Blue Moon

Jack Reacher #24

by Lee Child

“This is a random universe,” Reacher says. “Once in a blue moon things turn out just right.”

This isn’t one of those times.

Reacher is on a Greyhound bus, minding his own business, with no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. Then he steps off the bus to help an old man who is obviously just a victim waiting to happen. But you know what they say about good deeds. Now Reacher wants to make it right.

An elderly couple have made a few well-meaning mistakes, and now they owe big money to some very bad people. One brazen move leads to another, and suddenly Reacher finds himself a wanted man in the middle of a brutal turf war between rival Ukrainian and Albanian gangs.

Reacher has to stay one step ahead of the loan sharks, the thugs, and the assassins. He teams up with a fed-up waitress who knows a little more than she’s letting on, and sets out to take down the powerful and make the greedy pay. It’s a long shot. The odds are against him. But Reacher believes in a certain kind of justice . . . the kind that comes along once in a blue moon.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Audiobook, Action, Mystery Thriller

469 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2019

About the author

Lee Child was born October 29th, 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV's "golden age." During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of 40 as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars' worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.

Killing Floor was an immediate success and launched the series which has grown in sales and impact with every new installment. The first Jack Reacher movie, based on the novel One Shot and starring Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, was released in December 2012.

Lee has three homes—an apartment in Manhattan, a country house in the south of France, and whatever airplane cabin he happens to be in while traveling between the two. In the US he drives a supercharged Jaguar, which was built in Jaguar's Browns Lane plant, thirty yards from the hospital in which he was born.

Lee spends his spare time reading, listening to music, and watching the Yankees, Aston Villa, or Marseilles soccer. He is married with a grown-up daughter. He is tall and slim, despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise.

Reviews

[Terence M [on a brief semi-hiatus] · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5Stars, rounded ^ to 2Stars - "It was OK".
Actually, the novel was barely OK🤔

The character, “Jack Reacher”, who appears in "Blue Moon", is definitely not the same character as the “Jack Reacher” who appeared in “#5, Echo Burning”, “#11, Bad Luck and trouble”, “#20, Make Me”, or, in fact, in any of the other Reacher novels.

Jack Reacher in Blue Moon behaves like a murderous vigilante. I don’t think he has either killed directly, or been involved in so many killings, in any of the previous Reacher novels. We know he cares for the underprivileged and the wronged, but what happened to his measured compassion? When and why did he acquire this blood-thirsty, kill-at-all-costs vengeance?

As for the plot, well, what on earth was Lee Child thinking when he conceived that the “Albanians” and the “Ukrainians” could lay claim to, and fight over, every criminal enterprise in some un-named town, while paying off the police, the mayor and all other officials? Speaking perfect English in stereotypical East European accents, with lookouts on every corner and spies in every building, the two groups of antagonists are thrashed in every encounter by Reacher and his rag-tag group of character-less nobodies. Guns and ammunition abound, with all the baddies spraying bullets everywhere to zero effect, while dead-eye Reacher and his little mob kill with unerring, one-shot, accuracy.

Unbelievable? Yep, it certainly was. I kept saying to myself: ‘whaaat?’ or ‘yeah, right!’

Enjoyable? Not really. I didn’t want to give it a “1Star, Did not like it” rating, so I settled for a “1.5Stars, It was OK” rating, rounded up.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cards on the table, I’m a long-term Reacher fan, and I’ve read all of the books – but this one is a stinker, the worst book so far!

I didn’t much care for Night School (book #21), but I’ve enjoyed the last two, so I did have high hopes for this one. And it starts out quite well as Jack, in transit, spots a possible robbery and performs a good deed by halting it while it’s in progress. He ascertains that the old guy on the receiving end of the attempted theft is having a hard time of it, and he decides to hang around to see if he can help out. It’s a typical Reacher set-up, an un-named city, which could be anywhere in America, and somebody requiring a helping hand. So far, so good.

Quickly thereafter, we find out that the problems being experienced are financial in nature and brought about by the illness of a daughter. The medical bills are stacking up, and it seems that the medical insurance cover, funded by her employer, isn’t going to pay up. So, a money lender is involved. Organised crime is providing the loan, courtesy of one of two gangs in this city. One gang is made up of Albanians, and the other is comprised of a group of Ukrainians. They tolerate each other, but that’s about to change.

