Finished Running Blind by Lee Child. This is the fourth book in his popular series about ex-military policeman Jack Reacher. (Can you tell I’m trying to get caught up on this series this summer?)
In this one, Reacher’s having a quiet dinner in New York before driving home — where he’s taken into custody by the FBI. Someone is murdering women in the military who were sexually harrassed — and Reacher knew some of the victims. The FBI basically blackmails Reacher into helping them search for the killer by threatening his girlfriend, Jodie. Reacher’s not happy about it, but he doesn’t have a choice. So he goes along with the FBIÂ and decides to help them find the killer.
I can always count on Child for a good read that’s part mystery, part thriller. Running Blind doesn’t disappoint. This is another quick-paced, tightly plotted read. I wouldn’t have guessed who the killer was at all if I hadn’t peeked at the last chapter. But how Reacher figures it out is still really cool. Instead of using the FBI profile, he relies on himself — and his own common sense.
That being said, the only quibble I have with the book is that perhaps Reacher is too perfect a character. Too strong, too smart, too ingenuis. Nobody lays a finger on him in this one, and he wiggles out from underneath the FBI with little effort. Even James Bond got the crap beat out of him on occasion or was betrayed by someone he thought was a friend. Not Reacher. He never seems to make a mistake. It’s fun to read, but the implausibility of it pulled me out of the story from time to time.
Also, Child makes the FBI out to be a malevolent organization that’s only interested in protecting itself — no matter what. The lengths they go to to control Reacher and try to make him out as the killer at the end are frightening. I hope the bureau doesn’t really operate that way in real life. Shiver.
But overall, thumbs up.
Up next: Ill Wind by Rachel Caine.
Books in my TBR pile: About 13.
