Blue Moon, by Lee Child {Book Review}

Another Friday, taking me closer to the December shut down! Guys, I am barely hanging on at this stage! Just me? One thing I am super excited about in December, besides my son’s 8th birthday, my own birthday and Christmas….is ALL THE READING I am planning to do! I imagine that I’ll be lounging next to the pool, cocktail in one hand…book in the other. Don’t burst my bubble please, because I know it’s more likely: laundry, mop, wash dishes, prepare 79th snack….and more dishes. A gal can dream right? Okay, back to the topic at hand….today’s book review! I’m doing a buddy review today with Lisa from Forts and Fairies. Lisa was actually my inspiration for getting into book blogging, so it’s amazing that over a year later (almost 2??)….here I am buddy reviewing with her! Okay, today’s book is the newest Jack Reacher book, the 24th in the ‘series’, titled: Blue Moon.

What is Blue Moon about?

“This is a random universe,” Reacher says. “Once in a blue moon things turn out just right.”

This isn’t one of those times.

Reacher is on a Greyhound bus, minding his own business, with no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. Then he steps off the bus to help an old man who is obviously just a victim waiting to happen. But you know what they say about good deeds. Now Reacher wants to make it right.

An elderly couple have made a few well-meaning mistakes, and now they owe big money to some very bad people. One brazen move leads to another, and suddenly Reacher finds himself a wanted man in the middle of a brutal turf war between rival Ukrainian and Albanian gangs.

Reacher has to stay one step ahead of the loan sharks, the thugs, and the assassins. He teams up with a fed-up waitress who knows a little more than she’s letting on, and sets out to take down the powerful and make the greedy pay. It’s a long shot. The odds are against him. But Reacher believes in a certain kind of justice . . . the kind that comes along once in a blue moon.

My review

The characters and storyline

This is my first Jack Reacher book, and I wasn’t even aware Tom Cruise has played Jack Reacher in 2 movies! Crazy!

The main characters in this book are Jack, and an elderly couple, The Shevicks. Reacher meets Adam Shevick, while assisting him through a would-be mugging. He is then invested in helping this man and his wife, and the story is basically about him doing everything that he can to assist them. Their issues lie around needing cash for their daughter’s cancer treatment and having borrowed funds from Ukranian (or Albanian) gangsters. Along the way, we meet Abby who becomes Reacher’s unofficial sidekick, as well as some of her friends. Also, there are A LOT of gangsters.

My thoughts

Initially I really enjoyed the writing style and I found Reacher’s short, abrasive dialogue endearing in a way. I thought though, that his character would develop a bit from that abrasive persona, but he didn’t. So it was difficult for me to believe this man, who is so compassionate, can also be so abrupt and aloof. If that makes sense? I need to add though, that is apparently what the character is like, from what I read online. To jump in at the 24th book, I don’t have much basis to talk about character development I guess, because his character was developed long before book number 24. 

Jack Reacher comes across as a killing machine in this book, and that’s basically the whole book in a nutshell. Killing, killing and more killing. Bodies, cellphones, language translation and more bodies. Bodies, because of the killing….in case you missed that part.

If you can suspend reality for a moment and just immerse yourself into this action packed adventure, it may be your cup of tea. Side note: This would make a great action movie! 

My rating

Blue Moon has a Goodreads rating of 4.12 stars! That is a DAMN good rating, and just so indicative of how not all people love/dislike the same books. This was 2.5 stars for me. I think my buddy over at Forts and Fairies will disagree with my rating, and I’m actually excited about that! I hope you’ll head over to her blog to check out her review!

Blue Moon retails for around R290 (currently R225 on Takealot.com) and is available at all leading book retailers.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Penguin Books SA in exchange for a review.