Review: Lee Child "Gone Tomorrow" (Jack Reacher #13) ~~ #JackReacher #Review

 



Publisher:  Bantam

ISBN: 978-0345541581

My Rating: 5/5




New York City. Two in the morning. A subway car heading uptown. Jack Reacher, plus five other passengers. Four are okay. The fifth isn’t.
In the next few tense seconds Reacher will make a choice--and trigger an electrifying chain of events in this gritty, gripping masterwork of suspense by #1 New York Times bestseller Lee Child.
Susan Mark was the fifth passenger. She had a lonely heart, an estranged son, and a big secret. Reacher, working with a woman cop and a host of shadowy feds, wants to know just how big a hole Susan Mark was in, how many lives had already been twisted before hers, and what danger is looming around him now.
Because a race has begun through the streets of Manhattan in a maze crowded with violent, skilled soldiers on all sides of a shadow war. Susan Mark’s plain little life was critical to dozens of others in Washington, California, Afghanistan . . . from a former Delta Force operator now running for the U.S. Senate, to a beautiful young woman with a fantastic story to tell–and to a host of others who have just one thing in common: They’re all lying to Reacher. A little. A lot. Or maybe just enough to get him killed.
In a novel that slams through one hairpin surprise after another, Lee Child unleashes a thriller that spans three decades and gnaws at the heart of America . . . and for Jack Reacher, a man who trusts no one and likes it that way, it’s a mystery with only one answer–the kind that comes when you finally get face-to-face and look your worst enemy in the eye.


My thoughts

He's done it again. This was a brilliant story resulting in some sleepless nights because I wasn't able to put the book aside.

Reacher travels in a subway late at night, when he witnesses one of the passengers acting 'suspicious'. Moments later he's involved in a murder and events unfolding that in true Reacher style,  he does not rest until he knows the reasons for her actions.

Brilliant. It's fast paced, it's a thriller / mystery at its best.

Highly recommend this one!

May I Introduce: Maria Elena Alonso-Sierra "The Book of Hours" @MariaElenaWrite #BookofHours #TheCoin

 

The Book of Hours

by Maria Elena Alonso-Sierra

 

 

Book Blurb

For artist Gabriela Martinez, psychopaths do strike twice. In The Coin, two star-crossed lovers were cruelly used by fate—and now, in The Book of Hours, destiny isn’t done.

Back then, Gabriela almost lost her life to a psychopath hoping to claim her artwork, her career, her body, and her love. If not for Richard, the operative sent to protect her, she would have fallen victim to his twisted vision.  The dramatic showdown pushed Gabriela and Richard together, even in the face of countless obstacles.

With someone new threatening Gabriela's life, Richard will risk everything to protect the woman he loves.  But with a new villain on the horizon, bent on possessing Gabriela's latest work no matter what it takes, she is forced to fall back on old friends, including the man who changed her life not so many years ago.

With an even more dramatic threat looming, and far more to lose, if they don't stay one step ahead of the danger, their lives, their love, and their future may very well go up in flames.

 

Author Bio

Maria Elena Alonso-Sierra is a full-time novelist based in North Carolina. With Cuban roots, she has lived in many countries, including France, the setting for her first novel, The Coin. She speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German, and reads Latin, Middle English, and old French. She holds a Masters in English literature, specializing in medieval romances, and is currently an active member of the Carolina Romance Writers. She loves to hear from her readers, and always hopes to open a dialogue with her fans.

 

Buy Links

·         Smashwords (after Feb. 12): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/501819
·         CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/5122396
·         Direct from Author: http://www.MariaElenaWrites.com

 

Review Sites

·         The Book of Hours on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23925272-the-book-of-hours

 

Social Media 

·         Website: www.MariaElenaWrites.com
·         Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MariaElenaAlonsoSierraWrites
·         Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariaelenawrite
·         Blog: http://www.mariaelenawrites.blogspot.com/
·         Amazon Author Central: http://www.amazon.com/Maria-Alonso-Sierra/e/B00IPEXYLK
·         Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7093896.Maria_Elena_Alonso_Sierra
·         Authorgraph: https://www.authorgraph.com/authors/MariaElenaWrite
·         Tsu: http://www.tsu.co/MariaElenaWrites


