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Past Tense: A Jack Reacher Novel
Unavailable
Past Tense: A Jack Reacher Novel
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Past Tense: A Jack Reacher Novel
Audiobook12 hours

Past Tense: A Jack Reacher Novel

Written by Lee Child

Narrated by Scott Brick

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Family secrets come back to haunt Jack Reacher in this electrifying thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child, "a superb craftsman of suspense" (Entertainment Weekly).

Jack Reacher hits the pavement and sticks out his thumb. He plans to follow the sun on an epic trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn't get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been: the town where his father was born. He thinks, What's one extra day? He takes the detour.

At the same moment, in the same isolated area, a car breaks down. Two young Canadians had been on their way to New York City to sell a treasure. Now they're stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. The owners seem almost too friendly. It's a strange place, but it's all there is.

The next morning, in the city clerk's office, Reacher asks about the old family home. He's told no one named Reacher ever lived in town. He's always known his father left and never returned, but now Reacher wonders, Was he ever there in the first place?

As Reacher explores his father's life, and as the Canadians face lethal dangers, strands of different stories begin to merge. Then Reacher makes a shocking discovery: The present can be tough, but the past can be tense . . . and deadly.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 5, 2018
ISBN9781524774325
Unavailable
Past Tense: A Jack Reacher Novel
Author

Lee Child

Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in New York. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world, and have sold over one hundred million copies. Two blockbusting Jack Reacher movies have been made so far. www.LeeChild.com  

