The Remorseful Day

Without Fail by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, Jack Reacher reads Fyodor Dostoevsky. But, unlike Fyodor, he admits that he doesn’t have the talent for words. So, he expresses his feelings towards the bad guys through the way, in which he has talent i.e. bashing them up. And, thats the reason I like Jack more than Fyodor(not that I have read any of his books), because today a punch, as it seems makes more impact than the pen.

Now, the book. Reacher is in Atlanta with a couple of old blues musician, when his deceased brother’s ex-fiancé comes up to him and asks him to help her with the job of protecting the Vice-President of USA. He agrees, and when Reacher agrees to some job, bodies are bound to fall all around him, and they fell.

I have read only 4 Reacher novels till date and only once I encountered him engaged in an investigation officially, that was in THE ENEMY and it was in this book. Did I like it? No, I didn’t. The maverick Jack Reacher is a far more enjoyable to read, than a “GOVT-EMPLOYED” Reacher. And, moreover, in most Reacher books I have read, the plot involves a conspiracy into which he stumbles, but not his one. Here it was much more of a pseudo-cop whodunit plot, where he is asked and paid for his job. He even wears a suit in this book. Come what may, Reacher wearing a suit is as bad as Tom Cruise as and in Jack Reacher. No I guess the Cruise debacle was worse.

Lee Child is a great action thriller writer but he is not Agatha Christie. He packs punches whenever and wherever needed. But, he doesn’t have the twists needed for a whodunit. What he has is enough for his action novels, but sadly wasn’t enough for this one.

But, guess what his name is Lee Child and he knows how to keep the reader glued to the pages. Fast pace, great action and catchy dialogues, and a good plot, he packs them all. He did it with this book too, and did it in a way which overshadowed the misgivings I had. And as a result I enjoyed reading it. And, I always think highly of writer who entertain, be it Lee or Fyodor.

P.S. Jack Reacher is a man’s man. If not for anything else he will stay at the top of my fictional hero list, just because he loves the Blues. Anyone who loves Blues is the man.


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