Excerpt

Gabriela’s body stilled at the soft sound of her name. For a moment, she stood listening, then shook her head like a wet dog shaking off water. You are such a fool, her mind supplied. Disgusted, she stabbed at the cerulean blue on her palette. Her mind had deceived her yet again. She slobbered the paint on the canvas, realized what she had done, and hissed. Since agreeing with Jean-Louis to call Maurice later that evening, she’d been a nervous wreck. Throughout the noon hour, her brain had staged all sorts of encounters with one infuriating, unforgettable man. Like a dutiful stage manager, her mind had supervised every possible scene, every possible emotion under its tutelage. She’d jumped from rage, to indifference, to haughtiness, but longing had finally won, hands down. No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, she could never escape the terrible need she felt for him, a need that went deeper than the instinct to breathe.

The lyrics from the song she’d impulsively put on swirled around her, teased her. The singer, in his soulful tenor voice, sang about the moment of encounter with his beloved, anticipation heating his blood, nerves tingling in expectation of the seduction. His words mimicked her own guilty longings, her desires. Oh, God. How would she ever get through this day? How would she find the courage to do what must be done?

 “Gabriela.”

This time the voice penetrated, took form. It called out to her, familiar and unmistakably real, a living entity that caressed her skin and raised goose bumps on her warm flesh. This was no figment of her imagination, no mistake. She felt him, her nerve endings suddenly electrified, awareness shaking her. Panic sent her heart scurrying. Hope and love made her turn around slowly, ever so slowly.

She blinked, thinking her eyes were deceiving her, but Richard’s tall frame stood static before her, his chestnut hair combed by the soft breeze, his eyes intense, pinning her and caressing her all at once. The embers of irrational hope fanned to life like a conflagration. For an unguarded moment, her eyes reflected her hope, her joy, but especially her hopeless love for him.

Richard watched those powerful emotions play across her face and relief slammed him.  Gotcha.  She’d always had such an expressive, beautiful face.  Now, no matter what she did, but especially said, he would know the truth.  The love was there, and it flared like a beacon.

 

Review: Tana French "The Likeness"

Publisher: Viking Adult
 

ISBN: 9780670018864

My rating: 5/5

Six months after the events of In the Woods, an urgent telephone call beckons detective Cassie Maddox to a grisly crime scene. The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used. Suddenly, Cassie must discover not only who killed this girl, but, more importantly, who she is. A disturbing tale of shifting identities, The Likeness firmly establishes Tana French as an important voice in suspense fiction. (www.goodreads.com)

My thoughts

What a brilliant read. I loved it.

This was my first book by Tana French and although initially I thought it was slow going, it (thankfully!) dawned on me very quickly that this isn't a "fast-food-read" which we get bombarded with from everywhere. It's well and truly over 400 pages, but each page worth the while.

A woman with the name Lexie Madison is found dead - it's the same fake identity Cassie Maddox used in an undercover case years earlier, but not only that, the dead woman looks exactly like Cassie as well.

So Cassie becomes Lexie once again and goes undercover and moves in with Lexie's four friends Daniel, Abby, Justin, and Rafe.

I loved the group, graduate students, who couldn't be any more different from each other, living together in an old house in the country, trying hard to escape the hectic daily life of the big city and the boundaries of society. Even Cassie finds herself getting attached to their life, to a point where her loyalties to her job and the police are tested. But, of course, their perfect life isn't perfect at all and soon cracks appear.

Tana French's writing style is beautiful with details and descriptions near perfect. I felt drawn into the story so much, I felt somewhat lost after I finished the book.

 

Review: Lee Child "Nothing to Lose" (Jack Reacher #12)

Publisher: Bantam Press

ISBN: 9780593057032

My rating: 4/5 

Two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher never turns back. It's not in his nature. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble. So in Lee Child’s electrifying new novel, Reacher—a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose—goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead.

