#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Family secrets come back to haunt Jack Reacher in this electrifying thriller from “a superb craftsman of suspense” (Entertainment Weekly). Jack Reacher hits the pavement and sticks out his thumb. He plans to follow the sun on an epic trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn’t get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to … the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been: the town where his father was born. He thinks, What’s one extra day? He takes the detour.
At the same moment, in the same isolated area, a car breaks down. Two young Canadians had been on their way to New York City to sell a treasure. Now they’re stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. The owners seem almost too friendly. It’s a strange place, but it’s all there is.
The next morning, in the city clerk’s office, Reacher asks about the old family home. He’s told no one named Reacher ever lived in town. He’s always known his father left and never returned, but now Reacher wonders, Was he ever there in the first place?
As Reacher explores his father’s life, and as the Canadians face lethal dangers, strands of different stories begin to merge. Then Reacher makes a shocking discovery: The present can be tough, but the past can be tense . . . and deadly.
Don’t miss a sneak peek of Lee Child’s novel Blue Moon in the back of the book.
Praise for Past Tense
“Child is one writer who should never be taken for granted.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[Lee Child] shows no signs of slowing down. . . . Reacher is a man for whom the phrase moral compass was invented: His code determines his direction. . . . You need Jack Reacher.”—The Atlantic
“Superb . . . Child neatly interweaves multiple narratives, ratchets up the suspense (the reveal of the motel plot is delicious), and delivers a powerful, satisfying denouement. Fans will enjoy learning more of this enduring character’s roots, and Child’s spare prose continues to set a very high bar.”—Publishers Weekly (boxed and starred review)
“Another first-class entry in a series that continues to set the gold standard for aspiring thriller authors.”—Booklist (starred review)
“With his usual flair for succinctness and eye for detail, Child creates another rollicking Reacher road trip that will please fans and newcomers alike.”—Library Journal (starred review)
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I love all the Reacher books.
very good
Once again Lee Child come thru with a winner
Anything by Lee Child is worth reading. I have read every Reacher book and I can only say how good they are. Worth every penny I have paid for them. If you read Reacher, start at the beginning and read them in the order they were released. You won’t be disappointed.
As with all Lee Child books, once I started it I didn’t t want to put it down, and what a twist at the end. If you enjoy a good story, then read this one
I’m a huge Jack Reacher fan. Mr. Child did not disappoint.
I love all Jack Reacher novels!
Teacher goes Ancestry and night time bow hunting
Not up to lee child’s standards.
Past Tense is part of a series that continues to evolve and get better. Lee Child weaves a story line of intrigue that eventually pulls it all together. This is a book that one can’t put down. I feel Past Tense is a great addition to the continuing Jack Reacher story line.
Another excellent book Lee Child!
Love this latest Jack Reacher book from Lee Childs! Past Tense by Lee Childs has Jack traveling to the town where his father grew up but things may not be what they seemed to be. If your looking for Jack to kick some butt…..he does! if your looking for characters you can root for to get out of sticky situations….you got them! if your looking for your next great read that you can’t put down….You found it right here with Past Tense! ! Thank you Netgalley and the Publishers for allowing me to read this ARC book and give my own personal opinion. I would highly recommend this book for a great unputdownable read!
Love Lee Child and Jack Reacher. This is not one of the best Reacher books, but still pretty good, wanted to finish to find out who did what.
Reacher is a little snarky in this one and much more wordy than the norm for him. Almost philosophical.
Most book series lose their zing after awhile. How many times can the same guy get in trouble? But, with Reacher, it holds true. Since he is always on the move and has the need to right wrongs, it is feasible for him to continue running into trouble every book.
Love these books. Can’t wait for next one.
It was the worst story and the thinnest characters that I remember in a Jack Reacher story. Get this one from the library and save the money.
Jack Reacher is the man. So. There.
Another great Jack Reacher book.If any author can be consistently great, it’s Lee Childs.
This is the second book by Lee Child that I have read and I definitely enjoyed this one more than the other which was “The Midnight Line”. I liked the dual storyline which converges later on in the story. However I did feel that the one with Reacher in it, looking into his “family tree” to be quite slow moving and a bit dry. The second story line with the two young people stranded finally at a more than creepy motel was the most interesting in the book.
I like my characters well drawn and I think Mr. Child did a great job in helping me get to know Patty and Shorty and how they are hoping to set up a shop in Florida with the help of whatever is in that extremely heavy suitcase which they are unwilling to part with even when their lives are at stake. They have stopped at a motel during their cross country travels and this ends up to be the most incredibly wrong decision they have ever made.
The motel in question is being run by one of the most depraved and money hungry bunch of goons I’ve ever come across, headed by a man with the last name of Reacher, go figure??? We aren’t really sure what they are up to until the ¾ mark in the book but I had a pretty good hunch once the other “guests” started arriving and let’s just say that Patty and Shorty didn’t have much say in the process. Their clever thinking and love for each other help them through their ordeals.
