Past Tense isn't one of my favorites. We find Jack taking a detour from his travels from Maine to SanDiego via New Hampshire to find his father's hometown of Laconia. As always he can find trouble anywhere he goes. There is also a second story of a young couple and their vehicle breaking down. They wind up with one of Jack's distant perhaps relatives. The two stories come together at the end, but wthout any real resolution. Why not I ask? Who is Mark Reacher, why did he show up? Pass on this one.

Fans of the Jack Reacher series won’t be disappointed with Lee Child’s latest thriller. Jack has decided to slow down a bit and take a cross-country trip from Maine to California and just follow the sun. Almost immediately he spots a sign for the town where his father was born and decides to visit to gather more information about the man. This leads Jack to a startling revelation about his father and his life in this town. In the second thread of the story two young Canadians are traveling to New York City hoping to sell their collection of comic books for big money. Their car breaks down in the very same town and they head to a motel to seek help for the vehicle and a place to stay until it is fixed. The motel they chose is bizarre enough for even Norman Bates who would have turned and ran. But the threads of this tale lead both Jack and the couple to its doors with disastrous consequences. The story explodes into a fiery, molten heap as Jack and the couple tries to escape a deadly catastrophe ; but it spins out of control putting Jack and the couple into harm’s way. It’s a slow build with lots of Jack action along the way and a crashing finale that all Reacher devotees will love.

Past Tense it's the one I've been waiting for for a long time! I've always wanted to know more about Reacher 's past and this story helps answer some of the questions. If you don't know Reacher this is a great place to start.

I was fortunate enough to snag an advance copy eBook through NetGalley. The book will be released on November 5th.

This book opens of course with Reacher on his travels across the country with his toothbrush in his pocket and a minimal plan, just a destination. Chance leads him to a small New England town where his father was raised in a random quest to stop by the family homestead. In true Jack Reacher fashion he soon involves himself in the affairs of the town and serves as an avenging force to help right both current and past wrongs. Reacher learns truths about his family that are very startling. The side plot involving an isolated motel reads like a slowly unrolling horror movie and is very chilling.

By the time you reach the 23rd book in a series, you pretty much know the formula and aren't there if you aren't on board for it. This book held my attention more than the past few entries in the series. I found the action more in the realm of possibility than the others. Child is falling into the habit of placing Reacher in locations and situations without cell service and in this book it is more organic to the plot than it has been so I wasn't thrown out of the story.

There is a certain formula that Lee Child uses to write Jack Reacher novels. Despite it being evident, fans never tire of these character-driven books. The main character, a big, tall, long-armed, bruise knuckled, former Army MP commander, is driven by a need to right the wrongs inflicted on the defenseless victims he comes across during his hitchhiking travels.

In “Past Tense”, Reacher takes on local Laconia, New Hampshire bullies and a bazaar group of out-of-town, man-hunting, dark web killers. All are dispatched with uncommon ease due to Reacher’s calculated and well-honed fighting skills.

Lee Child has found a gold mine with the Jack Reacher character, a mine that he continues to excavate. And thank the heavens for that. My wife and I love this character and look forward to every new rumored addition to the series. They are all 5-star books in our assessment.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me this ARC in return for an honest review. I’ve read many Jack Reacher books and this is one of the best. Two separate stories continue through the book and only converge near the end. Patty and Shorty, two twenty-something Canadians, happen upon an isolated motel while experiencing car trouble on their way through New Hampshire to New York City. Jack Reacher arrives in the area on a whim to try to research his late father. Both stories portend SOMETHING happening, but the reader doesn’t know what and the anticipation builds until all is finally revealed. It’s not an easy book to put down, even for eating and sleeping. Well done, Lee Child!