It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope, setting up a base of operations against Despair, where a huge, seething walled-off industrial site does something nobody is supposed to see . . . where a small plane takes off every night and returns seven hours later . . . where a garrison of well-trained and well-armed military cops—the kind of soldiers Reacher once commanded—waits and watches . . . where above all two young men have disappeared and two frightened young women wait and hope for their return.

Joining forces with a beautiful cop who runs Hope with a cool hand, Reacher goes up against Despair—against the deputies who try to break him and the rich man who tries to scare him—and starts to crack open the secrets, starts to expose the terrifying connection to a distant war that’s killing Americans by the thousand.

Now, between a town and the man who owns it, between Reacher and his conscience, something has to give. And Reacher never gives an inch. (leechild.com)


My thoughts

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary defines "page turner" as a book so exciting or gripping that one is compelled to read it very rapidly.

And I did!

I have to admit, though, I didn't quite get the whole story, but I got the gist of it.

The part I liked was that IMHO the raw emotions displayed by Reacher. Although I'm not a big fan of authors bringing in their personal opinion into their stories, Lee Child did really well creating a thought-provoking balance of displaying the cost of war. Reacher seems to have "matured" and although still stubborn in many ways, I like this new development.

Bottom line - it was a page turner!
 

 

Review: Lee Child "The Hard Way" (Reacher #10)

Publisher: Delacorte Press

 

ISBN: 9780385336697

 

My rating: 5/5

 

 

In Lee Child’s astonishing new thriller, ex–military cop Reacher sees more than most people would...and because of that, he’s thrust into an explosive situation that’s about to blow up in his face. For the only way to find the truth—and save two innocent lives—is to do it the way Jack Reacher does it best: the hard way….

Jack Reacher was alone, the way he liked it, soaking up the hot, electric New York City night, watching a man cross the street to a parked Mercedes and drive it away. The car contained one million dollars in ransom money. And Edward Lane, the man who paid it, will pay even more to get his family back. Lane runs a highly illegal soldiers-for-hire operation. He will use any amount of money and any tool to find his beautiful wife and child. And then he’ll turn Jack Reacher loose with a vengeance—because Reacher is the best man hunter in the world.

On the trail of a vicious kidnapper, Reacher is learning the chilling secrets of his employer’s past…and of a horrific drama in the heart of a nasty little war. He’s beginning to realize that Edward Lane is hiding something. Something dirty. Something big. But Reacher also knows this: he’s already in way too deep to stop now. (www.leechild.com)

 

My rating:

 

Only one word comes to mind after just finishing this story: BRILLIANT. It's one of those stories when you come to the end you breathe out a satisfying "wow" and you're tempted to grab the next Reacher novel.

 

Jack Reacher is in New York City minding his own business when he watches a man walk across the street and drive away in a Mercedes. And that's the start of his next crime to solve. A kidnap of a wife and daughter ... or so it seems.

 

This story has so many twists and turns it makes you dizzy. The crime is being solved with cleverness and less brutality. And Reacher is getting a human side - he's making mistakes. 

 

As I said, it's a page turner and I loved it! Fully recommend it.

 

PS - As much as I like Dick Hill as a narrator (he's REALLY good), his near perfect voice/speech of a person with a handicap was over the top. I couldn't understand a word. It was frustrating at times!

 

Lee Child - Die Trying (Reacher #2)

Publisher: Bantam

ISBN  9780515142242

My rating: 3/5


A Chicago street in bright sunshine. Jack Reacher, strolling nowhere, meets an attractive young woman, limping, struggling with her crutches, alone. Naturally he stops to offer her a steadying arm and then they turn together—to face twin handguns held level and motionless and aimed straight at their stomachs.

Chained to the woman, locked in a dark, stifling van racing 2,000 miles across America, Reacher needs to know who he's dealing with. The kidnappers are saying nothing and his companion claims to be Holly Johnson, FBI agent. She's fierce enough and tough enough, but he knows there must be more to her than that. And at their remote, hostile destination, they will need to act as a team and trust each other, pitting raw courage and cunning against insane violence and seemingly hopeless odds, with their own lives and hundreds more at stake. (leechild.com)


My rating

Eerie comes to mind! Yet not as good as the first one. Unfortunately not.