Meanwhile we are still following Reacher and his quest for family knowledge as he searches libraries and town halls for records of his father and grandfather. I felt this was more than a bit boring and was anxious to get back to Patty and Shorty. His extreme detail in parts still drives me crazy example “Reacher hit him in the face, with a straight right, maximum force, crashing and twisting. Like a freight train. The kid’s lights went out immediately. He went slack and gravity took over. Reacher kept his left hand rock solid. All the kid’s weight fell on his own locked elbow. Reacher waited . . . .. . . The kid’s elbow broke and his arm turned inside out. Reacher let him fall, etc. etc. etc.” Too much detail already.
In what I have come to know as true Reacher style his path converges with those in trouble just when he is most needed. I have to admit that I’m a little surprised at how many people are so enthralled with this character as he doesn’t grow or change in his books, at least in what I’ve read. He is also endowed with super-human strength and smarts but I was willing to suspend belief for entertainment.
All in all I still had fun reading this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading series books with a character that they can count on to “come to the aid of those in need”.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.
Reacher stories are never truly unpredictable but this one is more surprising than most. Otherwise it’s the 6’4″ 200lb highly skilled investigator at large Lee Child fans admire. Read the books, avoid the movies featuring the 5’6″ 135lb man-child.
A novel by Lee Child (Jack Reacher Series 23)
Jack Reacher is leaving Maine and headed for San Diego, California; summer is winding down. Thumb out and lucky at first, Jack makes it into New Hampshire before his first ride peters out. Once again afoot and deep in the backcountry, he opts to make for Laconia, because it was his late father’s birthplace. Following an almost perfect night of rest in bed and breakfast, interrupted only once at 3 AM by a sound detected by Jack’s preternatural hearing, he sets off chasing his genealogical roots. The task turns out to be harder than expected. His first problem is that his dad, Stan Reacher, was not a resident of Laconia but a small place called Ryantown that no longer appears on current maps. The second difficulty, finding where Ryantown was, inconveniently, means chasing down details at county offices, not city offices, and a deal more running around. The extra time requires another night’s stay in another B & B. Again Jack’s acute hearing awakens him at 3 AM. Dressing quickly, he slips out into the night; ears aquiver. Sounds of a scuffle draw Jack to a man and a woman in a clinch, which is not as romantic as first glance would indicate. It turns out that the woman is a waitress at a joint the young man’s father owns an interest in and that, he thinks, entitles him to sex on demand. The lady fights to free herself and says, “No,” which her assailant doesn’t appreciate. Jack, being the gent he is, intervenes. The next day local police tell Jack to leave because the muscle head’s daddy is wired in tight with the Boston mob and is sure to want revenge. But, you know that Jack is a bit stubborn, right?
The other story, which is to collide with Reacher’s interests, involves two hapless Canadians headed for a meeting in New York, New York. There they hope to sell objects of value which they carry in an enormous suitcase. Their names are Shorty Fleck and Patty Sundstrom, and they are a couple of the duller characters you will ever meet in modern fiction. Here is an example. What do you do if your car is overheating? You pull off the road and let the engine cool down, don’t you? Then you drive on, especially if you are in a hurry. Stopping to fix the problem, or add water to the radiator makes sense, but driving miles out of your way to do so does not.
Moreover, this whole part of the book is shot through with inconsistencies. Would you start a journey of more than 651 miles in a car known to have problems? I wouldn’t. Would a potato farmer like Shorty be as unfamiliar with the workings of machinery as Shorty is? Or as negligent in performing maintenance? I doubt it. Remember folks aren’t commercially planting or harvesting them ‘taters by hand anymore. Further, it seems improbable that these two poor souls, charitably characterized as slow when first introduced, would suddenly become keen enough later on to challenge the villains who had deceived and imprisoned them.
Anyway, today is the date “Past Tense” hits the shelves in bookstores and what I say is not going to matter to those millions of Lee Childs’ readers.
But, just in case you have an open mind I’d like to encourage you to skip this one. Besides being excessively formulaic, as all the Jack Reacher books are, this one will make you weep over irritating bad guys and the plight of the Canadians.
My thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for making an uncorrected proof of “Past Tense” available for review.
This book has a lot to recommend it, but all you really need to know is that it’s a Jack Reacher novel write by Lee Child. This time, Reacher is traveling from New Hampshire to California and delays his cross-country trek to visit the place where his father grew up, generating more questions than answers about his father. In the process, Reacher manages to get on the radar of a mob boss in Boston as well as an apple farmer who doesn’t appreciate trespassing on his property. Then there’s a young couple who stay at a nearby motel after their car breaks down. There are some really strange happenings at the motel, and when things get dicey Reacher manages to show up just in time to do what he does best. If you enjoy an action-packed thriller with numerous twists and turns, or if you’re a classic Reacher fan, you’ll definitely enjoy the adrenaline-fueled ride with this book.
*I reviewed an advance copy of this book freely and voluntarily, having made no commitment to provide a review and receiving no compensation of any kind from any source for this review.