Past Tense is another exciting Jack Reacher book by Lee Child. This story involved a personal search by Reacher that led to solving a crime. It was hard to put down because it was woven with mystery and a mesmerising story line.

Reacher looks into his own history in New Hampshire and also gets involved in a mysterious enterprise deep in the woods. I’m amazed at Reacher’s ability to find trouble- but I guess I’d want him on my side.

You’ve definitely discovered the secret to a successful book, Mr. Child/Grant. Once again, I loved Jack Reacher. He is the epitome of heroes, strong, analytical, easy on the eyes, fair, and judge and jury.

There are two main story lines that switch back and forth throughout along with several interesting tidbits about other characters. The main characters are well developed and interesting.

As usual, Reacher starts out on a long journey but is side-tracked, and that becomes the story. The anticipation builds as Jack looks for his father’s home in NH and a mysterious ‘kidnapping’ is happening at a local hotel. This was a comfortable, fast read for me and a definite page turner.

I especially enjoy that this book (and all the Reacher books) uses no F-bombs, and, yet, no emotions are left unfelt.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I am a Lee Child fan from forever, so this was a real pleasure.

Deceit,mystery and murders all wrapped up in two stories on the same course. Got this on my birthday and I couldn’t have been happier. Lee Child has written the Jack Reacher series and has done a phenomenal job. Each one just makes you want more. This starts out on a simple path where Reacher is traveling the country on the way to San Diego. Usually not sentimental, he finds himself going through his father ‘s childhood town but curiosity lures him into just “stopping for one day.” Also traveling but on their way to Florida are a Canadian couple Shorty and Pam who happen to have car trouble that forces them to stay at an isolated motel. Love their interaction and how they adjust and relegate the roles in their relationship. The couple also are transporting a mysterious “treasure” that holds the key to their future.
Past Tense is loaded with characters that will challenge and engage your reading sensibilities The book speaks of family; the biological along with the communal that forms and sometimes isolate the individual. We learn more about Reacher’s family, but I will leave that for you to discover. Recommend it to mystery and suspense lovers craving the next high octane adventure.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give feedback on this novel

Fans of Jack Reacher get ready, another adventure coming your way. Who doesn't love Jack Reacher ? I have read each and every book and look forward to the next. Typical Reacher fashion this book shows his loner side but also how he steps up to help anyone in need. This time a former soldier. He could have just walked away but that's not what Reacher does, ever. This is a challenging one though and he actually has to rely on others for help. Does Reacher save the day ? What do you think ? Lee Child has created such an interesting character in Jack Reacher, one you always want on your side. Hopefully there are many more Reacher adventures in our future.

Lee Childs never fails to write a suspenseful novel! I was engaged throughout the whole story. The characters were well developed and were a continuation from previous books. A special note to readers you do not have to read a previous book to understand and love this book. The action parts were well though out and kept me in suspense the entire time. I would recommend this book to anyone as it didn't have any foul language however there were some graphic parts of the book.

Some mystery writers fill in the backstory of their series protagonist in successive titles, especially as both age. The good ones use it to illuminate both the plot and the character, especially when the hero is the taciturn type not goven to a great deal of self reflection. The good news is that Lee child's new outing for Jack Racher does it very well in Past Tense, introducing his devoted fans and somewhat cynical creation to a big piece of Teacher's family history as he traces his roots to a distant relative in the Rocky soil of new Hampshire and finds more as well as less than he expected. A terrific read!

Ever had one of those days where a simple choice seems to change the course of your day…possibly your life? That is exactly what Jack Reacher faces as he decides to take a quick detour to see Laconia, the town that his father grew up in. One of the things I really like about this novel is the way two separate stories wind up connecting… Author Lee Child is not in a rush to connect the stories… instead he prefers to keep building the reader’s interest and the intensity of each story until they intersect skillfully right where they need to be.
I believe this is book #23 in a series, but reads as a standalone as well. It reads a bit different from most of the Jack Reacher novels, but I really enjoyed the chance to get to know Reacher and his family better. There is quite a bit of action in this one, with several side stories that keep the story moving.
Hitchhiking across the country, Jack Reacher spontaneously takes a detour on his way to California. He starts out at the courthouse looking for records on his dad or grandparents. Not the kind of person to give up, Reacher tries harder and finds a clue. As he heads out of town to chase down the smallest clue on his family, Reacher winds up stirring up family secrets. Is he in over his head? He really should come with a warning label to all the thugs and dead beats out there.
The other major story within Past Tense features Patty and Shorty, two broke characters who wind up getting stuck in an out of the way hotel. Their car is giving them problems so the hotel owners invite them to stay the night and have them over for dinner. What I like is that Patty is really smart. She is observant and a thinker… I am still not sure if I like her boyfriend, Shorty… but the mystery of what was in their really heavy suitcase kept me interested until the very end!!! (I do not think you will guess correctly, as I sure didn’t!) The people at the hotel are not what they seem and soon, Patty and Shorty are definitely in over their heads. Patty starts to wonder if they are guests or captives of the hotel owner.
I want to sit down over coffee and tell you all the reasons why the ending surprised me. Since that would involve too many spoilers, I will just say that it kept my attention and I could not put it down. The writing was great! Lee Child is a master at switching from a slow country pace to fast action in a heartbeat!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an advanced reader copy for me to review. As always, my opinions are my own.

