Book info

• Title Past Tense
• Author Lee Child
• Year 2018
• Genre Thriller

The present can be tense... A young couple trying to get to New York City are stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. Before long they're trapped in an ominous game of life and death. But the past can be worse... Meanwhile, Jack Reacher sets out on an epic road trip across America. He doesn't get far. Deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been - the town where his father was born. But when he arrives he is told no one named Reacher ever lived there. Now he wonders: who's lying? As the tension ratchets up and these two stories begin to entwine, the stakes have never been higher for Reacher. That's for damn sure.

Thoughts

This started out as two separate stories that eventually converge. On the one hand, Reacher is digging into his family history, which is always interesting because it’s a fascinating family and one that still holds plenty of secrets. On the other hand a young couple are being kept at a motel, initially by coercion and eventually by force, and it takes a while before we realise why and what kind of danger they are in. Reacher to the rescue, hooray! We learn some secrets, do some heroic stuff, and as always, leave town at the end. Not a bad read in the Reacher canon!

Rating: 4 / 5