2 replies to this topic

[TheREAL008]

Curious about the adaptation of One Shot going into theaters as Jack Reacher I decided to get the first three books in the series. After reading Killing Floor, I've become interested. I'm not sure why Child went from first to third person after his first novel, but so far Die Trying is off to a great start.

If anyone else are reading these novels, are you also getting a slight Charteris feel to the books?

BTW, I don't care if Tom Cruise is playing the starring role, personally I think he'll do good,m but Clive Owen may have been a bit better.

[OmarB]

It's a good series, I think Tom is all wrong. The books have a disposable quality to them though, I've read them all and cannot remember most of them.

[Dustin]

I've read a few but have to say the quality seems to be a bit shaky, probably due to the success and subsequent pressure to produce more. A strong sleeve seem to be villains, but their schemes are often ridiculous and/or pointless. Or so specifically 'American' that I'm not supposed any longer to follow them. Though some seem to have picked up in real life during the last few years.

Reacher himself is basically one big grey stone, his character mostly unburdened by the work of an interior designer. The plots frequently rely on coincidences and Reacher's gift of analytic thought is helped greatly by his creator's knowledge of what's behind it all and what's happening next. The ubermensch-like physique and fighter qualities also come in handy. A Superman comic for people who hate panels and drawings.

And yet, and yet... they have something. They are not supposed to be high literature, they are not in any way intellectual - and I shiver to use that oft-repeated comparison to John D MacDonald's Travis McGee - but they have a certain time-consuming quality, like the stories told at a camp fire. You probably won't feel an urge to revisit them, or remember a lot of detail. But they 'work' within their basic premise and help time in passing you. Some show often enough downright shoddy editing and needless pushing-for-wordcount. But in the ones I've read there was always a story within, and often a good one even.

Edited by Dustin, 14 September 2012 - 07:04 AM.