About Last Night – Adele Parks

When cool new student Philippa-call-me-Pip Foxton decided she was her new best friend it transformed Stephanie Amstell’s life- formerly invisible and destined to a life of suburban mediocrity, she was now popular and interesting, and she had the confidence to go with it. It was a change that Steph would forever be grateful for.
Thirty years later Steph and Pip’s roles have reversed –Steph’s happily married to hard-working Julian and following their life plan; they moved to the country to raise their three boys, and Steph’s days area busy whirl of perfection creation. Pip, however, is a single mother,abandoned after three years of fighting and affairs by the father of her only child and virtually penniless. Mired in depression, furious at her cheating and untraceable ex, and lost for purpose, it’s only thanks to Steph’s emotional and financial support that she and Chloe are okay.
Steph loves her life, and she loves her best friend, but the one-way street is starting to get old. Why can’t Pip take some responsibility? She knew the meeting Steph encouraged her to make with a buyer from Selfridge’s would mean she couldn’t drop Chloe off at school, for example, but waited until morning to ask Steph to do it for her.
For Pip, so overwhelmed by anger, grief, shock and betrayal for the past two years, just functioning has been hard, but she’s ready for a change. In one day,, thanks to a combination of her artistic ability and chance, she not only gets a commission from the buyer but also meets a man – a man different from those she’s been attracted to in the past, a man who could possibly be her future. And on the same day Steph’s life changes forever, when she discovers her husband is having an affair.
About Last Night was engaging from a psychological perspective, but I was disappointed by its predictability – while there were certainly a couple of small surprises, but no twists and for the most part I guessed what was going to happen early on. For example, as soon as I read about how Steph replaced one set of perfectly functional crockery for another, and how Julian didn’t notice this or other domestic changes, I knew that she was replacing fulfilment and happiness for consumerism and the pursuit of a perfect-appearing life, and that Julian was having an affair.
There’s a lot of description and not a lot of dialogue, and the shifting third person perspective (primarily Steph, Pip, Julian and the thoroughly unlikeable mistress, Kirsten) allowed for different points of view but reduced my engagement.
This certainly isn’t to say that I disliked About Last Night, but I would have liked to be surprised more often. Certainly the plot device of “incomplete information leading to (contextually believable but avoidable) misunderstanding that changes everything” was disappointing, though a reflection of a number of issues.
There were several things that I really liked, from the idea of having a day (or perhaps just a meal) where every food begins with the same letter (“Chocolate, cherries, croissants, cake, crisps. Cashew nuts.”), to a really lovely scene that retrospectively redeemed Julian for me - experiencing the familiar symptoms of pregnancy after three boys, Steph doesn’t take a test and attributes minor differences between this and her previous pregnancies to it finally being a girl. She and Julian discuss names, focusing on Dairy, Rose and Lily. Sudden, crippling pain brings the unwelcome revelation that, rather than “growing a beautiful baby girl” Steph has ovarian cysts and will be unable to conceive again. The response of everyone around her is that there wasn’t a baby, and thus no need to grieve; Julian takes her to the beach, where he’s laid out a picnic feast par excellence, complete with Krug to toast themselves,and a bouquet of roses, daisies and lilies.
Kirsten is portrayed throughout the book as shallow, self-centred and immature; I was disappointed to have her redeemed in the final pages, by the love of a good man who's inexplicably interested in her. It was almost as though an editor told Parks she couldn't have an unwrapped end, and it didn't fit with the rest of her character arc - had that been the intent all along I think better ground work could have been laid.
Certainly I kept reading About Last Night 'til the end, and it's not a bad choice if you're going on holiday and want something moderately more substantial than your average beach book, but that won't make you work. I just wish there'd been a little less predictability about the whole thing. - Alex

The Visitor – Lee Child

Jack Reacher is used to the techniques police use to get suspects to talk - he used to be an MP. So when he's taken in for questioning by the FBI the usual tactics don't work. It helps that Reacher knows he isn't the serial killer targeting women who are ex-military and who made sexual harassment claims - women he had a connection with. He also knows that there can't possibly be any evidence against him. When the lead agent agrees, and with the assistance of his girlfriend, lawyer Jodie Garber-Jacob, Reacher is released, only to be blackmailed be two of the agents to assist them in tracing the killer before he strikes again.
This is the fourth in the Jack Reacher series, but although Reacher's history builds with each novel, there's no real need to read the books in order; Child includes enough background to aid new readers without inundating loyal followers with repetition. The series is a cut above the average thriller novel, not only because of its unique, independent hero but also because of the interesting elements woven into the plot. In the case of The Visitor (Running Blind in the UK), this includes a very interesting exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of criminal profiling, particularly the role presupposition plays; the legacy of Vietnam-era inter-departmental conflict on current relations between the military and the FBI; some puzzling crime scene elements; and a truly original murder technique, with an opaque motive that I admit I saw coming, a aspect that barely reduced my engagement with the novel.
I do, however, have a couple of quibbles. The first is the extent to which hypnosis can override someone's true preferences, particularly having seen a Mythbusters episode dealing with the question. The second is when a pathologist is discussing ways of causing death without leaving a mark:

'Air embolism would be the best way. A big bubble of air, injected straight into the bloodstream. Blood circulates surprisingly fast, and an air bubble hits the inside of the heart like a stone, like a tiny internal bullet. The shock is usually fatal. That's why nurses hold up the hypodermic and squirt a little air out and flick it with their nail. To be sure there's no air in the mix.'

