The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Another catch up post on books I have read,  this one  between March 23 and April 1, 2021.  Again about my favorite character action novel, Jack Reacher .  However this one Lee Child has teamed up with Andrew Child as authors.  Unusual as Lee has written  24 Reacher thrillers solo.  The book is another outstanding Reacher tale, 351 pages hardback.

  A cyber attack on the municipality of Pleasantville, TN has Rusty Rutherford, the IT manager who has been fired  and blamed for the cyber attack not believing this really happened.  Enter Reacher who prevents an ambush of Rusty.  So Reacher suspects something is wrong  and sure enough, hapless Rusty needs all the help Reacher can give and then some.  A very timely novel with the cyber attacks that have happened attributed to Russia.  

Inside cover flap

Page 58 Amusing ,top paragraph about
mathematics and probabilities

 

Back cover flap and authors back cover

Page 90 Reacher traits and driving  top paragraph

Night School by Lee Child

In March-April I read Night School, published 2016 purchased at local Library book sale and my favorite author character.  Soon I will have read everyone of these mystery, suspense, action novels that all center on Jack Reacher./  From time to time I pause from reading these and try something different but for pur entertainment I always prefer these.  I am excited to learn that Amazon is  underway with a contract to make the Reacher novels into Amazon movies   and with an actor who more physically resembles the character Reacher than Tom Cruise who was in the only other  movie made some time ago.  This one is  369 pages.  And as with allthe others I have read another 5 *****.  

There are some great descriptions throughout this book.  Typical of the good writing.   For example, page 242,.." ..Wolfgang Schlump on a stool at the bar. Not an impressive specimen.  Dark hair, dark eyes, lean dark face, built like a shivering dog.  But useful.  About to be more useful."

In Night School Reacher is still in the Army which differs from the previous where he was out and on his own.  Several old Army rules are pointed out that become ingrained in Reacher and will show up in other novels,  "eat when you can."  Reacher recruits the best soldier he knows to help him in his task to find the American who has been leaking and now demanding  a hundred million dollars from Jihadists in Germany.  The soldier is Sgt. Frances Neagley, perhaps she will be in other novels.  Page 30, " She was in woodland pattern battledress uniform, the sleeves neatly rolled, her forearms on the table.  She had dark hair, cut short and dark eyes and a tan.  Her skin looked soft but he was sure it wasn't.  He had seen her in action.  She was fast and exceptionally strong.  She would feel hard and solid underneath.  But he didn't know.  He had never touched her.  Never even shaken her hand..".  

Reacher gets chewed out by his boss for this mission, Sinclair who knows she needs his skills and tolerates him but tries to set him straight.  "So you broke the law but only because you thought you had a good reason.  You and everyone else.  There are lots of good reasons.  Too many good reasons.  Which is why we have a special structure to decide between them. when they compare one against the other.  That structure is called the National Security Council.  We weigh things up and we judge priorities.  You just blew a year's hard work, major.  You should resign.  Before the after action report comes out.  You'll get a better deal that way........." 

 

 Reacher will have his own hunches and tactics and cause grief for Sinclain and others but  through the twists he is victorious.  

EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN by Janet Evanovich

 

Published in 2011,a paperback I picked up at a bargain book sale and had on my shelf. 

A few months back,  maybe February March 2021, I retrieved it.   When I needed something quick to read this fit.

I have not tracked the numbers of these  books that I've read and enjoyed over the years,  although she has written these consecutively.  They all feature the misadventures of New Jersey,  Bail Bond bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. This is another good  fast read.  334 pages.  The characters are the same, her assistant Lula is a kick, Vinnie the owner of the agency,  main squeeze  Detective Morellii, and Ranger.  Although I am very fond of Stephanie's grandmother, an aged Stephanie always willing to assist.  An easy 4 stars,  nothing literary or  over the top just a good  move along  type of novel mystery.  

Poland by James A Michener

 

This was the third time I have read this masterpiece, all 556 pages and I believe this time I got more out of it than ever.  I began to read it on December 19, 2021 in my new era of widowhood, all alone now. Usually I pull a classic lengthy tome from my study during the summer but this was to be a long cold  winter for me. So I went to the shelves of the study and saw Poland,  time to read it again.  I am glad I did.  

It took me until March 4, 2021 although I did  not read daily and did have another book or so interspersed. Maybe it is my fascination with my full 100% Polish ancestry, my genealogy searches , or my being the last of the family that  leads me to savor so much of this history.  I have always been a Michener fan and have every book he has ever written on my study shelf.  This novel about Poland was  published 1983 and I have my original First Edition, handback.  It was not considered one of his best but to me it is outstanding.  I savored every piece of history along with the fictional characters.  Beginning and ending in the Forest of Szczek, and Buk vs Bukowski the novel tells tales of the Polish people.  From the Tatars whom even Genghis Khan could not subdue (pag. 25)  all through to the Russian tanks withdrawal into the forest in December 1981.  

Maps inside the book, back hard cover.  History here as now in 2021 the names of the countries are different as are the boundaries.  

 

Above are the cover flaps which I still have with my copy, this gives a decent summary. 

To the right a Book Review from 1984 a  Northern California newspaper where we lived.  I have several clippings inside the book which I have kept for years.

Although I purchased my copy just as soon as it was available. back before Amazon through an old time Bookstore where a proprietor ordered newest books for customers. Another bit of history of life that  is  long gone.  Today so much on e-readers.,  So many books are published  in e-editions only.  But back then, books were books .  And although I do have a Kindle app and read some things on it, I still prefer to hold a book in my lap to read.

And last a  two part copy of the review I clipped and saved from the Chicago Sun Times

For some reason Blogger is twisting the order of these 2, the photo is part 1 and the  other columns are part 2 and I am tired of trying to get it adjusted, I have cut and reinserted, but Blogger is being weird so I will let this be. 

And now Poland has returned to my library shelf with the rest of the Michener books. Who knows what I will reread next or when I will read this again.