I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Blue Moon
by
Lee Child
It is part of the Jack Reacher #24 series and is a thriller in a hardcover edition that was published by Delacorte Press on October 29, 2019 and has 359 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Killing Floor, Die Trying, "Second Son", Tripwire, Running Blind, Echo Burning, Without Fail, Persuader, The Enemy, One Shot, The Hard Way, Bad Luck and Trouble, Nothing to Lose, Gone Tomorrow, 61 Hours, Worth Dying For, The Affair, A Wanted Man, "Deep Down", Never Go Back, "High Heat", Personal, Make Me, "Small Wars", Night School, MatchUp, The Midnight Line, Past Tense, No Middle Name, The Hero, "Cleaning the Gold"
Twenty-fourth in the Jack Reacher thriller series and revolving around a retired MP with a need to avenge the good guys.
Child’s comments about generations will have more meaning if you read his The Hero.
My Take
It’s a bit Keystone Kops, as Dino and Gregory keep thinking the other is one-upping them. Unfortunately, that’s only a small part. It did take me awhile to realize why extra men were being killed…duh…
I gotta say this does not feel like a typical Reacher. Sure he rights wrongs, but he also make a mess of things. Nor do I believe he’s ever been so kill-happy! As for those poor Shevicks!! Jesus. Talk about tension. I don’t remember Reacher putting people in so much danger and not paying any attention to it!
Another terrifying aspect of Blue Moon were those cellphones! Egods. It certainly makes it easier to hunt people down!
While Child uses third person global subjective point-of-view so we experience scenes, thoughts, and emotions of a number of different characters, we don’t hear much from the Shevicks. Probably for the best considering how worried I was for them!
The pace felt slow, primarily because I wasn’t that pulled into the story. Sure there was lots of action — LOTS — that was primarily character-driven — hey, the stereotypical behavior of Mob guys and Reacher makes for plenty of action.
I have to “admire” the mob finding an upside to everything. Disgusting, and I’d like to take an Uzi to them, but still it was quite entrepreneurial.
“Army: Aren’t Really Marines Yet”
“Marine: Muscles are Requested, Intelligence Not Expected”
A couple of derogatory backronyms, lol
My favorite characters in this were Abby, Joe, and Frank, stepping up and trying to help, in spite of Reacher’s careless attitude. Although, I do wonder why, if you can’t fight ’em, why not leave town? Why stay and take this abuse?? And no, I am most definitely NOT condoning the mob’s behavior. I think it’s disgusting. I don’t understand why the mob doesn’t put their brain power to work on legitimate enterprises.
There is a lot of annoying repetition about the guns in Blue Moon. It’s annoying. Although, I did enjoy that last bit of fake news…I know, I know, I’m so bloodthirsty!
Take this away from Blue Moon: always check that your health insurance is in force and don’t say yes to anything until you check that fine print. Or you’ll be screwed…your government is not there to protect you.
The Story
It’s two rival mobs who run the city, although even they are stepping lightly right now on account of the new police commissioner. But when that shady character eyes the old guy’s envelope, well, Reacher can’t let it happen.
And he gets pulled into as nasty a bit of extortion as ever existed.
The Characters
The homeless Jack Reacher roams the United States, released from his military career as an MP…and righting wrongs. An everyman’s superman.
Aaron, a retired machine tool operator, and Maria Shevick are old and completely broke. Margaret “Meg” is their daughter, a PR woman, Senior Vice President for Communications and Local Affairs.
Abigail “Abby” Gibson works as a waitress…one with a grievance. Frank Barton plays guitar, and his lodger, Joe Hogan, a former Marine, plays drums. A former company commander in Armor, Guy Vantresca knows a lot of old Commie languages.
Ukranian Mob
Gregory is the boss. Danilo is Gregory’s chief of staff. Bohdan and Artem are boss and deputy of a prostitution parlor.
Albanian Mob
Dino is the boss. Fisnick collects on loans. Jetmir (his real name is Shkumbin, but it’s too hard for people to pronounce) is Dino’s right-hand man. Gezim Hoxha is a senior man here and a former police detective in Tirana.
The Public Law Project is…
…a pro bono law firm consisting of Julian Harvey Wood from Stanford Law, Gino Vettoretto from Harvard, and Isaac Mehay-Byford from Yale. Sigh…they mean well.
The computer guy is Maxim Trulenko. Barbara Buckley is a reporter with The Washington Post.
The Cover and Title
Looking up and hidden behind the black silhouette of a bare-limbed tree, you can see the blue moon in a silvery gray sky. At the very top is an info blurb in white. The author’s name is huge in a debossed metallic gold. Between his first and last names is the series information in an embossed white with the title at the bottom also in an embossed white.
The title is a rarity, as we’d never think of Jack Reacher failing, but then…every once in a Blue Moon.
