Thriller book reviews

2020-08-23 Re-read this as I remember it as one of my favorites in the series. But how did it hold up this time around? As a thriller I think it’s a superb story, and in that way alone make it one of the best Lee Child books. It starts off with such a simple enough premise that grows into something much bigger as the novel... Continue reading

2020-07-01 A strange and quirky detective novel – Nordic noir set in Australia. At first it’s interesting for the mix of Aboriginal stories and alternative sexuality. However, it soon gets bogged down with chattiness to make up for the lack of character POV. This resulted in the main character, Harry Hole, doing a lot of things without the reader having any idea why, unless Harry... Continue reading

2020-06-16 A decent enough Nordic noir thriller, with the caveat that the lead character was a little difficult to sympathize with. Rating: 3/5 Continue reading

2020-06-01 I approached this book with low expectations, as the leading Amazon review rates it poorly. However, while the format is a little different from previous books, it’s worth noting that Lee Child has often played around with structure, most notable with his shifts between first-person and third-person narration. Without spoiling anything, this book is a masterclass in tension. A lot of chapters are from... Continue reading

2019-03-15 This trilogy that started with a lot of promise, but ended up meandering for too long through a light plot. There was more potential than was realized, and too much time was spent with characters simply traveling to one place and then back again, only to then do the same for somewhere else. The different realms were very undeveloped which undermined the story somewhat.... Continue reading

2019-02-14 Much of the story seemed to be just treading water, sending characters on journeys that had little real purpose, and the book certainly didn’t address some of the big issues raised previously. The first in this series I would have rated 3.5 but give 4 stars to on the grounds that I was interested enough to continue. This book is very much a basic... Continue reading

2019-01-06 For the most part it was interesting, but a couple of times I felt there wasn’t much of a story, just lots of chasing around, and wondered how Hawks would manage to fit in a finale by the end. When it came it depended more on convenience than plotting and was a bit disappointing. However, there were a couple of really good science fiction... Continue reading

2018-08-14 Another excellent Jack Reacher book – one of his better ones – with more emotional engagement than usual, and definitely in a good way. The one small flaw is someone really ought to tell Lee Child to stop using the Magical Healing Penis cliche. 🙂 Rating: 5/5 Continue reading

2018-05-26 The first problem with this book is that we know that Charles de Gaulle was not assassinated in 1963, so that kills any immediate tension. What compounds the issue is that the story is written in an Omniscient voice, which keeps the reader distant from the characters involved. In fact, it’s not until two-thirds of the way into the book that the French police... Continue reading

2018-05-12 Very much in the vein of Lee Child, but not so well-developed. The positives: – fast pacing, which throws you into the story and doesn’t let go– peril and stakes continue to grow, certainly for the first half of the book– some great research, making the investigative side feel very well realized The negatives: – the main character lacks personality and a sense of... Continue reading