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Post by Jesse on Aug 17, 2017 12:32:09 GMT -5
Echo Burningby Lee Child The fifth Jack Reacher novel the author keeps coming up with unique and interesting scenarios for his action hero. Reacher hitchhiking leads to a series of events including multiple murders, spousal abuse, conspiracy and kidnapping. In this story the setting is an oppressive force of nature, Texas during a heat wave. Locals keep mentioning that a storm is coming and the mystery and tension builds up to the climax where Reacher confronts a team of killers during a torrential thunderstorm, one of which has kidnapped his friend's daughter.
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Post by berkley on Aug 18, 2017 22:05:17 GMT -5
I haven't read the Reacher books yet but definitely intend to try them sometime. What do you Reacher fans think are the character's literary or pop culture antecedants? At first, without really thinking about it, I sort of assumed it must be part of the hard-boiled detective tradition but then he doesn't sound much like the Chandler's Marlowe or Hammett's Continental Op, both of who could handle themselves if need be but neither of whom was necessarily "the toughest guy in the room". Besides, he isn't really a detective either, if I understand correctly. Maybe hard-boiled crime in general, then, but I can't think of any specific series or characters, unless possibly action-serials like Remo Williams aka The Destroyer. But that doesn't sound quite right either.
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Aug 19, 2017 6:51:37 GMT -5
I'd describe him as a detective quite easily, hes extremely observant, puts clues together, good at reading people, and good at working through possible scenarios and ramifications. Ive always liked how Child writes through encounters, his description of how Reacher obseves, analyzes, and then formulates strategy, fascinates me.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 19, 2017 11:34:28 GMT -5
Reacher was a military cop who now just travels around bumming basically working small jobs and getting into misadventures. He was also an awarded marksman and he is a very big intimidating guy which is something I don't think comes across in the Tom Cruise version of the character. It is pretty interesting seeing how his analytical mind works and processes situations. I would describe him more as a cliche action hero than a pulp detective though.
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Post by Calamas on Aug 19, 2017 13:04:59 GMT -5
Actually, Reacher is the toughest man in the room (or he is through the first four or five, which is all I’ve read). I think that’s part of the problem his fans had with the casting of Tom Cruise in the movies. No one looks at Cruise and thinks tough. And, though their style of story is in no way similar, I personal think of Reacher in the mode of characters like The Saint (more the classic TV show than the novels). Adventure finds him, he does not go looking for it. In fact, Reacher just wants to be left alone to explore America. But once pulled into something, he will bull his way to the finish and accept no interference.
I find the novels interesting though sometimes bloated. And both Paul and Jesse are right, Reacher very analytical, as is Lee Child. He slows the action down, way down; more than any writer I’ve ever read. He once described in detail the flight of a bullet.
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Post by Jesse on Aug 21, 2017 14:22:54 GMT -5
Started Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 21, 2017 14:39:30 GMT -5
Old Man's War by John Scalzi With my SF reading I've been trying to intersperse older stuff, both re-reads and stuff I missed before, with newer stuff. This is one of those newer books that I'd never read. The only Scalzi I had read previously was Redshirts, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This was Scalzi's first published novel. And it has some rough corners. But it's still a damn fine example of military SF. Scalzi acknowledges his debt to Heinlein in the afterward. And the influence is clearly there. I like the premise. At age 75 Americans can become members of the Colonial Defense Force. For a ten year enlistment you get to be young again...for as long as you survive. The book follows one volunteer John Perry during the first year or so of his enlistment. The book is not without problems. You can argue that the book is xenophobic. You can argue that the protagonist is just too damn good. What you can't argue is this is a really fun read and it clearly signaled the coming of a major player in modern science fiction.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 21, 2017 21:13:19 GMT -5
Actually, Reacher is the toughest man in the room (or he is through the first four or five, which is all I’ve read). I think that’s part of the problem his fans had with the casting of Tom Cruise in the movies. No one looks at Cruise and thinks tough. And, though their style of story is in no way similar, I personal think of Reacher in the mode of characters like The Saint (more the classic TV show than the novels). Adventure finds him, he does not go looking for it. In fact, Reacher just wants to be left alone to explore America. But once pulled into something, he will bull his way to the finish and accept no interference. I find the novels interesting though sometimes bloated. And both Paul and Jesse are right, Reacher very analytical, as is Lee Child. He slows the action down, way down; more than any writer I’ve ever read. He once described in detail the flight of a bullet. I couldn't have said it better! I picture Reacher as the big, dumb looking guy that people assume isn't very smart, then shocks you by piping in to interrupt an argument about Greek Philoposphy. Cruise clearly wanted to play him because he THINKS he's a badass.. but that's not what the books are about at all. He's definitely not a detective... the books I've read (4 or 5... not sure what order) his adventures are either tying up loose ends of his past or things he gets sucked into at random and sticks with to satisfy his personal code of honor. Honestly, he might be most like mid-life Conan the Barbarian in modern times than anything else.
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Post by Jeddak on Aug 21, 2017 21:57:25 GMT -5
The only Scalzi I had read previously was Redshirts, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I really enjoyed Redshirts too, for a while. Then he decided he had to take the plot seriously, and resolve it. That's when the book stopped being so much fun, for me. I also read his most recent, The Collapsing Empire. Interesting setting, okay characters, but very much felt like the first book of a series, knowwhatimean? Lots of setting stuff up, not so much on the payoff. So I like Scalzi, but I wouldn't call him a favorite. I'll probably try more of his work, though.
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Post by Jeddak on Aug 21, 2017 22:01:14 GMT -5
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Post by Jeddak on Aug 21, 2017 22:09:31 GMT -5
I give up.
What I was trying to say was that I've never finished a Reacher book, and maybe thinking of him as a Conan type would help.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2017 17:26:17 GMT -5
Watch Your Back, Mr. Minamoto by Frank Schildiner. The third of Meteor House's chapbooks, this time around was a pastiche of Mr. Moto. It was pretty fun, but flew by at only 24 pages. I hope Schildiner returns to his new character again. It's also a reminder that I need to read the Mr. Moto novels.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 22, 2017 18:45:24 GMT -5
I'm not familiar with the material, but that's a pretty cool cover!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 23, 2017 14:58:57 GMT -5
Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles Vol. II by Edward A. Grainger (David Cranmer). The second collection of short stories starring U.S. Marshall's Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles. Miles was mostly in the background in this one as we get the back-story on Laramie being raised by the Arapaho. Overall this was a slightly stronger group of stories than the first volume. The only real problem I had was a "rifle" that was shooting buckshot. Grainger needs to bone up on his weaponry just a bit. But if you're looking for good contemporary short westerns these are a very good place to start.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 28, 2017 10:48:14 GMT -5
Dead in the West by Joe R. Lansdale Lansdale introduces us to the Reverend Jebediah Mercer in this novella. It's a weird western (Lansdale) that finds a cursed town overrun by zombies. This one is from 1986. So it pre-dates the zombie craze. Lansdale is always at least readable. And this is good, but not great Lansdale. It's nothing special. We get some glimpses of what makes Mercer tick. He's a potentially complex character. But there just isn't quite enough meat on this zombie gnawed bone to make it a must read.
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