I’ve yet to read each and every single Jack Reacher but I’m working my way down the list. When you are able to find a character you are comfortable with and an author who can take that character down different paths it’s a joy to read those books. With the latest release from Lee Child, PAST TENSE, we are offered the 23rd adventure of his character Jack Reacher. While reading the book another event made me rethink the character.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) was hosting a night of Gary Cooper movies. While watching and listening to hosts discussing the man and his career I realized something. Reacher is in many ways Gary Cooper. Not quite heroically handsome, always steadfast in his beliefs and a sort of everyman placed into situations he doesn’t incite but handles one there. These were the characteristics of Cooper in his films and of the character of Reacher in the books.

Jack Reacher always seems to end up in the wrong place at the right time. He never seeks out trouble but it seems to have a way of finding him. Such is the case once more in this book. On his way from New England to California Reacher stops in a small town along the way where his father was born and raised. Not the oversentimental type it’s more of a minor quest just to learn more about his father.

Alongside Reacher’s story is that of a motel near the town he visits and two guests who show there. A couple coming from Canada and heading south to warmer climates in an attempt to reboot their lives together has their car break down and are forced to spend the night in a motel. They seem to be the only guests staying there and the owner tells them they’ve just remodeled the room he’s giving them. But strange things begin to happen including their car not working the following day. While it doesn’t affect the story I could see where this was going immediately. SMALL SPOILER ALERT: Yes this couple is soon to be hunted like random animals with people paying a high price to do so.

In the meantime Reacher makes friends with the local police but then runs into the town bully as he makes a move on a woman rebuffing his advances. After he makes the mistake of trying to take Reacher out by surprise he finds himself more damaged than he expected. It’s only after this that Reacher discovers that the young man has a highly influential father with connections to criminals in nearby Boston. The next thing you know muscle is brought in to take out Reacher.

There is little doubt in the mind of the reader that these stories will eventually intersect which of course they do. The journey here to that point is slower than some of the past Reacher books but still as entertaining as the others have been. The end result is another great book in the series and an ending that leaves you wanting more.

This one will bring great satisfaction to fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Jack has always been sort of secretive. Nobody knows much about him. Now it seems he may not know much about himself. Jack is on his way to warmer climates when he almost randomly sees a road sign to Laconia, the place he was told his father grew up. On a whim, he decides to go there. He can find no trace of Reachers, but of course, it doesn’t take him long to find a situation. Can’t give away too much, but this is travel extraordinaire. Fans will be drawn in immediately!

Jack Reacher is doing a little research into his family history. The journey takes him to Laconia, New Hampshire, the town where his Marine father grew up.

At the same time, Patty Sundstrom and her not very bright boyfriend Shorty Fleck escape their boring lives in Canada in a worn-out Honda Civic heading for New York City with nothing more than a plan and a big heavy suitcase. When the car overheats in New Hampshire, they see a make-shift sign for a motel and follow the road through a tunnel, then into gloomy woods, and eventually pull up to a fixed-up old roadside motel which is unoccupied but for the owners. The next morning, their car mysteriously will not start.

In Laconia, Reacher finds trouble as Reacher tends to do. He interrupts an assault and puts the bully in a hospital. Unfortunately, the bully is connected with Boston mobsters so the local police try their best to shoo Reacher out of town before retribution rains down. Jack, always just a guy trying to get along, promises to leave. Several times.

Meanwhile back at the motel, the innkeepers are becoming creepier and creepier. Patty and Shorty attempt various plots to escape, but they are thwarted at every juncture. And then, the other guests start showing up.

The two stories intersect in a glorious and elegant battle between good and evil.

For me, Patty and Shorty’s story was uncomfortably reminiscent of the Bates motel and I found myself wanting to reach through the pages and shake some sense into the characters shouting: “Have you never seen a Hitchcock movie?” The release of tension was welcomed when we return to Reacher’s journey into his father’s past. It almost feels cozy to follow the footsteps of the giant with a hair-trigger temper. In the end, I enjoyed the book very much.

