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A review by sauvageloup
Past Tense by Lee Child
5.0
this was REALLY GOOD. real review might be 4.5, but i'll round up for once
pros:
- it had *pace*, which is what was lacking in the last Reacher novel I read and which made this one so so good. I stayed up till *checks time* half one in the morning to finish it. there was good tension throughout and a tangible threat and it was great
- the characters Patty and Shorty are great, really rooted for them. flawed enough to be realistic but decent human beings. also mark and the others were hella creepy
- there were a couple bits of humour which took me by surprise which I really liked
- I liked finding out about reacher's past! this one had more dimension to it with Reacher's detective work (the usual storyline) *plus* the Canadians *plus* the emotional background with Reacher's dad. all tied together really well
- also! I really expected that Carter was gonna be one of the hunters! but he wasn't! he was being cute with his new gf! which was totally sweet
- and it was nice to see Reacher being just a tiny bit human, like how he actually struggled a little to win a fight or two, and that his predictions about people (carter) weren't always right. also the fact that he's hopeless with technology (necessary to make the plot work really, tech-savviness would take the fun out of tracking people on foot, so to speak) and that he's bad at driving a car. He's a mary sue, but he's not obnoxious xD
- ALSO the people in this do smart things!! like, Reacher is uncanny as usual (look its fun, not totally believable), but Patty and Shorty are *smart* victims and I loved that! and the villians were decently smart too, which made everything much more interesting :D
cons:
- a couple tiny bits I predicted in advance, ie. that s and p were being GPS tagged and something else I've forgotten, but negligible
- look, the writing isn't anything fancy, but it does the job
- the part of me that likes angst did think that its really unrealistic that Reacher can just kill all these people and then just walk off, no psychological damage. He sleeps like a baby, never panics, never flinches. idk
overall! really enjoyed, and i'll keep the book in case I want a re-read. and i'll keep an eye for the next Reacher book too!
pros:
- it had *pace*, which is what was lacking in the last Reacher novel I read and which made this one so so good. I stayed up till *checks time* half one in the morning to finish it. there was good tension throughout and a tangible threat and it was great
- the characters Patty and Shorty are great, really rooted for them. flawed enough to be realistic but decent human beings. also mark and the others were hella creepy
- there were a couple bits of humour which took me by surprise which I really liked
- I liked finding out about reacher's past! this one had more dimension to it with Reacher's detective work (the usual storyline) *plus* the Canadians *plus* the emotional background with Reacher's dad. all tied together really well
- also! I really expected that Carter was gonna be one of the hunters! but he wasn't! he was being cute with his new gf! which was totally sweet
- and it was nice to see Reacher being just a tiny bit human, like how he actually struggled a little to win a fight or two, and that his predictions about people (carter) weren't always right. also the fact that he's hopeless with technology (necessary to make the plot work really, tech-savviness would take the fun out of tracking people on foot, so to speak) and that he's bad at driving a car. He's a mary sue, but he's not obnoxious xD
- ALSO the people in this do smart things!! like, Reacher is uncanny as usual (look its fun, not totally believable), but Patty and Shorty are *smart* victims and I loved that! and the villians were decently smart too, which made everything much more interesting :D
cons:
- a couple tiny bits I predicted in advance, ie. that s and p were being GPS tagged and something else I've forgotten, but negligible
- look, the writing isn't anything fancy, but it does the job
- the part of me that likes angst did think that its really unrealistic that Reacher can just kill all these people and then just walk off, no psychological damage. He sleeps like a baby, never panics, never flinches. idk
overall! really enjoyed, and i'll keep the book in case I want a re-read. and i'll keep an eye for the next Reacher book too!