Book Synopsis:
July 1977. Jack Reacher is almost seventeen, and he stops in New York City on the way to visit his brother at West Point. The summer heat is suffocating, the city is bankrupt, and the mad gunman known as Son of Sam is still on the loose. Reacher meets a woman with a problem, and agrees to help her . . . but then the power grid fails and the lights go out, plunging the lawless city into chaos. What does a visiting teenager do in the dark? If that visiting teenager is Jack Reacher, the answer is plenty.
Review by Ethan McKenzie
5-Star
Have you ever stayed awake at night thinking about…?
“Free country,” That’s what you’re working for, right? – Reacher. To me, is it really a free country, what do you think?
This novella has an unique setting during Jack Reacher is a teenager, 16 years old during his early days in 1977. Although he is only 16, his built, thoughts and maturity of a young man waiting to impress. However, I do find that his guts are way beyond a 16 year old teenager.
Jack Reacher in this story is a 16 years old boy with thoughts and maturity of a fine young man. The author puts great pains bringing me back to 1977 where Jack is a teenager. He’s street smart, intelligent, resourceful but a little playful at times. This novella did not said much about his mother, but I think she is another woman that I would want to meet in real life. In short, Jack Reacher is quite a likeable boy with thoughts that surprises people around him. When I read this novella, there is this character, Son of Sam who is a mobster. This person really terrifies people even myself, a suspense/thriller writer. If I were Jack, I wouldn’t want to stand in his way. Although, he terrifies people, but I like that way Lee Child describe him totally different from most mobsters that I have read. Another character I liked while reading High Heat is that the woman that Jack is helping despite his teenage age of 16. This brunette is older than Jack. She is constantly showing Jack how to grow up, but Jack showed her an adventure that was about to begin. I would rather hang in here and not to give away too much.
I felt that Jack is in a situation that he does not want to be. He would rather mixing around with college girls rather than messing around with the mobster, Son of Sam. To me, he’s an accidental hero happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time. I also enjoyed the fact Reacher and his companion roamed New York City and stepped onto someone’s toes who happened to be a mobster, Son of Sam. I also found out that Jack has an uncanny ability to observe what is happening around him and used it to his advantage to help the police nab the murderer. The plot is simple to follow and is suitable to most people, even young adults. There are some scenes that really caught me by surprise. Rest assured that if you think you are able to identify who are the good and bad guys, think again.
This is my first time reading Lee Child – Jack Reacher series. This book is a great book with lots of surprises, twists. This book is great for teens, young adults, and even mature readers like myself. If you like great suspense thriller like what I like to write, you’ll definitely get lots of entertainment and enjoyment out of this novella series.
If you like :
- John Grisham’s The Racketeer
- James Patterson’s Gone
- Tom Clancy’s Command Authority
- Sandra Brown’s The Witness
you’ll definitely get lots of entertainment out of this novella series! It’s also a similar to James Patterson style of novels.
Before you read this book, you may want to check Jack Reacher’s Rules (Jack Reacher Novels) and Secrets and Lies – (A Suspense Thriller Novel). These books has similar plot.
If there’s one thing I’d change about this book, it would be to create the image that Jack Reacher to be more of a young adult rather than a teenager. Why I said that is because, Jack’s age in this novella is way too mature to handle too complex matters of crime. I believe Lee Child should be consistent on his approach on developing the Jack Reacher character.
This book looked great on my Kindle app on my iPad. It has good formatting and layout.
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