| |
|
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
I finished The Hard Way on two legs of a long-haul flight, and found it satisfying enough, but not stand-out. I felt the England setting, much-trumpeted (or so it seemed) as a departure for Reacher and the series, was underused, though it did offer a genuinely interesting alien perspective, rather than the fish-out-of-water near-comedy I'd expected. Rather than stuff about, for instance, Reacher struggling to make do without guns (heroes and villains conveniently manage to get all the guns they need from Amsterdam), and getting confused about "pants" (I had very high expectations of this book, you can tell), there are some quite subtle observations about the amount of nanny-state signage on Britain's roads, and the way London, to Reacher's eyes, is made up of sagging, crumbling buildings propped up by new facades. His perspective is a bit stretched in the scene where they arrive in London and he manages to spot not just the London Eye and Tower Bridge, but his hotel and the American Embassy, all as the plane circles over the South Bank, but overall I was quite impressed the way Child, a British author relocated to the US, and successfully putting across a convincing American tone and way of seeing during the Reacher series (though Reacher, at the start of his wandering, significantly hadn't seen much of America during his life, and was making up for it) conveys England from an outsider's point of view, without reaching for easy gags. There is, as I've just noted on another board, the classic scene where Reacher tries to remember the correct etiquette for pub behaviour ("A pint of your best, landlord. And a half, for the lady. And would any of you gentlemen care to join us..?"), but I was torn between wanting more mileage out of Reacher-in-England and admiring Child for resisting the temptation to let entertaining culture-clash distract from the plot ~ which by then is in its final stages.
I agree, the staccato repetition of "Reacher, striding alone. Unstoppable" is bizarre, as if he's trying to write the back-cover blurb instead of narrative prose ~ as if this has become a shorthand for Reacher's character, flatly telling rather than showing us what he's like. There is, as I remember, a pay-off: doesn't it finally state "Reacher, striding alone in the darkness. With a potato peeler"? but as the peeler is meant to be sinister rather than inherently comic, I don't know if that was intentionally bathetic. (Also, I was perversely disappointed that he didn't put the peeler to any use ~ I was sure it would provide some dark, vengeful punchline.)
Interesting, on paper at least, to have Reacher bedding an older woman (she's 55 or so, isn't she?) and also to have him now feeling like, and being perceived as, an older guy. That could be a worthwhile way forward, as he starts facing people who are actually a lot more fluid, agile and physically fit than himself. But the romance felt even more perfunctory than usual. As a whole, I'd say the whole thing felt kind of routine... enjoyable, but not memorable. I wonder if Child will have to do something more drastic with the formula ~ not just a constant change of location ~ to keep the series alive. |
|
|
