• 891 and counting …

    Finished Echo Burning by Lee Child. This is the fifth book in his Jack Reacher series, about an ex-military policeman who roams around the country.

    In this one, Reacher is hitchhiking through Texas when he gets picked up by Carmen Greer. Carmen has a serious problem. Her abusive husband is going to be released from prison on Monday, and she has no money, no way of getting away from him, and a young daughter to protect. Reacher is intrigued enough to want to help and goes back with Carmen to her husband’s ranch. But soon, Carmen’s husband is dead, and it looks like she killed him. There are also three assassins in the mix who get some new orders — kill Reacher no matter what …

    You know, the more of the Reacher series I read, the more the premise reminds me of The A-Team. Reacher goes somewhere, helps someone straighten out the trouble they’re in, and moves on. Just something I’ve noticed.

    Generally, I enjoy the Reacher series, but this book was disappointing. Mainly because not much happens. Seriously, for the first 75 pages or so, Reacher and Carmen are in her Cadillac driving through the Texas countryside as Carmen tells Reacher about her abusive husband. Then, Reacher’s stuck at the ranch for another 50 pages or so. Then, it’s 50 more pages of trying to figure out if Carmen killed her husband or not. There’s not even a really good fight scene until the very end of the book.

    But mainly, the book didn’t work for me because the plot hinged on one giant coincidence in the middle of the story. A lawyer casually mentions an incident about several Mexicans getting murdered/raped/tortured as they tried to cross over into Texas. Reacher takes this one sentence of information and uses it to figure out what’s really going on. I couldn’t help but wonder if the lawyer hadn’t mentioned the incident to Reacher, if he would have been able to figure out everything else. It really seemed like a stretch to me. I would have liked for Reacher to find the info out on his own somehow. That would have made the story work better for me.

    Also, the speed with which Reacher puts everything together bordered on the superhuman and implausible once again.

    I’ll keep reading the Reacher series, because overall, they are really solid thrillers. But this book isn’t one of Child’s best efforts. The coincidence just ruined it for me. I’ve got to give this one a thumbs down.

    Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 13 or so.

  • Look-a-likes …

    2 Comments

    Apropo of nothing, yesterday one of the ladies in my yoga class told me that I look exactly like Dorothea Tanning, an author who wrote a book called Birthday that her book club is reading.

    Um, okay.

    I had never heard of Tanning before, so I googled her. Turns out she’s a pretty cool lady — a painter, writer, and more. I don’t really think that I look like her, though, but it’s a nice compliment. 😎

    I was also told once that I look like a young Maggie Gyllenhaal.

    Um, okay.

    I don’t see that resemblance either. But again, it’s a nice compliment.

    So what I was wondering was this — who do people tell you that you look like (famous or otherwise)? Share in the comments.

  • Summer lovin’ …

    9 Comments

    Now that we’re deep into July, there’s actually some stuff to watch on television again. Yeah!

    I’m loving Project Runway, as always, and eager to see what kind of wacky challenges the designers are faced with. Although Suede, the guy who refers to himself in the third person, is a little over the top and strikes me as a Christian wannabe. Time will tell.

    Then, there’s The Closer. Miss Brenda and company are back putting bad guys behind bars — and trying to resist the lure of all those tempting sweets. :scooby:

    I’m also enjoying Burn Notice, although I’m not quite sure where the writers are going with the whole who-burned-Michael-and-why storyline. I like Michael better when he’s just helping people. But Bruce Campbell is always a hoot.

    I’ve also been watching In Plain Sight, the program about the Witness Protection Program and a female marshall who’s great at her job, but not so good at relationships (yes, another cop who falls into that stereotype). It’s been okay so far, but it hasn’t hooked me like the other programs. And I like the marshall’s partner better than I like her.

    What about you? What are you watching and loving this summer?

  • 890 and counting …

    Finished The Bourne Legacy by Eric Van Lustbader. The original Bourne books were written by Robert Ludlum, who passed away. But Lustbader has written some new Bourne books based on Ludlum’s world/characters (kind of like the non-Ian Fleming James Bond books). I believe Legacy is the first of three Bourne books Lustbader has penned.

    In this one, Jason Bourne (real name David Webb) is working as a linguistics professor at a college when someone takes a shot at him. Bourne goes to see his old friend Alex Conklin for help, only to find Alex dead — and himself framed for Conklin’s murder. From there, Bourne journeys to Paris and Budapest and uncovers a chilling terrorist plot that will remake the world. (Don’t they always?)

    Wheezley saw this at the grocery story and bought it for me, knowing how much I liked the original Bourne books and the movies with Matt Damon. Besides, it’s a spy book. I’ll read just about anything with spies in it. 😎

    But Legacy didn’t work for me as well as Ludlum’s original books did. Mainly, because Marie (Bourne’s wife) isn’t in it. The great thing about Ludlum’s books was the relationship between Bourne and Marie. But in Legacy, Lustbader has Marie go to a safehouse. She doesn’t take part in the action, and she doesn’t get a single word of dialogue. Bourne doesn’t even think about her that much, which was disappointing.

    Also, too much of the action was away from Bourne. I don’t mind reading the villain’s POV sections, but Lustbader had about ten different characters with POV sections. There’s the bad guy, two Chechnyan terrorists, another assassin with a connection to Bourne, a detective, a French detective, and a femme fatale, for starters. I want to read about Bourne, not all these other folks. Also, each one of these characters is an egomaniac who thinks he/she is better, stronger, and smarter than everyone else. That got a little old after a while.

    There are some nice action scenes, but overall, the terrorists’ plot and bad guys were pretty predictable, except for one nice double-cross in the middle of the book.

    So thumbs down on this one, although I’ll probably buy the other Bourne books and read those too at some point.

    Up next: Echo Burning by Lee Child

    Books in my TBR pile: about 13 or so.