So, there's Jack Reacher, he's at the wrong place, wrong time - kidnapped with the handicapped woman (Holly) he helped carrying dry cleaned clothes. By some militia group as it turns out and they take them to some remote spot in the Montana forests. And then ... it gets complicated and weird and Child lost me.

Still interesting, but I had to put the book aside waaay to often, because it was too detailed ? boring ? complicated ? I don't know. It just didn't grip me like the first book.

The story in itself would have been much better if it had been edited down to a few pages less. Reacher still a kick-ass hero you'd like to have at your side when in trouble or not. (PS - I did like the scene when we find out about his weakness - nice touch indeed!) Holly's character a bit "underdeveloped". I would have liked to have more of her. The whole bunch of FBI agents and other agents way to confusing. The leak / mole obvious half way through the book.

Worth a read - betcha it is. It's a Lee Child book. Haven't read any of his yet? Don't start with this one!

Now, let me go and find Reacher #3 :-)

Lee Child - Killing Floor (Reacher #1)

Publisher: Bantam Books

ISBN: 9780553505405

My rating: 5/5

Welcome to Margrave, Georgia—but don't get too attached to the townsfolk, who are either in on a giant conspiracy, or hurtling toward violent deaths, or both.

There's not much of a welcome for Jack Reacher, a casualty of the Army's peace dividend who's drifted into town idly looking for traces of a long dead black jazzman. Not only do the local cops arrest him for murder, but the chief of police turns eyewitness to place him on the scene, even though Reacher was getting on a bus in Tampa at the time. Two surprises follow: The murdered man wasn't the only victim, and he was Reacher's brother whom he hadn't seen in seven years. So Reacher, who so far hasn't had anything personal against the crooks who set him up for a weekend in the state pen at Warburton, clicks into overdrive.

Banking on the help of the only two people in Margrave he can trust—a Harvard-educated chief of detectives who hasn't been on the job long enough to be on the take, and a smart, scrappy officer who's taken him to her bed— he sets out methodically in his brother's footsteps, trying to figure out why his cellmate in Warburton, a panicky banker whose cell-phone number turned up in Joe's shoe, confessed to a murder he obviously didn't commit; trying to figure out why all the out-of-towners on Joe's list of recent contacts were as dead as he was; and trying to stop the local carnage or at least direct it in more positive ways. Though the testosterone flows as freely as printer's ink, Reacher is an unobtrusively sharp detective in his quieter moments—not that there are many of them to judge by.

Despite the crude, tough-naïf narration, debut novelist Child serves up a big, rangy plot, menace as palpable as a ticking bomb, and enough battered corpses to make an undertaker grin. (leechild.com)

 My thoughts

An "OMG" wouldn't even be near how I like to express what I think of this book. A page turner? Definitely! Gripping? You bet! A must read? OH YES!

So I accidentally stumbled over this book. The cover was .... nahhhh .... the blurb was ..... nahhhh, but I wanted to read something different than the usual romance, a little break so to speak! And boy oh boy did I get a break.

So there's this guy Reacher who one day ends up in this little town called Margrave in Georgia. Out of the blue, really, because his older brother once mentioned that a famous guitarist, Blind Blake, died at that place. But there's a lot more he finds out and gets himself into in quite some trouble.

I honestly loved it. I found myself sneaking into a corner of the house at any given moment just to read another two or even five pages. The characters are interesting and well developed. The story was different to what I had read before (which doesn't mean too much due to my love for romance), but well explained and believable. Jack's great and in his own way very likable from page one onwards.

Verdict: hooked to the Reacher series and want more.

PS - Nice touch with the old lady at the end!

.