There really isn’t a lot more to say about the plot other than what happens from this point on is so far-fetched as to be laughable. I think someone must have moaned to Lee Child that Reacher hasn’t beaten up enough people in his recent books because here he goes way over the top. So, strike one: the plot is ludicrous.

The next thing that got to me, and it’s something that’s been nagging at me for a while about this series, is that the style is just so fixed and repetitive. The sentences are short and blunt (Reacher ‘said nothing’ and then others ‘said nothing’), the geography is limited to a few set-piece venues that are typically visited a number of times each, Reacher operates with seemingly no interference from outside bodies, there’s a mystery of sorts that will only be cleared up at the very end, and so on. I know this series is successful because readers like what the author does, but isn’t it time to change things up a bit to introduce a surprise or two to keep it fresh? Strike two: I’m now fed up with the sameness of these books.

I did hang in to the end of this tale, but only just. I was getting bored after a few chapters and was pretty much numb by halfway. But I hung on in there for reasons I’m struggling to pinpoint. Maybe I thought the author would redeem himself with a twist or a stellar finish. He didn’t. that’s it then, strike three: dull, dull, dull.

I’m not sure I’ll be back - though I have a feeling I’ve said that before! Because I finished the book I’ve disqualified myself (according to my own scoring system) from awarding it only one star, so two it is, though it hardly deserves it.

[Joanne Harris]

As you know, I'm a fan of Lee Child. This one's pure escapism: well-plotted; action-packed, adventurous. The plot is basically a reworking of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, and it was a lot of fun, but I sense this enormous franchise now starting to feel slightly creaky and tired. In previous books, there's distinctly more characterization, more plot, fewer guns. In this one, there are a lot more guns, but very rudimentary characterization, which may be what the films need, but which I rather miss in print. The love interest, Abby, is such a generic character that if the author hadn't kept describing her (gamine, dressed in black, inexplicably good with a gun, refreshingly undemanding in bed) I would have forgotten she was there at all. The elderly couple he's helping are barely characterized at all. Maybe I'm just tired right now, and this wasn't the book I needed. Maybe on another day I'll re-read it, and it will hit the spot perfectly. On the other hand, all good things come to an end, and I can sense Reacher starting to age. I think that if some of that weariness could transfer to the character's behaviour and interactions, I might enjoy the journey more. As it is, though, I feel that I'm stuck in a loop, going over the same old ground, with someone who does this very well, but who doesn't really want to be there.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I clicked "I'm finished," my thought was possibly with Lee Child. He seems to be a diminishing writer with diminishing stories and a diminished character with Reacher. I listened to this and Scott Brick adds nothing, save further aggravation. 0 of 10 stars

[Paula K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of the Jack Reacher series and have read every book. Blue Moon takes Reacher to a town where the Albanians and Ukrainians are battling for turf. Reacher is helping out a senior couple who are involved with loan sharks from both gangs.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into this storyline. It just wasn’t for me. However, I will be looking forward to the next installment in the series!

I won Blue Moon from a Goodreads Giveaway!

2.5 out of 5 stars

Publication date - October 29, 2019

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Q: This is a random universe. Once in a blue moon things turn out just right. Like now. (c)
Q: “I can’t always win. One day I’m going to lose. I know that. But not today. I know that, too.” (c)
Q: No such thing as impossible. Merely a failure of planning. (c)

Jack Reacher doing his damndest to find trouble. As usual.

A lot of grotesque happening throughout this volume. Basically he goes on a murdering spree, all the way going on about how this is all 'assisted suicide' of gangsters. Just for the hell of it, they slapped Kiev and Moscow on all of it. It explained nicely why JR felt it as all right to leave heaps of bodies around. After all, foreigners aren't real people - right? I'm sure public loves all the oversimplificationa and grand hacking plans that don't make any kind of sense.

Anyway, it was a fun ride, even if a brainless one.