This is the first time l have read a Jack Reacher novel and it becomes readily apparent as to why he is widely followed by so many readers. It is an action adventure with the emphasis on action. Starting out on a cross country trip, from New England to southern California, he finds himself in his deceased father's birth town of record and decides to look up his ancestral roots. Meanwhile, an unknown cousin and business partners, begin a muderous adventure with a Canadian couple as the potential victims. As with all good action adventures the two eventually run together and it is up to our hero to satisfactorily resolve this matter.

I very much enjoyed the book and have rated it 4.5 stars. I recommend it to anyone else who likes an action adventure with a solid, plain speaking, hero. I did not rate it five stars because I was left with a minimum of 9 bodies that were not accounted for to the local police departments. Small thing but still left me wondering how they were accounted for.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

A great read, another well done Jack Reacher story. His tale never gets old. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2529189583

My thanks to Random House/Ballantine and Netgalley for letting me read this arc for my honest opinion.
It's actually been a few years since I've read Jack Reacher. I'll confess that when I heard that Tom Cruise was playing Reacher in a movie it kind of ruined the image. Of course, I first had to spit the vomit out of my mouth, and spend a few minutes cussing. It's not that I dislike Cruise, its just that I think he's human garbage. Oh, dear me! Well, look at my little rant. How embarrassing. Not enough to delete it....Anyways, thankfully enough time has passed, and Reacher is again a very big man. Cruise's 3 foot 8 inches...oh, damn. Look at me go! O.K., Seriously, I really enjoyed this book. I liked the story, and I actually enjoyed the main characters, and was kind of anxious for them. Reacher doesn't always save all the good guys. Maybe its because its been awhile, but Jack seemed a wee bit cold blooded than before. I did leave this book wondering about the aftermath. Still, once again I'm engaged with Jack Reacher. I really did enjoy this story. It made me tense. When my muscles say "let loose woman," then I know a book has gotten to me!

I love Jack Reacher. To be honest I'd kind of like to be Jack. His nomad lifestyle appeals to me and with some bonus vigilante action I'm pretty smitten.

I hadn't read a Jack Reacher book in awhile. Not because I've stopped enjoying them, but you know, too many books, not enough time. I was super excited when i got this advanced copy and was back in the middle of an adventure.

Jack is in the Boston area and decides he's going to take a vacation and head to San Diego for the winter. Of course he doesn't get far before he runs into trouble. There are two plotlines in this book. One involves Jack's father and some shady things going on in the town he was from. There is an additional plot of some creepy guys who have set up a fake motel to entice people into stopping at. They have a very bad reason for doing so.

The typical Reacher formula takes place. Jack finds out about the bad things and of course he's not having it. He meets some interesting people along the way, beats more than one of them up and shuts down all the bad guy's plans. Despite all of the books having the same general formula I still really enjoy them. I like knowing what to expect from a book sometimes and I can always count on Jack to me laugh at some point. My favorite scene in this book is Jack teaching a guy the meaning of consent. It was a classic Reacher lesson.

If you're a fan I think you will enjoy this. If you've never read a book in this series you can read most of these out of order. It would probably be best to read book one first so you understand who Jack is and why he does what he does.

I've been a fan of Lee Child's writing since way back in the mid '90s when I read [book:Killing Floor|78129], the first book in the Jack Reacher Series. Being a longtime fan, I had high expectation for this latest addition. Unfortunately, it didn't wow me. In fact, if I hadn't come into this one already a hardcore fan, I'd have probably stopped reading before the halfway point. I'll take a little time explaining why, because I do still love Jack Reacher.

To begin with, the writing itself isn't up to Child's usual standards. While I normally enjoy his style, with short chapters and a lot of short sentences to give the story quick movement, this one goes overboard and reads like a first draft. We have way too many short sentence fragments in a row. The resulting narration lacks rhythm. Rather than pulling us in with a building of suspense, the repetition is dull and irritating.