Yes and no - an air embolism can be fatal, triggering a heart attack due to an interruption in the heart's blood supply. But small gas emboli are almost always dissipated when the blood passes through the lungs before returning to the heart - fatal emboli are sizable, something bigger than 5ml in an adult; nurses push air out of syringes to ensure that the patient is getting an accurate dose.
These minor glitches were relatively insignificant, however, and were almost wholly compensated for by the insertion of the serial killer's point of view, interestingly presented in second person and indicated by italics.
The Visitor is fast paced, engaging, fun and a light-weight but well structured and well packed escapade. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

Persuader - Lee Child

Jack Reacher, former MP turned self-directed trouble shooter, happens to be unloading a van outside a New England college when he witnesses an attempted kidnapping - armed as always, he intervenes, rescuing the anxious target, Richard Beck. Unfortunately, Reacher accidentally shoots a cop in the process, and for the first time needs to lie low out of necessity rather than choice. When the skittish Beck, a survivor of a previous kidnapping in which he lost an ear, insists on being taken home to Maine, Reacher is persuaded by the possibility of a temporary refuge. But he has another agenda entirely, and this apparently coincidental intervention is only the first step in what proves to be one of Reacher's riskiest, most dangerous and most important escapades to date.
The seventh in the best-selling Reacher series, Persuader is engrossing and engagingly twisty. The novels are pure escapism, and to that end they serve their purpose beautifully - the action is relentless and believable within the confines of the genre, the characters are relatively well drawn, and if I felt a little sketchily informed about some of the details I was happy to gloss over them in pursuit of the fast-paced plot and unwinding conclusion. There's a little Reacher back story, and these thinly sown glimpses into his past that build his motivation and character development are always an interesting addition to my mental picture of the man.
There was a, possibly unintentional, light moment near the end, where Reacher's thought of "Can't go round it, can't go over it. Got to go around it" irresistibly and unexpectedly reminded me of Rosen and Oxenbury's children's classic. I was also jolted out of the action at another point:

Her butt looked spectacular in the jeans. I could see the label on the back: Waist 24. Leg 32. That made her inseam five inches short of mine, which I was prepared to accept. But a waist a whole foot smaller than mine was ridiculous. I carry almost no body fat. All I;ve got in there are the necessary organs, tight and dense. She must have had miniature versions. I see a waist like that and all I want to do is span it with my hands and marvel at it. Maybe bury my head somewhere a little higher up. I couldn't tell what that might feel like with her unless he turned around. But I suspected it might feel very nice indeed.

Perhaps - but unless teeny tiny women's jeans are very different than plus-size women's jeans, the size tag is on the inside. Maybe those skinny bitches are happy to show their measurements off!
Those two moment aside, however, and I was fully engaged with Persuader from the opening rescue scene to the final flashback and Reacher's plan to take off, alone again, going wherever the road takes him. My life is significantly encumbered, and I suspect Corinna Lawson's take on why Child has a large female readership is on the money. Sometimes there's nothing better than pure escapism, and you can't get much better than Reacher. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

The Hard Way - Lee Child

Former MP Jack Reacher lives in the moment, undistracted by possessions, relationships or responsibilities. Apart from money in the bank and the clothes on his back he owns nothing, and he won't even commit to a china cup when he drinks coffee in a New York café. gazing out the window, alert as always to every detail, Reacher notices a man climb into an expensive car. taking another cup at the same café the next night, Reacher is approached by a mysterious man interested in witnesses - when Reacher is able to describe the man and the car, down to the license plate, he's escorted to the home of Edward Lane. Employer of mercenaries, Lane's wife has been kidnapped, and he want Reacher to help track down the abductors. But int he process Reacher discovers a couple of facts about his new employer - facts that cause him to start his own investigation, which takes him to the English countryside, and the kind of action he thought he'd left behind in the service.
The Hard Way is Reacher's tenth outing, and my fourth - he's a little less cynical here than in the earlier novels, but just as decisive, action-packed and free. There isn't much I can add, having only recently written a review, about the third Reacher novel, Tripwire - it captures all the key components, which change only in the narrative details but not in the substance. All of which makes it sound as though The Hard Way is a poor knock-off of its owner's former creation. That impression does the author and the novel a disservice, but it's certainly true to say that all the Reacher novel's I've read thus far are more strongly short term enjoyment than food for long term thought, and all the more enjoyable for that. - Alex