Some fun stuff about Jack Reacher's head which is't just big but also apparently comes equipped with all kinds of nifty gimmicks:
Q:
The clock in Reacher’s head hit twelve noon exactly. ...
Reacher woke up in the gray gloom of night, with the clock in his head showing ten minutes to four. ...
The clock in Reacher’s head showed ten past four in the morning. (c) Just imagine that head!
Q:
He considered himself a modern man, born in the twentieth century, living in the twenty-first, but he also knew he had some kind of a wide-open portal in his head, a wormhole to humanity’s primitive past, where for millions of years every living thing could be a predator, or a rival, and therefore had to be assessed, and judged, instantly, and accurately. Who was the superior animal? Who would submit? (c) No, it comes equipped not only with a clock but with a portal, wide-open one!
Q:
The ancient part of Reacher’s brain took in all the subliminal information, and it flashed an amber warning... (c) And... is that inbuilt warning lights?
Q:
We’re standing by a queen bed. Most women would be edging out the door by now. (c) Now, Reacher must have had some interesting experience.
Q:
“I’ll call her.”
“Why would she talk to you?”
“I have a nicer personality. People talk to me all the time. Sometimes I can’t stop them.” (c)

JR explanes his approach to business in this one:
Q:
I’m sure you have things to do.”
“Generally I avoid having things to do. Clearly a reaction against literal regimentation earlier in my life. The result is I have no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. I’m happy to take a one-mile detour.” (c)

Some fun quotes:
Q:
Reacher had seen all kinds of cities, all across America, east, west, north, south, all kinds of sizes and ages and current conditions. He knew their rhythms and their grammars. He knew the history baked into their bricks. The block he was on was one of a hundred thousand just like it east of the Mississippi. Back offices for dry goods wholesalers, some specialist retail, some light manufacturing, some lawyers and shipping agents and land agents and travel agents. Maybe some tenement accommodations in the rear courtyards. All peaking in terms of hustle and bustle in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth. Now crumbled and corroded and hollowed out by time. Hence the boarded-up establishments and the closed-down diner. But some places held out longer than others. Some places held out longest of all. Some habits and appetites were stubborn. (c)
Q:
He figured what Fisnik needed was a punch in the throat, not contractual respect. (c)
Q:
Once again he went in first. For the same reason. An unknown guy coming in immediately before a target was ten times less subconsciously connected than an unknown guy coming in immediately after. Human nature. Mostly bullshit, but sometimes it rang a bell. (c)
Q:
Not a colossal challenge. Somewhere between major and minor. (c)
Q:
“It’s a free country. If you want your stuff, you should have it. And if they need a message, they should get one.” (c)
Q:
“They might have guns.”
“For a limited period only. After which I would have them.”(c)
Q:
“They’ll send a couple of guys.”
“Like you two? Now I’m really scared.” (c)
Q:
Because he wanted them back on track. Because answering questions eventually became a habit. Start with the easy ones, and work up to the hard ones. A basic interrogation technique. (c)
Q:
“You killed two people.”
“I warned them. I told them not to. All my cards were on the table. It was more like assisted suicide. Think of it that way.” (c)
Q:
I was advised I would enjoy creating patterns I alone controlled. I was advised I would find it helpful, since I could already play a bit anyway. Also I was advised it would get rid of aggression. (c)
Q:
By definition there must be a dozen better plans than what the navy would come up with. (c)
Q:
More than one way not to get eaten. (c)
Q:
“Easy to say, with a gun in my face.”
Reacher shook his head in the gloom.
“Easy to say anytime,” he said. (c)
Q:
Reacher’s gaze, which was steady, and calm, and slightly amused, but also undeniably predatory, and even a little unhinged. (c)
Q:
“You think you’re a smart guy?”
“No, but I’m hoping you are.” (c)
Q:
Last year a federal project ran a set of integrated numbers from all across the nation, and it turned out the two most law-abiding populations in America were the Ukrainian and Albanian communities right here in town. They don’t even get parking tickets. That suggests a very close relationship with all levels of law enforcement. (c)
Q:
“Suppose what you learn is that it’s hopeless?”
“Not an acceptable outcome. Can only be a failure of planning. (c)
Q:
“They’ll be plunged into an existential crisis. Do they want Aaron Shevick the name, or Aaron Shevick the physical human being who borrowed their money and is apparently covertly stirring them up? What, after all, is the nature of identity? It’s a question they’ll have to wrestle with.”
“Are you a West Pointer?”
“How could you tell?”
“The level of bullshit. (c)
Q:
The best fights are the ones you don’t have. Even Marines understand that. (c)
Q:
“You want to move out of state?”
“I would prefer you to.” (c)
Q:
“The man and the woman you were harboring.”
“We weren’t harboring diddly squat. (c)
Q:
I don’t see how his welfare suddenly becomes my responsibility, just because he chose to attack my welfare first. I’m not clear how that works exactly. They started it. They can’t expect me to provide a health plan. (c)
Q:
“We should be magnanimous in victory. Someone said that.”
“Full disclosure,” Reacher said. “I told you before. I’m a certain kind of person. Is the guy in the trunk still breathing?”
“I don’t know,” Abby said.
“But there’s a possibility.”
“Yes, there’s a possibility.”
“That’s me being magnanimous in victory. Normally I kill them, kill their families, and piss on their ancestors’ graves.” (c)
Q:
“You’re taking food to an old couple in the middle of the night.”
“That’s a different word than magnanimous.”
“Still a nice gesture.”
“Because one day I could be them. But I’ll never be the guy in the trunk.” (c)
Q:
People pay money for this kind of thing.”
“Where they get spattered with paint, not bullets.”
“So this is more authentic. They would pay more.” (c)
Q:
“Are you Shevick?”
“No,” Reacher said. “You’re confused about that. You’re confused about a lot of things.” (c)
Q:
Organized crime is more bureaucratic than the post office. (c)
Q:
You must be confusing me with someone who gives a shit. (c)
Q:
“Are you married?”
“No,” Reacher said.
“Don’t you want to be?”
“The decision is only fifty percent mine,” he said. “I guess that would explain it.” (c)
Q:
“No such thing as impossible. Merely a failure of planning. (c)
Q:
Massed targets are always more efficient than running after lone fugitives individually. That would take days, in a place like this. We would be chasing around all over town. Best avoided, surely. We’re in a hurry here. We should let them do some of the work for us.”
“You’re nuts, you know that?”
“Says the guy prepared to drive in a straight line at twenty-five miles an hour toward nuclear-tipped antitank artillery.” (c)
Q:
Mind me asking, is this some kind of moral crusade?”
“What part of our process so far strikes you as moral?” (c)