The characters are far more stereotypical than I'm used to with Child's books. Also, we have some improbably odd behavior and conversations between them.

That brings us to the dialogue, which suffers from the same repetition of short sentences found in the narration. Everyone speaks the same way, in this staccato-like flow of bullet-point fragments. Consequently, the dialogue doesn't feel unique to the characters, which makes the characters less believable.

On to the plot: We have two different storylines that converge at about the 3/4 mark. One involves Jack Reacher and his quest to find out about his father's roots. The other involves a young couple who wind up in a motel in the middle of nowhere. Despite a lot going on, the story doesn't really go anywhere and, I hate to say, bored me for the most part. I enjoyed Reacher's journey as he unraveled his family history, though it did move slowly. As for the couple and the motel, I figured out exactly where that was going right at the start. Again, despite the ominous feel, not a lot happened there for more than half the book. And, sadly, there were no twists I didn't see coming from a long way off.

The last quarter of the book explodes with action. This is when we get back to the Jack Reacher readers have grown to love. The pace picks up dramatically and the writing finally draws us in. This last quarter saves the story, pulling it out of its drudgery.

If you're already a Jack Reacher fan, you'll want to read this one just to find out what he learns about his family history. If you're not yet a fan, this is probably not the best choice of books with which to start.

Very much like the previous books in the Reacher series. Reacher continues to be an intriguing (never boring) protagonist. The plot is imaginative enough to be interesting, yet plausible. As in the prior books, Lee Child's minor characters are well developed.

Past Tense is my first book to read by Lee Child. It was filled with suspense kept me engaged throughout the book. I will definitely be reading more of this series. Jack Reacher is a dynamic character that I was left with wanting to read more of his adventures.

I have read every Jack Reacher novel.Though not great literature,each one is unique.The character is an ex-army morning who wanders the country and finds adventures in various locations.Here he stumbles on his dad’s birthplace.Reacher is like Bruce Willis’ John McClain from Die Hard;he stumbles into trouble,and he is not averse to stepping in!You do not want to mess with him;he is a big guy: over six foot five, 250lbs. Lee Child is an excellent writer.He keeps the story interesting while adding plot twists.His stories are easy to follow and never boring.A good read!

“Past Tense” (A Jack Reacher novel) by Lee Child

He is on his way from Maine to San Diego. Winter is coming. He’s ready to move on and why not head someplace warm? Too many military people around there, but that can be dealt with then.

But on his way, Jack Reacher, decides to take a short pit stop...to the area where his father was born and raised. Of course, Reacher’s “short” journeys never go quite as planned.

While he does get the familial information little by little, he makes a few enemies on the way, and of course rescues a few people along the way.

With another ex-MP, a preacher, two city workers, two older gentleman and a few others here and there, “Past Tense,” is another exhilarating Jack Reacher read. How Lee Child is able to keep this series new and different and enthralling is an amazing feat. I am already looking forward to the next one!!

Rating: 4.8
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

** I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this novel. All thought and opinions are my own.

If you like the series, you will like the book. It is your average airline book with a mildly engaging plot and cardboard characters but fun if you do not think too hard about it.

If you're looking for action/adventure, Jack Reacher's the guy for you. To me, Lee Child's new 'Past Tense," is a little different from his earlier books, though. Jack Reacher has always been a fighter, mainly because he gets in situations that call for it. In this book, he seemed a little more distant to the reader and even though he fights for the right, seems a touch more heartless.

All that aside, I read half of the book in one sitting. I love the way Lee Child writes. He describes surroundings so well that you feel you're there. I could just smell the New Hampshire air and see the beautiful backwoods. There are really two stories; one is personal to Reacher and the other he stumbles upon. You kind of figure out what's happening in the second story before it's revealed, but the story is told well and it's enjoyable.

I read 'Past Tense' quickly and enjoyed every page. I look forward to seeing where Jack Reacher's next adventure takes him!