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Reviews for Past Tense

Rating: 3.9182444717728053 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Predictable
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    So Jack Reacher is doing his thing, hitchhiking around, this time heading south for the winter, when he's dropped off in the town his father grew up in. He's a little curious, so he does a little research, which makes him a little more curious. Along the way to satisfying his curiosity, Reacher will play match-maker, learn some things about his father, and interrupt some very bad men, one of whom shares his name. If you've read any of Lee Child's novels, you'll know exactly what you're getting into. In this book everything is exactly where it's supposed to be. I was disappointed to have correctly figured out what the bad guys were up to immediately, but the contents of a mysterious suitcase were a surprise. I don't know whether it's this installment of Reacher's adventures, or me just being very slow to pick up on this, but many of the characters just happened to share Reacher's unique way of talking and of interpreting the world around him. I've never met anyone like that, and here pretty much everyone in the town shared his unusual way of explaining things. Still, it was a highly enjoyable bit of escapist reading.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you've reached Jack Reacher no 23 , you know what to expect. And you get it. I've been a bit disappointed in the more recent Reacher books but I found this one better. Slightly different in following 2 parallel stories which then join together - it's totally illogical of course but that's the nature of the beast.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Past It. Book is way to long and overloaded with completely unnecessary info. Do we really need to be informed that at the top of a page when browsing there are 3 icons 'one red, one orange and one green' etc...Still one star because of Patty Sundstrom finally a heroine who can think and act on her feet.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As summer ended, Jack Reacher began his winter migration from Maine, planning to travel to San Diego via foot and thumb. He got as far as New Hampshire when he saw a sign for Laconia. He had never been there but he had heard about the town from his father who said he had grown up there but left when he was seventeen to join the Marines. He never returned. Reacher decided to stop there to learn some family history.At the same time, Shorty Fleck and Patty Sundstrom, twenty five years olds from New Brunswick, Canada, were heading south to set up a business in Florida. Traveling the back roads in New Hampshire, they expected to get there in a couple days. Their car, an aged and unmaintained Honda Civic, rebelled against continuing. They found a small motel in a secluded forest, and, without any place to get the car restarted or repaired, they decided to spend the night there and deal with the car in the morning. Jack was especially impressed when the owner, Mike Reacher, said he would try to get someone to fix the car while Patty appreciated his courtesy and invitation to dinner. It didn't take very long for both parties to realize the resolution of their plans are much more complicated than they anticipated. There is no record of Jack’s father and grandparents ever living in Laconia and not only is the Honda unable to start, they face multiple problems trying to continue on their trip. One major one is that they seemed destined to be kept in their room at the motel. It kept me trying to figure out why.As in many of the books in the series, there is some graphic, but not gory, action. And Jack fights off the bullies who are intent on getting rid of him. Post Script: The book lists “In Memoriam” to John Reginald Grant, 1924-2016, Norman Steven Shiren, 1925-2017, and Audrey Grant, 1926-2017. The Grants were Lee Child’s parents and Shiren, his father-in-law. What a difficult time to lose all three in a matter of months.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My first Jack Reacher. Very appealing character. Personal search for his father's past and runs smack dab into strange doings of his own making as well as that or a distant relative. Good story, kept me reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is probably one of the best Jack Reacher books in the entire series, even though it's number 23. These books never really get boring, no matter how far you dig into the series, but this one is a step above quite a few other very excellent books in this long-running series, and not a bad book for newbies to begin their Jack Reacher journey as this book is based on Reacher's history, and the history of his family - most particularly his father. In it we get a first hand look into Reacher's incredibly logical mind. couple of lines from Chapter 31 perfectly illustrates Reacher's intelligence and his logistical prowess. - "A yard behond the giant rear tires of the tow truck was a wire, laid side to side across the road. It was fat and rubbery. ...Reacher stepped over the wire and he made sure Burke stepped over it too. He didn't like wires on roads. Nothing good every came of them. Best case, surveillance, worst case, explosions." - Past Tense - Lee Child.The book begins with Reacher on his way to California from Maine in order to escape the cold weather which is quickly approaching. On a New England road when a hitched ride is abruptly ended, he sees a sign to the place where his father was born and lived for a time. The town's name was Ryantown. He decides to take the detour and go and check it out. At the same a young Canadian couple set out from Nova Scotia and are on their way to New York City to sell a treasure, and they take a detour to keep off the main roads. Both detours do not end the way they were planned, and two separate story lines begin at this fork in the road. As usual, trouble finds Reacher when he makes his way to Laconia, and it dogs him throughout. Trouble finds the young Canadian couple because of a car breakdown in the back of beyond in New Hampshire. The book is non-stop action from beginning to end, and through it all we have the laconic, clever, matter-of-fact Jack Reacher leading us on the journey. Making his readers see everything through Reacher's eyes is what Lee Child does so well in his books. That, and the spare prose, the realistic characters and the incomparable Jack Reacher make any journey with Reacher a nail-biter. Love this series, and I particularly love this book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not the best Jack Reacher unless you like to know precisely the power of his blows when hitting a bad guy. The story was weak, some elements of the hunger games. I needed an action story to counter all the brooding feminist novels I have been reading but this was a disappointment.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Former Army MP Jack Reacher hasn’t changed much over the years. He is a loner who travels around the United States with a toothbrush, passport, and (one would assume) an ATM card, since he has to pay for accommodations and food. Reacher often hitchhikes; he is unafraid, since few predators would try to mess with this imposing and muscular behemoth. As Lee Child’s “Past Tense” opens, our hero is eager to get from Maine to San Diego. He unexpectedly gets sidetracked and winds up in Laconia, New Hampshire, which was his dad’s hometown. Jack’s father, Stan, was a Marine who died thirty years earlier, but Reacher is curious to know more about him. He decides to look up old records and enlists the aid of, among others, Elizabeth Castle, a records clerk, and Carter Carrington, an attorney and census enthusiast.

    Meanwhile, in a parallel plot line, two Canadians, twenty-five-year-old Shorty Fleck and Patty Sundstrom, are lugging a heavy suitcase. They hope to cash in on its contents and make a new start in the United States. Shorty, a potato farmer, is strong and good with his hands, but he is no genius. Patty is a former sawmill worker who is intelligent, intuitive, and proactive. Shorty and Patty are exhausted and their Honda Civic is on the verge of collapse, so they decide to stay at a motel while they rest and get their car repaired. In alternating chapters, we follow Reacher as he digs up information about his forbears, and gets into violent altercations with various thugs. Meanwhile, Patty and Shorty begin to suspect that the owner of the motel where they booked a room may be hiding something significant.