Once again mangled Ukrainian names:
Q:
Her name was Anna Ulyana Dorozhkin. (c) I totally should take off stars for this.

[Phrynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished Blue Moon I sat for a while and tried to rationalise why I enjoy this series so much. After all there is an awful lot of minutely described violence, which I usually do not enjoy at all. And the idea that Reacher could actually perform and win even half of the heroic battles he takes part in is farcical. Yet I am still here after 24 books and still five starring them.

One reason of course is the author's style. I feel safe in his hands and even when all odds are stacked against Reacher I know for sure that it will all come out well in the end. The violence is so excessive it is impossible to take seriously. It becomes like watching a Superhero movie where bad people die all over the place but the heroes never do.

I like Jack Reacher too. He always helps people in trouble and all the disasters he becomes involved in are for others not himself. I always smile too at his way of life - an eternal nomad who travels with a toothbrush and a passport and the clothes on his back. Oh yes - he has a bank card as well of course to fund his changes of clothes and motel charges.

Blue Moon is an easy read, full of excitement, suspense and likeable characters. I enjoyed it very much.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was alright. In my opinion, it was not the best of Reacher. I felt Lee Child was not enthusiastic while he wrote this book. There were phrases that were repeated extensively. Fans of the series will know how Reacher speaks, but certain expressions were used over and over more than usual. I really don't mind the body count, a conflict between two gangs in a relatively large (fake) city. In the end, Reacher just seems like a cold killer. Will I read the next one? Definitely yes! This one though is a 2.5⭐.

Edit 2021, haha, didn't it show? This was Lee Child's last book before he pass the series to his brother Andrew.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

We readers have just lost one of our fictional but moral good guy heroes. The Reacher of past books--smart and tough with a very strong history of standing up for the innocent--disappears in this latest release. He does still save two people but how he goes about it is over the top and so unlikely as to be laughable. Maybe this was a movie script first?