Full disclosure: I like Jack Reacher. A lot. BUT, I do find the series uneven. This was one of the better ones.

I immediately got sucked into the story. Setting: Jack Reacher hitchiking--not unusual. "On a country road deep in 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." And so it begins. More than a day, and not so simple.

Primary characters, a young couple from Canada--Patty and Shorty--en route to Florida, but who end up in a motel when their car breaks down. What do they have in that suitcase they keep lugging around? Not disclosed til the end and I never would have guessed. The motel itself and it's owners. A cop/detective. City bureaucrats. Librarian. An old coot/former clergyman. Many colorful. Ryantown.

What I liked the most. Lee Child wove the two storylines together quite well. It started out miles apart and the pieces gradually converged. Great appreciation for that as it kept my interest and kept me going. First, why Reacher stopped in Laconia, New Hampshire--that's where his father was born. Second, what happened to Patty and Shorty.

Much of it was solid entertainment; but there were a few slow patches. One disconnect for me--Patty always seemed too smart for a millworker--though she did have two years of college. And Shorty not her [intellectual?!] match.

If you like Jack Reacher, I'd certainly recommend this book.

How Jack Reacher always manages to find trouble is a mystery. In Past Tense, Reacher starts out with a plan to travel from Maine to California, but only gets as far as New Hampshire before taking a detour.

Finding himself near the town where his father grew up, he decides to check out a little family history and discovers that some of the history is apparently not there.

Not far from the little town of Laconia, a young couple's car breaks down, and they follow a sign to a motel in the middle of nowhere to see about the damage and contact a mechanic. From the minute they hit the reception desk, the sense of wrongness is apparent. In spite of having an idea about where this is going, the tension I felt was enormous. Spoiler: (Think Bates Motel and The Most Dangerous Game)

In the meantime, Reacher continues to check public records for information about his father's family. Oh, yeah, he also stops a young man from forcing himself on a woman, inviting retribution from a mob family and protects an old man from other bullies.

This isn't my favorite of the Reacher books (of course, there are 23 novels in the series), but I wouldn't have missed seeing what he was up to for anything. My favorite part was finding out what was in the suitcase!

Read in July; blog review scheduled for Oct. 22.

NetGalley/Random House
Crime/Suspense/Mystery. Nov. 5, 2018. Print length: 400 pages.

Jack Reacher always provides a great read and this is no different. After leaving Maine, he starts heading Southwest and decides to stop off to seethe hometown of his father and leave more about his past. Due to his involvement in stopping an assault, he becomes a target but keeps pushing to get to the bottom of his upbringing. He stumbles upon a sick game and like typical saves the day. I look forward to more exploits of Jack Reacher.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for sharing this advanced copy of another gripping Reacher novel. What follows is the review posted on Goodreads.

In this installment, Reacher decides to visit his father's childhood home of Laconia NH. He's interested in learning a bit more about his father's past and family. Almost immediately, he steps into both trouble by defending the helpless, and into a mystery surrounding his father's past.

As always, there's a thriller within the thriller, in this case around a motel in the middle of nowhere, and the two Canadian guests who unfortunately end up there. Lee Child weaves the story so that this storyline intersects with Reacher's search for his past, which ends up literally in a fight for survival.

Each Reacher book is a little different. This one had plenty of action and fighting, but the books seem to be trending towards a slightly slower pace. I loved the build up to what was really going on in the motel (which took a good chunk of the book), and when the two story lines finally converge Reacher helped solve the situation. No remorse. No regrets. What needed to be done was done.

I've read all of the books in the series, and have not been disappointed. #23 was no exception. When the book is released in November, you should run to your independent bookstore and buy it.

This was an eARC I was so excited to get approved for - the Jack Reacher series is one of my all time favorite but I have to say this one didn't do it for me. Normally when I read a Reacher book, I pick it up and don't put it down until I'm fnished. I'm sad to say this latest book was very easy to pick up, read a couple chapters and put back down. I didn't connect at all.

The story itself was written in typical Lee Child/Reacher style. However, at times, I felt the story was very strange and completely out there. It took a long time for the two plots to connect. I was left feeling disappointed at the end.

You can't win them all and I am too much of a Lee Child fan to let this one keep me from reading the next in the series. As always, I look forwad to the next Reacher adventure.

Thank you #netgalley and #randomhouseballantine for the eARC.