    Child’s dialogue is terse and involving. He is a skilled descriptive writer who captures the forbidding nature of remote areas that have no cell service and are, to a large extent, cut off from civilization. As we have come to expect, Reacher uses his extraordinary fighting skills to maximum effect against the one-dimensional baddies he meets. There is plenty of bloodshed (life is cheap in this series), shrewd calculations--especially on the part of the good guys--and an Armageddon-like finale. Although this is a fast-paced and mildly entertaining novel, it is also too formulaic, predictable, and contrived to earn a glowing recommendation. The murky biographical details that Reacher gleans about his dad are hardly worth the mountain of trouble he lands in during his visit to the Granite State.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Tiresome. And ridiculous. And needlessly violent. Child has lost the magic formula in making Jack Reacher interesting.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd give two stars to a thriller by Lee Child--one of the best in the business--but there you go. There are two parallel narratives in the novel, which of course quickly connect. I found one unpleasantly creepy and the other boring. I skipped over entire descriptive paragraphs, a first for a Child book. Reacher's dialogue takes him close to being obnoxious. Actually, he's there. Charm has never been his strong suit, but he's never been obnoxious.I finished the book out of loyalty to a fine writer. Otherwise, I would have quit a third of the way through.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If this had been anyone other Lee Child writing I might not have finished this book. I would probably have quit when I realized that there were two POV and three different stories being woven together. While this is a current style amongst writers, I generally don't like it, as anyone who follows my reviews knows.But finish it I did and it was OK, if not great. We learn more about Reacher's past – his family history this time – and we foil several groups of bad guys, and learn something of the ways of capitalism a while ago.Mr. Child's skills brings this all together smoothly. It's just not the structure of a story that I like best.I received a review copy of "Past Tense" by Lee Child (Random House – Ballantine) through NetGalley.com.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    By this time I think everybody knows what to expect from a Jack Reacher book. He'll walk into a place he doesn't belong. he'll stumble on some folks committing nefarious deeds, he'll physically punish them, and then move on like a modern-day Shane. Past Tense doesn't veer too far from the formula and as a whole is a pretty good read. This time Reacher is in his father's hometown and he discovers some secrets about his past. It's all very interesting though at times the writing gets too clever and veers into too much minutiae. One serious drawback is a sub-plot that is left unresolved despite its major role in advancing the story. That's a little odd because Child is usually too good a writer for that kind of mistake. All in all, this one will stand alongside the rest of the cannon since the first three books, better than most but not up to the level of the first three books in the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was about the 10th Reacher book that I’ve read, so I certainly know what to expect from him. The books are quite formulaic and you either buy into the formula or you don’t. He’s the loner who arrives at a new town and happens upon some trouble, resulting in his brutally beating a few people and crushing some bones. There was a pretty high body count in this book, which alternated between the Reacher story, as he researched his father’s background, and a second story about Shorty and Patty, a young Canadian couple who become trapped in a creepy motel. I found it slightly off putting that Patty’s internal voice and the manner in which she analyzed situations sounded exactly like Reacher’s, but no one reads these books for the great character development. The two storylines don’t come together until the end of the book. The motel plot was definitely more suspenseful and interesting. The book entertained me and I’ll continue to read the series selectively. There is absolutely no reason to read all of the books or to read them in order. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another success!