I really hate to blast a book, especially one by a favored author, but this one is a 2-star at best, The book starts out like most Reacher novels but quickly turns to unrealistic bloodbath vigilantism. Yes, Reacher is helping a family but this time he pulls in four other people, three of whom are civilians with no training, all fighting and killing gangsters. On top of that, the book is packed with overwritten "filler" paragraphs. I appreciate being given a pre-pub reader's version but if this were my very first book by this author, I wouldn't have finished it and I certainly wouldn't go looking for other books of his. Sorry, y'all. This one is an unbelievable dog.

[Jennifer Wagner-Lutman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst Jack Reacher Novel Ever

I have read every Lee Child Novel. I wait every year for the next Jack Reacher to come out. I love these books. This was a colossal fail. The premise of a company not renewing health insurance and nobody knew is ludicrous...people have prescription’s, Doctors appointments, emergencies..etc. Not to mention the absolutely unbelievable characterization of the mobsters, hurts my head just thinking about the stupidity of it. Just a massive disappointment.. I want the 14.99 and the wasted 5 hours of my life back!!!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turning to the latest Jack Reacher thriller, I was very eager to get my hands on it to see what Lee Child had concocted for his most versatile protagonist. The story opens in a nondescript American town that is run equally by Ukrainian and Albanian organized crime. There is a clear demarcation of territory and neither side can really admit to liking the other. Jack Reacher is on his way to said town, aboard the local Greyhound bus. He eyes a man on board who has quite a bit of cash and is at risk of being a mugging victim. After they disembark, Reacher saves Aaron Shevick from just that fate and befriends him. Shevick is secretive, but eventually admits that the money is to pay off a loan that the Albanians have given him. When no one shows up, Reacher counsels his new friend to stay calm, though neither of them realize that the Ukrainians have taken over the loan business and are in an open war with the Albanian mob. When Reacher learns why the Shevicks are forced to receive such lucrative amounts of money, he takes it upon himself to settle things once and for all. However, while the Ukrainians and Albanians are off killing one another, he paints a shiny new target on himself and the Shevicks. With the help of a young lady who knows the organized crime goings-on and some military vets, Reacher engages in his own war to rid the town of these strangling influences. Wherever Reacher is around, the blood will flow and this may be a river rather than a trickle. Another winner from Lee Child in this stellar series that has not lost momentum. Recommended to all Jack Reacher fans, as well as those who love their thrillers told with unique plot lines.

While some seem to bemoan the length of the Reacher series, I have come to love all the twists and turns that Lee Child is able to use, particularly in the ‘modern’ novels. Just when I think that Reacher has done it all, we find a new situation for him to conquer. While there is little room for any backstory in this piece, Reacher remains the rugged and highly interesting man that many series fans have come to expect. Arriving as trouble is laid at his feet, Reacher never shies away, but also does not initially invite it. If there be a damsel in need of taking to bed, Reacher will somehow find a way to do it, but is sure to treat her with respect and bring her in on the plant to solve whatever issue seems to be taking place. Reacher uses his brain as much as brawn and lets no one intimidate him. Even here, with two crime families seeking his head on a post, he is ready to tackle whatever comes before him. Others are just as exciting to find within the narrative, from the down and out Shevicks to the ruthless mob bosses who ask questions after shanking those who cross them. Child has done well to ramp up the excitement and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat as things come to pass. The story is strong and uses some tried and tested Reacher techniques of always moving ahead, while trying to get to know the surroundings. I could not help but notice the mix of seriousness and humour, which always makes these novels a little more enjoyable. I cannot wait to see what is to come, be it more short pieces or full novels, depending on how things turn out for dear Jack!

Kudos, Mr. Child, for another winner. Your fans will likely praise this as another success, which I wholeheartedly do.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Skip · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's horrifying that this book has a GR rating of 4.2. 2 stars is generous. Jack Reacher is riding on a bus, sees a crime developing, and saves an old man from being robbed of a substantial sum of money he needs to repay a loan shark for money used for cancer treatments for his daughter. Jack decides to help, and finds himself as the catalyst in a deadly turf war between rival gangs (Albanians and Ukranians.) The body count is extraordinary, between Jack dispensing justice and the rival gang's actions against each other and even themselves.

NB: GR rating has finally declined below 4 (to 3.97.)

