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Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Book Review: "Night School" by Lee Child

 


Lee Child's series featuring Jack Reacher is one of my favorites. The author creates superb plots that are filled with great characters, plots and intense action sequences. Even great authors are entitled to a clunker...for Lee Child "Night School" is it.

The book opens in 1996. Reacher is a 35 year old army major who just finished a difficult mission. His reward was being assigned to "Night School" for additional training/education. Somewhat predictably this is really a ruse. Reacher is assigned to an inter-agency task force with agents from the F.B.I. and C.I.A. to prevent a catastrophe.

The NSA informs the task force that an Iranian spy working for the CIA has informed them that extremists in Germany are about to make a major purchase from an unknown American. The task force must identify both the major players and what was being sold to them. Was it weapons or intelligence?

All the elements of a great Reacher novel are found in the book. Reacher's talent for analyzing a problem, assigning resources, and ultimately saving the mission are here.  However, I was left wanting more. I felt the plot bogged down and was too choppy. I'm not sure if it was because of the location or if it was too many characters. 

Overall, it was a good read. It just wasn't up to Lee Child's usual standard of excellence. I was as disappointed in "Night School" as I was when Hollywood miscast Tom Cruise as Reacher. I would give it a two stars.


 In the spirit of full disclosure, I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.