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the latest installment we find Jack Reacher about to walk across the country. He is in a small coastal town in Maine deciding on his route to California. Thumb out he scores a ride to Boston but as in all things Man makes plans and God laughs. HIs ride has to turn around and Reacher is left to play another of life’s games - which fork in the road to take. He has history down one path and it is an obvious choice - Laconia, New Hampshire. Reacher is a precise guy who mentally measures his arm reach, the angle and trajectory of a punch. A former Army MP he has difficulty walking away from trouble especially when it isn’t his trouble. Needless to say that trouble shadows him around many corners.At the same point in time Patricia Marie Sundstrom, a twenty-five year old Canadian sawmill worker and her boyfriend Shorty Fleck, a potato farmer are trying to get to New York City to sell something. The car is overheating, they are hungry and thirsty and need a bathroom. The best chance of finding what they need is up ahead in Laconia, New Hampshire. Shorty is the kind of guy who puts things off and doesn’t delve too deep below the surface. Patty has the mental acuity to analyze a situation that is too bizarre to contemplate.Told as parallel stories Reacher is trying to find out about his father and the paternal part of the family while Patty and Shorty are just trying to get their car fixed and get to NYC to sell whatever is in their suitcase. Is that something illicit? Read on - it is the only way you are going to find out.Both parts of the book held my attention but when the storyline went perpendicular and crossed everything gets crazy and hold your breath and OMG. There are well fleshed out ancillary characters and irreverent humor in the dialog. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing House - Ballantine for a copy
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In the typical Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child, Reacher typically comes into contact with the villain or becomes aware of the work of the villain rather early. This book breaks that mold and suffers somewhat as a consequence. The plot consists of two stories that take place some thirty miles apart. Reacher is unaware of the events occurring thirty moles north of Laconia, NH, where he is searching for information about the place where his father grew up. The primary characters in the second story are largely unaware of Reacher, although they did receive a phone call telling them that a guy named Reacher was in Laconia “checking out his family history.” The two story arcs merge only at the climax, and then only because Reacher is searching for a motel where he can spend the night.The story focusing on Patty, Shorty, and their apparent imprisonment in a motel is rather uninteresting and takes far too long to develop. It turns out to be essential only at the end when Reacher arrives on the scene. Readers are not told why the couple has been imprisoned, apparently in an attempt to create a sense of mystery. Unfortunately, the reason is pretty easy to guess. My guess is that they had been selected to be human prey for sociopathic hunters looking for a thrill, a story already told in the movie 1993 Hard Target. The other alternative, although one that seemed less likely to me, was that they would be sold as slaves.A standard scene in every Reacher novel is the fight between Reacher and a gang typically consisting of five men. The story line is so thin in “Past Tense” that Child engaged Reacher in five fights in the first half of the book. Then the final climax involves ten villains, although in fairness Patty and Shorty provide a lot of help.Child describes the movements of Reacher, Patty, Shorty, and one of the villains in step by step detail during the climactic fight. The result creates a slight sense of tension but also makes what should be a thrilling climax feel somewhat padded or drawn out. Readers typically have to wait a full year for another Reacher novel. Faithful readers of this series are likely to be disappointed, as it is below par.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I have said elsewhere that crime fiction seems to flourish in times of stress, such as our era now. I fully expect more great detective fiction in the near future as it is one of the few genres that can show society from top to bottom: the detective, investigator or whatever, in many of the best novels, talks to both the monied and the moneyless at the same time against a puzzling foreground as broad and as complex as the society, or the human beings, that carry out and solve seemingly deeply baffling crimes at the outset of any great novel.I would say Agatha Christie wrote cosy crime novels. The culprits in her novels are usually quite posh, have very reasonable motives, are no more unpleasant than anyone else, act out fiendishly clever plots, and are expert enough actors to throw all but the most intelligent detectives off the scent. She wrote puzzles that weren't worth working out imho. Sorry to be harsh, but tastes differ. Speaking tastes, the first Lee Child book I read was good. But any others I read by him were more or less the same story repeated. Weird that he gets away with it. Er...Reacher righting wrongs? It’s a genre; of course, the story archs will be similar. If Lee Child has fooled you twice it’s YOUR fault. I finally gave up on Lee Child's Reacher series four chapters into "The Midnight Line" which was, in a word, atrocious. The background to the novel was appallingly researched and I found myself getting increasingly annoyed as I couldn't quite believe this was the same author that had produced pretty much up till then ridiculously unputdownable thrillers. “The Killing Floor” had