This wasn’t my favorite Reacher book. The POV shift was clunky, and the dual story line was very predictable. It was still written beautifully and that makes up for a lot!

Receiving an ARC of a Jack Reacher book is like winning the book lottery! I’ve been with Jack since book 1. This is the one series I always recommend to others. How Lee Child can consistently develop these adventures for Reacher is beyond my comprehension.

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two parallel stories going on in the same town. Reacher, who just wants to see where his dad grew up. A couple over from Canada who find themselves stranded in an isolated, remote motel deep in the woods with no other guests and no cell phone service. The motel owners are a little too friendly and the creep factor is palpable.

Then their worlds collide. You’ll want to add this to your shelfie!

Publishing date is scheduled for 11/5/18.

As happy as I was to receive the ARC of the new Jack Reacher novel, my disappointment matches. There were many familiar and endearing Reacherisms in this novel, but the small scale of the story seemed to limit the tale. The incidents in the woods were dreary, Ryantown not even a shadow of its heyday. There were good people populating the novel, and that was all the merrier given the bad people in the woods. Reacher had little to do with them, so it wasn't much of a Reacher story until the end. Ultimately Stan Reacher is found. How could a guy named Reacher live in a town until he was 90 years old and yet the name rang no bells at the county records office?
I did enjoy seeing Jack Reacher again. I just wish he had more to do that was of interest. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Lou Jacobs's Reviews > Past Tense
Past Tense by Lee Child
Past Tense (Jack Reacher, #23)
by Lee Child (Goodreads Author)

M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review
Jul 21, 2018 · edit

it was amazing

The wandering Avenging Angel returns. Jack Reacher, Ex-Army MP is on the move ... he's tired of the cold Maine climate and starts with thumb out on his usual circuitous journey ... hopefully ending in the warmer clime of San Diego. His journey is soon derailed when he sees a sign for Laconia, New Hampshire ... and congers up a genealogy detour to seek out his roots. He apparently recalls his father Stan talking about his early life in Laconia. With his digging into the local history and records he's afforded the opportunity to come to the rescue of a damsel in distress. Awaken at 3 AM in his hotel room , he investigates and finds a 30 some cocktail waitress being hassled by a rich, entitled 20 ish guy who won't take "No" for an answer ... much to this young man's detriment Reacher intervenes. Juxtaposed with this story line is the journey of Patty and Shorty.. 25 year old Canadians seeking better life and fortune in Florida .. with a projected stopover in NYC to sell their suitcase-full of "wares" Their journey is quickly short circuited when their junker of a car breaks down and they find themselves virtually trapped as prisoners in a remote motel.
Lee Child expertly weaves the two plots together with a extremely compelling story that eventually collides together in an exciting denouement. Although I am a long time fan of Jack Reacher this novel can easily be loved as a standalone book. Thanks to Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group for providing this Uncorected Electronic Proof for my enjoyment and in exchange for an honest review.


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Reading Progress

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read Lee Child's new book Jack Reacher " Past Tense." I would like to thank NewGallery for allowing me to review this book and give my honest opinion.
I am a HUGE fan of the Jack Reacher series! When I started reading this book, I was so excited to delve in to it. But, sorry to say, it just wasn't as good as Lee Child's previous books in the series. The main character, Jack Reacher, didn't seem to be the same Jack Reacher I remember from the previous books. He has always been the hero that didn't want to "kill" people, hurt them yes for the sake of helping others out. In this book he had no hesitation to kill the bad people, whereas he usually makes a effort to teach them a lesson before killing them.
I am hoping when Jack Reacher finally reaches his destination of San Diego things become more interesting and flow better.
The premise of the book is two different stories which at the end, do overlap but in a very confusing way.
I did not find it a struggle to finish the book. It kept me interested and I highly recommend it to anyone reading the Jack Reacher series......but, if you have not read the previous books in the series, do not start with this one. The previous books in the series are outstanding.

I am a huge Jack Reacher fan, but this book is simply not as good as vintage Reacher. Child has strung together several small plots, none of them really jelling. As always, when Reacher walks into town, things start happening.

This time he comes to Laconia, NH, seeking information about his roots. While on this quest, he stirs up trouble in Laconia, the area around it and ultimately interrupts a murderous game. Generally the plots hang together decently and we understand his motivation, but I found this lacked cohesion.


I look forward to my yearly dose of Jack, and felt disappointed and unfulfilled by this episode.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this amazing book. Having long been a fan of the Reacher books, I was happy to obtain this for review. Personally, I found the last Reacher book a little less enjoyable than usual. Happy to report this was a return to form and an enjoyable read. As always, our hero has a destination in mind, and then something happens to ensure he never gets there. Was interesting to read about his family roots, and Shorty and Patty were very believable characters. The whole story kept me reading, and I can’t wait to see the next adventures!