LEE CHILD
ONE SHOT, 2005, Random House,
ISBN: 0375433384
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers/Thrillers
Pages: 363
Recommended: Yes
Score: 9 out of 10
Summary: Why did the sniper shoot,
and who says he shot?
The route and nature of a storm
can be catalogued; as the formation, growth and power generated
by these elemental movements of nature are known to such an extent
that Computer software is routinely applied to predict the pathway
and strength of most hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones.
The same cannot be said of Mr.
Lee Child's novels in general, and his latest offering, "One
Shot" The opening violent Sequence, detailing what seems to
be the strangely meticulous preparation and execution of a random
long-range shooting in the centre of a busy mid-Western City; is
both low-key and knowledgeable in it's descriptions. The reader,
however, knowing the temper of the previous blades in this particular
armoury, is drawn in but is always looking for the false note which
alerts that a separate agenda is being observed. The only similarity
between Lee Child's "One Shot" and the afore-mentioned
hurricane is the explosive violence which is built-in to the author's
hero, the six-foot five tall, former
U.S. Military Police Major turned drifter named Jack Reacher.
Mr.Child has produced a novel
which does not disappoint, and the clues are all there, as in any
good detective story, but you have to concentrate to throw back
rather than catch the red herrings which are liberally laid out
for the less-than-wary observer to swallow!
His hero, a slightly amoral
man who gets involved despite his desire for anonymity, chooses
his sides with care, his battlegrounds with relish, and his women
with the 'Duke's motto "A man's gotta do"'. I find the
escapist tradition, established by this British author, to be well
followed in this book, with the finer detail of a police investigation
woven well into the warp, and the weft giving the main plot lines
a substantial body which allows the reader to feel the warmth of
the American equivalent of Harris Tweed in literary terms! A firm
recommendation from this reviewer, together with a faint wish that
I might write as well as this some day! MC May05
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