the most ingenious plot, but the other two had different but clever plots. Raymond Chandler's plots had a lot of similarities: femme fatale, a sweetheart, a massively built henchman, a criminal overlord, several beatings up, coshings or Micky Finns, a confusing plot but the femme fatale's at the bottom of it. It doesn't matter, when you sign up for a detective series, you anticipate a certain amount of repetition in style. What I don't want to read about is another serial killer, who can break into any building and not leave any clues. Having said that, life is stranger than fiction if you read the book about Gianni Versace's murder. That the murderer got away with all his previous ones for so long, makes you wonder (police ineptitude mostly). And then I found myself reading the latest Lee child "Past tense"...WHAT is literature? FUCKED if I know (*Keep moving fellow readers of this review; don't make eye contact with the writer of this review...*)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another goody
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Reacher is moving from cold Maine, possibly to San Diego despite its numerous navy types. At fork in the road he turns toward toward NH where his father was raised. His inquiries cause him to bump into the local riffraff that are dispatched with violent forethought. Meanwhile, a young Canadian couple is being held at a remote hotel for some strange activity. Their gutsy behavior and Reacher's timely appearance thwart the villains and they and Reacher continue their trek to warmer places. A good story and excellent even the bad guy, characterization keep this series on my "must read" list.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Jack Reacher plans to hitchhike from Maine to San Diego, but he gets no further than New Hampshire before he decides to take a detour. His father, a career Marine, told stories about growing up in Laconia, though he never took his wife and kids there to visit. Jack's initial attempts to track down his dad's childhood home and information about his grandparents is stymied, but eventually he gets an address located in an uninhabited area outside of town. While Reacher's quest is ongoing, the reader is also spending time with Patty and Shorty, a young Canadian couple who were on their way to Florida with a suitcase full of something mysteriously valuable until their car breaks down outside a creepy rural motel. The two plotlines develop independently until quite late in the book, but when they do come together, they come together with a bang, as Reacher books are prone to do. I was surprised to find both plots equally compelling and the anticipation of how they would meet up kept me turning pages at a good clip. All in all, this is one of the better entries lately in this series, with a fresher premise and less reliance on some of the clichés (hands as big as dinner plates, etc). A fun read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Despite slow pacing, this was an excellent story about Reacher's ancestry, and the fate of 2 young Canadians trying to get to Florida to start a new life. Of course their paths cross in the most unusual way.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Those of us that loved the first twelve or so Reacher books will be happy to see that Lee Child has returned our hero to his original personality and flair. There are two plot lines in this story that are beautifully brought together in the end in an unexpected explosive conclusion. Plenty of Reacher action and justice to satisfy every fan of this series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of my guilty pleasures: the ex-MP Jack Reacher suspense series. Here Jack stops off in Laconia, NH, to take a look at the house his father lived in as a young man. Needless to say, there are bad people about that he has to take in hand. Once again much is made of his appearance - very tall, very wide, very scary, and with an attitude to match. Sorry, Tom Cruise, but that ain't you!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I must make an admission. I have been reading for 50 years and have never read a Lee Child book. Yes, I have seen a few Jack Reacher movies. I can tell you this....the books are better than the movies. I say this because this book is so well-written and so nuanced that it has created a problem for me. I now have 22 previous Jack Reacher books to catch up on!I couldn't put this book down. If the content weren't enough to keep me reading long after I should have stopped, the writing would be. Jack finds quite an adventure and quite a few unsavory people on his walk. He also finds some nice people, some of them hidden in plain sight. I enjoyed the writing style as well as the situations Jack found himself in. I really don't want to get into particulars, because I want you to experience the book in the way I did....with no expectations. I am giving you one....you will enjoy it!So grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Reacher digs into his family history, encounters low-level mobsters, and stumbles across a modern twist on The Most Dangerous Game.