Tripwire - Lee Child

Former MP Jack Reacher is digging pools in Florida, fitter than he's ever been in his life and reveling in the sheer physicality and simplicity of his life. He's become accustomed to flying under the radar and, though not specifically hiding from anyone, is happy not being found. So when a stranger, obviously from out of town, asks him if he's Reacher, he denies it. Costello's a private detective, looking for him on behalf of a Mrs Jacob, someone Reacher's never heard of.
When Costello turns up dead, Reacher feels responsible - he backtraces the PI to new York, and discovers that Jacobs is the married name of Jodie Garber, the daughter of Reacher's one-time CO and the only man who really felt like a father to him, although he harboured distinctly non-brotherly thoughts about the far younger Jodie.
Unfortunately, Reacher's not the only one to have found Jodie, and it's up to him to not only save her from a man murderously intent on protecting his identity and his vast, illicit wealth. And if his relationship with Jodie takes a bend toward the carnal, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Tripwire is the third in the unabashedly escapist Reacher series - this early on there's still some filling in of background, accomplished in this case by Costello telling the anonymous Reacher about the man he's searching for. Members of the ABC's "First Tuesday Book Club" discussion about the thirteenth Reacher book, Gone Tomorrow, criticised the lack of characterisation, but for loyal readers the history's already there. That said, I have been reading them only roughly in order and had no problem, and there's certainly nothing approaching a series arc here.
Instead there's a fast-paced, action-driven, plot-based drive that captures what one imagines is the Every Man fantasy of a baggageless life, unencumbered by responsibility, family or possessions, where casually meaningful sex is available as required.
All of which sounds like the antithesis of my interests, and yet I've had to slow down from munching through the baker's dozen (thus far) of published Reacher novels. And I'm not alone - according to the author, some 60% of his readership is female, a statistic I heard on the ABC discussion above and tracked down. This workshop review provided a really interesting take on why that is, as well as allowing me to discover that my very genre-driven, heavy reading father's something of an anomaly.
One of the things I like about the Reacherverse is that women are as likely to be strong, intelligent and self-rescuing as men, which certainly makes sense now I realise that women are deliberately targeted as part of the target audience. There's also a keen sense of justice throughout, which is apparently something women feels strongly about.
Often learning more about the author, the writing process and the way a work is aimed puts me off, but I have to say that's not the case here. I think the Reacher novels are like the best kind of romance fiction - engaging, relateable but separate from real life, with a comforting and comfortable predictability that the ending will be satisfying after an interesting journey. And I still have ten or so ahead! - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

Without Fail - Lee Child

Jack Reacher – former army cop, now wanderer – is back in his sixth adventure. Inadvertently assisting an elderly pair of itinerant musicians, he’s tracked down by M.E. Froelich, a member of the Vice President-elect’s protection detail, and former lover of Jack’s brother, Joe, killed six years earlier, two years after they broke up.

Froelich wants to hire Reacher to attempt an assassination of the VP, to test the integrity of his security detail, in response to a serious, potentially internal, assassination threat. When Reacher finds no fewer than five opportunities where he (or a co-conspirator) could have killed Brook Armstrong, Froelich is distressed, confirming Reacher’s suspicions that his assignment was to check the likelihood of a real threat being carried out. But is the threat aimed at the VP-elect, Froelich, or the Secret Service?

Reacher is the action equivalent of a fanfic Mary-Sue – he’s intelligent, insightful, disciplined, skilled, principled, strong, brave, patriotic, expert at manly arts like shooting and hunting, self-sufficient, unfettered by possessions and relationships, independently well enough off that he need only work when he wants to, and he gets to have sex with beautiful women who don’t expect him to call the next day. It’s a testament to Childs’ prowess that Reacher is also well rounded, relatable and interesting.

Also interesting was the explorations of the mindset of an assassin, and the precautions taken by the Secret Service – understandably, popular culture is referenced, with particular attention paid to presidential assassination films. As Childs, via Reacher, points out, there’s a big difference between killers who want to get away, and those who are happy to die once their mission’s accomplished.

This is the second Reacher novel I've read, and I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be moving my way up on the back list with some alacrity. As I wrote in my first Child review, it's not world changing but the Reacherverse is excellent escapist fun. Though not at complex as my stand out, all time favourite action/adventure author, Bagley, the protagonist is surprisingly relatable and the plots are fast paced and vastly entertaining. I'm usually quite adamant about reading a series in order (by publication date or, if they differ, chronology) but that appears to be unnecessary here - enough history is given for the character of Reacher to make sense, and it doesn't seem as though there are any recurring characters apart from our lone wolf. - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels

Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For