.
Here are some numbers for you: 11. 411. 1. Their meaning? This 11th book by Lee Child is 411 terrific pages and I, for one, will be surprised if it doesn’t find its way to the number 1 spot on all the bestseller lists.
Posted by Rae Helmsworth in Book Reviews | Permalink
Comments
Very good review, Rae. Now when I see your posts on Maggie's Lee Childs forum, I will have a better understanding of where you're coming from. I find it facinating to discover who on that forum site are professional authors and reviewers, such as you, David, Yvette, et al. Speaking of discovering, it was amazing to learn that Deanie of that site is only a few miles through the woods from me. She pointed out your picture to me on Lee's photo album.
Take care.
Posted by: Don | Sep 14, 2007 8:46:14 PM
