Comments on: April 2009 Recommended Reading List

By: Chuck Emerson

Chuck Emerson — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:05:05 +0000

I have been to two Lee Child book signings here in Houston. I found him very entertaining. His dry wit is truly British and worth every trip into town. Now for his novels: I find them inconsistent. Not bad, ever, I just get the idea the same person didn’t write them. Kris, I put down The Killing Floor. It dragged and sagged for me. I liked The Persuader well enough. But I absolutely loved One Shot (5-star rating). Child started out in one of the perp’s p.o.v.’s, albeit 3rd person. I also liked The Hard Way, although it was written “differently” than One Shot. I couldn’t get more than a third of the way through Bad Luck & Trouble on audiobook in my car. I found it slower than cold molasses in Idaho. It also was written in a voice so far off, to my thinking, from One Shot, that I found it hard to believe the same man wrote both.
Child had been laid off from his Advertising-type job and claimed in front of the Murder By the Book signing crowd to have written Killing Floor as a shot at making some money, nothing more. He correctly noted that a Major would not be involved in criminal military work the way Reacher reports. Being British, Child was clueless and said so to the MBTB crowd.

Kris, since you are much more astute at these kinds of things, I look forward to you Final Analysis.

Chuck

By: Annie Reed

Annie Reed — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:19:40 +0000

I just finished listening to the audiobook of Bad Luck and Trouble, which was either my third or fourth Lee Child, Jack Reacher audiobook, all read by the same guy. I started reading/listening to Child’s books after I went to his panel on series characters at Thrillerfest a couple of years ago. All the ones I’ve read or listened to have been in third person, and I’ve really enjoyed them. Looks like I need to find The Killing Floor.

By: Kris

Kris — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:13:12 +0000

Honestly, having read the next book now, I think he couldn’t tell the story he wanted to tell with a first-person character. The story would’ve been quite dull from the first person. The remaining books are in third person, btw.

By: Mark Terry

Mark Terry — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:53:52 +0000

I’ve heard that Lee Child made the switch just to keep things fresh then went back to the way he was doing it.

A good example of someone who started out in third then went to first–probably more successfully, I guess–is Randy Wayne White.

By: Twitted by MyBestBuyKindle

Twitted by MyBestBuyKindle — Sun, 31 May 2009 07:00:30 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by MyBestBuyKindle – Real-url.org [...]