Lee Child – The Affair (Jack Reacher) - Review

Many have called Jack Reacher the modern fictional hero of our times. Although “The Affair” is the sixth novel read in some months, this protagonist continues his appeal and there is no desire to stop reading the many instalments that the author, Lee Child, has produced over the years. What makes Jack Reacher so popular and loved by so many people?

Reacher is an ex Army MP that has decided to hit the road carrying no more than a toothbrush and the cloths on his back. Reacher is a Jack Kerouac without the literary bent, falling into adventures, and using his detective skills to protect the weak, and seeking justice at every turn. The man is tough, a born fighter and in the stories, usually kicks the hell out of someone, usually a gang all at once, which, by the way, always deserve it.

He loves the Blues, beautiful women and can't stand bullies. Jack also has a clock in his head, where he knows the time no matter, day or night. Like any well trained solider, he has the observational and deductive powers rivalling even the 19th century sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. The man also has a excellent sense of geography, that is, he has the ability to measure an area, for example, a crime scene, down to the centimetre, in all four directions of the map...all in his head. He is ferociously intelligent, yet has simple values – as far as Reacher is concerned, there are no shades of grey, only black and white. He will never waver from these values, thus the man's integrity is impeccable. Lastly, and it should go without saying, women love him, 

“The Affair” is Reacher's last assignment for the army, acting as an MP. He is sent down south to an out of the way military base used to train highly specialised rangers. A small town next to a rail-road track... which caters to the base, (two bars and one diner) however, a woman has been brutally murdered. Major Reacher's job is to babysit another MP who has been sent down to investigate the murder as well. Then he meets the local Chief of Police, Elizabeth Deveraux, and she is an absolute stunner! This is how Reacher describes the woman:

Deveraux was a seriously good looking woman. Truly beautiful. Out of the car she was relatively tall, and her hair was startling. There must have been five pounds of it in her ponytail alone. She had all the right parts in all the right proportions. She looked great in uniform. But then, I liked women in uniform, possibly because I had known very few of the other kind...

I'm sure you get the idea.

All the Reacher novels, (the six I've read anyway) are tightly plotted and gain momentum through to the very end. As is the case with this genre, (thriller) there is the obligatory double twist at the tales end.

I love these novel's for there pure entertainment value and skilful rendering.

So far, “The Affair” has to be one of the better instalments.