James Patterson - Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross #2)

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

ISBN: 978-0446601245

My rating: 4/5


First came the stunning number-one bestseller Along Came a Spider. Now comes the scariest, most unforgettable novel in several years. In Los Angeles, a reporter investigating a series of murders is killed. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a beautiful medical intern suddenly disappears. Washington D.C.'s Alex Cross is back to solve the most baffling and terrifying murder case ever. Two clever pattern killers are collaborating, cooperating, competing—and they are working coast to coast. (www.jamespatterson.com)


My thoughts

Woohoo, what a page turner. Okay, it did take me a few pages to get into the story, but once I was hooked, I was really reading non-stop. I liked this one much better than "Swimsuit", which I had read recently.

It's a story about two serial killers: Casanova and The Gentleman Caller, both terrorising both US coasts at the same time. When Alex Cross' niece is taken as well, he travels south to North Carolina and investigates as well.

IMHO, this was truly well written; the characters well developed, the setting of the scene brilliantly described, though gruesome at times and explicit in details, Patterson has a skill to keep the reader  on the edge of their seat.

And the ending was a nice surprise as well!

Great Read!!

Sandra Brown - Chill Factor

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

ISBN:  978 - 1416593522

My rating: 2/5


In Chill Factor, Lilly Martin is stranded in her mountain cabin with Ben Tierney, a man suspected of being. . .you guessed it.
They're marooned during the worst blizzard of record (here's where the weather became a significant factor), without hope of a timely rescue, totally dependent on each other for their survival.
Tierney is a threat to Lilly on several levels. (I'll let you think about that for a while.) Even if she withstands the storm, even if she escapes Tierney, she may not survive her so-called rescuers. Among them are a tough FBI agent, the high school football coach whose personal life wouldn't hold up under close scrutiny, and Lilly's short-tempered ex-husband who is the local chief of police. All are desperate to reach her and Tierney. But not everyone is desperate to rescue them. (www.sandrabrown.net)


My thoughts

Okay – so I can’t say it was a complete waste of time, but in all fairness and honesty – boy, did that story drag along. The plot is actually quite interesting. Two strangers (well sort of) are stuck in a mountain cabin during a snow blizzard – that’s Lilly Martin and a very sexy Ben Tierney. Would be nice, wouldn’t it, however, Lilly becomes more and more worried, though not a hundred percent convinced that Ben is a killer.

The other characters are Lilly’s ex-husband, Dutch the police officer in town, Dutch’s friend, Wes, and his family, and two FBI agents amongst a few others.

So, yes, not even half way through the book I figured out who’s sleeping with who, as well as who the killer is. AND it wasn’t that I finished and thought “I had a feeling it was ....” nope I honestly knew. So the story dragged on even more to the point that I put the book down more often than actually picking it up to read again.

And there were a few issues I couldn’t understand and that frustrated me. Though more or less reasonably well explained at the end, I would’ve liked a bit of a hint earlier.

All in all .... not really my cup of tea.

James Patterson - Swimsuit

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 9780316018777

My rating: 3/5


The scariest and most satisfying James Patterson novel since Kiss the Girls

THE BEACH...
A breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after she goes missing, Kim McDaniels's parents receive a terrifying phone call. Fearing the worst, they board the first flight to Maui and begin the hunt for their daughter.

...WILL NEVER BE...
Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the L.A. Times, gets the McDaniels assignment. The ineptitude of the local police force defies belief—Ben has to start his own investigation for Kim McDaniels to have a prayer. And for Ben to have the story of his life.

...THE SAME FOR YOU AGAIN.
All the while, the killer sets the stage for his next production. His audience expects the best—and they won't be disappointed. Swimsuit is a heart-pounding story of fear and desire, transporting you to a place where beauty and murder collide and unspeakable horrors are hidden within paradise


My thoughts

Arrrghhhh ...... what kind of ending is this ?????

Okay - if you've got the stomach for it, it's a good read, a great page turner and I would have loved to give it 4/5 if it hadn’t been for the ending. What??  I was looking for missing pages, re-reading what I had read to see whether I misunderstood something, but – nope - it was like time’s up, let’s close the story, no matter what.

It was my first Patterson book and yes, though very violent and in parts gruesome, I liked the fast-paced story line. It was a real struggle sometimes to put the book aside, I just wanted to keep reading.

I will definitely read another Patterson book and I reckon this one is well worth a read.