By Lee Child
"This is a random universe. Once in a blue moon things turn out right, like right now." There you have it, Jack Reacher's credo, Lee Child's plot, and an outcome we have witnessed time and again.
For a guy whose life and view of the world is "random," it is surprising how much meaning and coherence Jack Reacher finds in it. Lee Child's twenty-fourth installment of Jack Reacher was typical Reacher: Our hero turns left instead of right and finds himself in the middle of a war not his making. We've seen this before. Reacher out-thinks and out-punches his adversaries, he rights the "wrong," distributes his version of justice, beds the girl, makes a few friends, and disappears . . . until next time.
Despite the predictability and the increased violence, I'll probably read #25. I've read them all, why stop now. Besides, Lee Child is a master of the descriptive moment. He can take a tantalizing paragraph or two to capture a split second of the big guy's movement.
Blue Moon had me for the first three-fourths of the book. In fact, it was five-star at that point. It was smart, tight, going places -- and it got there -- but not without Reacher creating more carnage, pouring out more blood, and stepping over more dead bodies than I remember in any other Reacher tale.
Don't read Blue Moon if you are looking for the ultimate solution to societal woes and the brokenness of the human condition, you won't find it. Reacher is simply a cog in the evolutionary morass. But if you are after an exciting story written by one our times premier storytellers, pick up the book. Just read it with a towel in your hand. You will need it to wipe up all the blood.