Book 16.5 in the Jack Reacher series
I am not a big fan of short stories but from time to time I do make room for them in my library. To come out with filler books a few months before a major release is today’s trend for crime writers, Mr. Child has taken advantage of this and has sent a few our ways as the means to promote his next installment. I inadvertently skipped “The Second Son” book 15.5 and I need to catch up soon before reading any other of Reacher’s adventures.
The events in this story take place in 1986 when Reacher station in Germany as a MP is hustled back to D.C for an undercover mission to identify the officer operating inside the Capital who is leaking sensitive information regarding weapon specifications to enemies unknown.
Being a short story under 100 pages this is a brisk and easy read that gives a snapshot of the early days when Reacher was in his youth and relatively inexperienced. The narrative is in Mr. Child’s usual style, straightforward with no embellishments. There isn’t really a plot to speak of, but again this is a short story which lacked the development needed to provide intense action and the many twists we want in a thriller. These short stories although good will never satisfy the dye- hard fans.
Borrow this book, the library is a good place to do so.
Book 2, in the Jimm Juree Mysteries
If humour is the essence we find here no shortage of it, actually we have plenty to make us laugh, a bit too much for my taste but again this is Colin Cotterill, a prolific and eccentric crime writer and cartoonist who is more than able to produce stories that will certainly throw us off guard, bring a sort of escape, provide an exotic ambiance and strike the right nuance between funny and subtle.
Told in the first person by Jimm the story opens with the discovery of a severed head on the beach where the Thai ex-crime reporter lives and works. Outraged when no one of authority is interested or wants to get involve and with the help of family and friends Jimm springs into action and sets out to track down what circumstances brought the poor fellow on her beach. On the journey this bunch of mishmash wannabes uncovers gruesome tales of piracy, slavery, violence and murder. Once more we have a tale where the amazing and the ridiculous clashes.
The story takes its merry time before getting to the meat of the mystery. Half the book’s dialogues is a play on words and seem funny but there is more to this laugh out loud silliness it does have an underlying seriousness. The plot centers on the situation Myanmar refugees in Thailand find themselves in, where some are kidnapped, forced into slavery aboard fishing ships and in a situation where some will never return to dry land. Although the story may sound rather grim, the hilarious spots make this book a really light read, one to enjoy to a degree
This debut legal thriller is about a young lawyer’s crisis of conscience and is by far more than just courtroom scenes peppered with legalese jargon hard to understand. This book is a fractionized account of some of the grittiest cases Mr. Benigno dealt with during his time practicing as a Legal Aid Attorney in the South Bronx.
In a nutshell:
Told from the main character’s perspective, Nick Mannino, a young legal Aid attorney tells how he is given the opportunity to defend a teacher’s assistant accused of child molestation. Zigzagging is the hunt and apprehension of “Spiderman” a rapist and the excitement begins when Nick pieces together all the parts and a connection is made with other cases. This is only a very broad outline of a complex and believable plot that includes a mob connections and a necessary tad of romance.
I like the depiction of the main player, you can feel Nick’s ethical dilemma when he uncovers several more heinous crimes and is unable to reveal that his client’s is behind them. The author slowly introduces his co-conspirators in a crafty manner developing each one and weaving them into the main story till everything is neatly tied up in the end. We do have audacious twists some are easily guessable while others less but all add excitement to a very captivating story. This is a story that keeps a steady pace throughout and is written in a clear and dynamic narrative.
I zipped through this thriller in no time and enjoyed every single moment I spent with it. Well done.
