Sunday, July 31, 2016

Make Me

A Jack Reacher Novel
Lee Child

This is a new release (2015) and Reacher is the itinerant wanderer. He happens by a small grain town with one train stop and is intrigued by a couple of locals who seem to be looking to meet someone. Intrigue is all it takes to get him to stick around for a couple days, expecially when as he sticks around, he is asked to leave. Short answer - "No". One thing leads to another and Reacher's unofficial investigation leads to the discovery of a couple farmers running an illicit video business. A little bit of subtlety, a little bit of brute force, a little bit of patience. Classic Reacher.

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Friday, July 29, 2016

The Enemy

A Jack Reacher Novel
Lee Child

In 1989, an Army general is found dead in a seedy hotel, and Reacher is the MP investigating his death. When the general's briefcase is discovered to be missing, his wife discovered to be dead, and Reacher finds an unnecessary force complaint filed against him, something is up. As the investigation proceeds, there are special forces generals and navy admirals, and politicians all jockeying to protect their budgets and influence in the new post-cold-war world. Reacher (of course) gets to the bottom of things.

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Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Codex

Lev Grossman

Loved The Magician series by Grossman. This was OK. Maybe I was expecting magic. Instead, this is a pretty good mystery. Investment banker Edward is on a two week vacation before his promotion/transfer to London kicks in. He uses the time to get entangled in a wealthy clients search for a ancient text. Turns out, things just get weird. The book is somehow related to a super-realistic computer game he has just began playing. And a stuffy, Columbia grad student, expert in medieval literature becomes his unlikely partner in the search. Moving along at a quick pace to make sure we are never bored, but not enthralling like I want a mystery to be. Maybe if I hadn't been expecting magic...
Wait