    I enjoy the Reacher novels, but I'm starting to wonder if it's time to let the man walk off into the sunset. Not that there's been any drop in quality, but there just don't seem to be much else that the character can be put through without consequences catching up. I'm having to work harder with each book to suspend my disbelief, but maybe it's just me. Maybe it's time for me to take a break from the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Always happy when the latest Jack Reacher novel comes out. Travelling across country from Maine to San Diego, this time Jack gets as far as Laconia, NH where his father was originally from. But of course, all is not as it seems. As Jack investigates Stan Reacher's life, Shorty Fleck and Patty Sundstrom end up at an off the beaten path motel 20 miles from Laconia where their car breaks down. Things at the motel are also not what they seem to be because each time Shorty and Patty try to leave, something or someone else seems to be keeping them there - the owner of the motel - one Mark Reacher.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Past Tense, Lee Child, author; Scott Brick, narratorAlthough the book pushes credulity most of the time, the author creates tension and captures the reader’s interest from the beginning. The narrator is one of the best. He uses just the right amount of expression and tone to keep the reader coming back. He never interferes with the narrative, but rather enhances it with his interpretation.The mystery begins with two characters that seem like country bumpkins. Patty Sundstrom and Shorty Fleck are a young couple. They left their home in Canada to travel to a new life. They have a battered suitcase packed with stuff to sell, once they get to New York. They need a nest egg to start a new business in Florida which is where they intend to settle. Shorty was a potato farmer and Patty had worked in a sawmill. Now they have a dream to live by the beach. When their old junker of a car began to falter, they were forced to stop, but they had no idea where they were except that they were near Laconia, New Hampshire. When Patty saw a motel sign on a country road, they decided to pull in. They stopped just short of the motel office as the car gave up the ghost. They were short on cash but they had no choice but to stay there. The motel manager seemed very kind, and he offered to have someone try to fix their car. Unfortunately, when morning came, their car would no longer even start. Shorty was angry and blamed the motel owner, but Patty was more forgiving. After all, he had tried to help them, and now he even offered to get them a tow truck, once their phone service came back on line. There was no cell service and the landline was down. As anything that could go wrong seemed to keep going wrong, they realized that they had to stay another night. When Patty discovered that the door stuck when she tried to get out of their room, she grew a little concerned, but it opened for Shorty so she dismissed her slight fear. When the situation began to feel a little more threatening, because they were unable to leave, they kept making excuses to each other for the reason they were forced to remain at the motel. Still, they soon began to wonder if they were, somehow, purposely being delayed, but they couldn’t figure out a plausible reason for why that would be the case. They decided to remain patient and hope that help in the form of a tow truck would arrive soon.Meanwhile, Jack Reacher was on the road, too. Coincidentally, he passed a sign in New Hampshire that pointed to Laconia, as well. He remembered that his dad had always said he grew up there, so he decided to check it out to see where his family had once lived. Because Reacher had been in the service, and so had his dad, they were not close. He had left home as a very young man and did not return until his father’s funeral. His investigation into his background, and the area, turned out to be more than he expected. He discovered a great many surprises. Also, he somehow became involved in saving someone from a sexual assault, and that brave act opened up a hornet’s nest. Before long, he thought someone was looking for him, out for revenge because of the beating he gave the attacker. Soon after, more trouble came his way. He trespassed onto an apple orchard and enraged someone else who wanted to punish him for his belligerent behavior. However, Reacher does not back down from any threat from anyone. Soon, law enforcement wanted him to leave town because he was causing too much trouble. They absolutely did not want trouble. There were some people in town who had great influence and power and could cause big problems for them. However, Reacher did not really want to leave town. He was unafraid of any danger facing him, and he really wanted to finish up what he came to do before he left and went on his way again. While all this was happening to Reacher, Shorty and Patty discovered that they were in greater and greater danger. Their very survival might soon be at stake. There are side themes of romance and heritage in the story, but to reveal more would give it all away. It is a really entertaining and exciting read with the action building slowly to a crescendo in the finale. It is a great read for a vacation, a plane ride or a car ride because even though the story is quite often predictable, it leads up to a tense standoff until all unresolved issues are knitted tightly together.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Like many good thrillers, this one starts off very slow but builds speed as it goes along. The dual plot lines were interesting but the focus seemed to be on the action and drama related to bow hunting. Reacher was his normal decisive and violent self - no hesitation, no remorse, no regrets - see bad guy, kill bad guy. As most are, this version was a fast read - not too deep - not too subtle.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Jack Reacher novel number twenty-three...It's hard to believe I have been reading Child's stories since The Killing Floor. That was way back in 1997. Any devoted reader of the series knows a few things before opening the book. Jack's living a nomadic life, can be spotted in old-timey diners, loves his coffee, is gonna find trouble, and will somehow become the reluctant hero. Oh, and since Hollywood put it on the big screen, you can't help but think of Tom Cruise when you hear the name Jack Reacher.Okay. That's what we know. Here is what you need to know about Past Tense. Child switches gears and slows this one down. Almost too much. Readers may find it difficult to stay invested and interested. There are two plot lines being told parallel to each other. Reacher is still enjoying his nomadic lifestyle and as always he is flying by the seat-of-his-pants headlong into trouble. At a Y in the road, Reacher recognizes his Dad's New Hampshire hometown of Laconia. Once he starts asking questions the locals roll up the welcome mat. They want him gone and he wants to know why. Researching one's family is not a high-octane, shoot'em up bang-bang adventure. It's slower, psychologically methodical. (But don't despair, this is a Jack Reacher story.)While Reacher is focused on the past, in the present a young couple making their way to dreamy riches from the sale of their comics has run into trouble. They find their way to a motel Anthony Perkins himself would run away from. But they stay. They realize, albeit too late, they are being held, prisoner. Why? The weird folks at the motel have plans for this couple. Big plans.It seemed to take too long for the two stories to come together. When they do - bing, bang, boom - the bad guys are revealed, Reacher solves the mystery and saves the day. Yes, there's action. It's fast, furious, and fun. Then you're done. The shift in pace may cause some to skip, flip, or simply call it quits. Don't! This is a good story. It moves the saga forward into number twenty-four. So you wouldn't want to miss it.While you can read and enjoy this book as a stand-alone, it's definitely more fun if you read them all.Happy Reading,RJ