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not been reading Jack Reacher books since the last 2 years or so. But I always find the books entertaining, and are safe reads for me. So, I returned to a Jack Reacher book as the first of the year. I would not rate this as among the best ones, but it is a relaxing & fast read nevertheless.

Reacher is on a bus – as is usual since years, he does not have a very clear destination. He sees an elderly man on the bus with an envelope in his pocket, which he surmises is filled with cash, as the envelope is of the kind banks typically hand out. There is another guy on the bus watching the man as well. As the man alights, the other guy follows, and so does Reacher, and saves the man from being robbed. He learns that the man Aaron Shevick has to hand over the money to some members of a gang as he has taken a loan from them in desperation. The loan is for his daughter’s medical expenses, after her employer halts her insurance sneakily, as the company is on the verge of folding up. Aaron Shevick & his wife have sold all they had to fund the treatment and more expenses are coming up. The town is divided between two gangs – Ukranian & Albanian. As Reacher enters the fray to help Aaron Shevick & his family, the gangs initially end up thinking the other is out to get them. Reacher has help from Abby who worked in one of the restaurants, and also a few others locally. There is a lot of violence to follow, and if you have been reading Jack Reacher books for a while, you know how this is going to end.

The plot progression is somewhat weak in the middle, and the violence is a little repetitive. But then, as with all the Jack Reacher books, this is a relaxing read as well. So overall, a decent start to the year for reading.

My rating: 3,75 / 5.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical Reacher, much more so than the last few books. Much violence in this one. Cold-blooded murder. Has Reacher ever said to a woman “Come with me” before?

[Pamela Small · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will get right to it: what happened to Jack? More importantly, what happened to Lee Child? This installment in the series is definitely an outlier and I have delineated my reasoning:

Exposition:
1. PLOT: ABSURD. Ridiculously undeveloped backstory, motives, etc.

2. SETTING: ASININE/ Non-existent. “West-world” type of fake town. Supposedly in USA, but more like “a galaxy far far away”. The genre is not supposed to be sci-fi!

3. CHARACTERS: POORLY DEVELOPED./UNREALISTIC. Reacher is off- not true to his character. Girl is flat with zero dimension; how does a waitress become a military-like commando overnight? And the non-marine musician also taking up arms? EVERY character is flat.

PACE: slow, boring; finally at 75-85% , the intensity and suspense picks up

General peeves:
>Overuse of frontal lobe and reptilian back of the brain mental processes.
>Overuse of military jargon in the planning and execution of assaults.
> Yes, corruption exists, but absolutely NO police presence AT ALL? At least the fire department’s sirens were heard “in the distance”. I mean, if the police department was bought off, why wouldn’t they be part of the network to find Reacher et al.? No police cruisers looking for Reacher?

OVERALL: INSULTING to loyal Lee Child fans. Beyond disappointing. Probably should be one start. But I reserve that rating for DNF. I labored all the way through this one.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Do you always win?" -- the elderly Maria Shevick, who owes 'big money to bad people'

"So far . . . I can't always win. One day I'm going to lose. I know that. But not today. I know that, too." -- Jack Reacher, staying cool / calm / collected, on page 296

Another fine addition to the dependable Jack Reacher series, Blue Moon has the wandering former military policeman protagonist steered into his latest narrative by some benevolent actions. After interrupting the mugging attempt of an elderly male (who was carrying an oddly large amount of cash), Reacher finds that said man and his wife - and many of the citizens of their small city - are under the thumbs of local loan sharks. To add a nice twist to it, these moneylenders are part of two vicious organized crime factions - rival Ukrainian and Albanian mobs, who operate independently per an uneasy truce - that control many legitimate facets of the community. Naturally, Reacher won't stand for such malfeasance and is soon majorly mucking up the carefully arranged illicit systems by instigating warfare between said factions. While the story was often missing a sense of danger - Reacher was adorned with too much 'plot armor,' guaranteeing his success or rendering suspense at a low level - it was admittedly cathartic reading about the felonious scumbags succumbing to their base instincts and eliminating each other because love of money (or control) clouds their judgement.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve always enjoyed the fast-paced, no holds barred nature of the Reacher series. But I’m starting to feel a bit tired of it. This novel seemed to rely even more on body counts and violence and less on any attempt at characterization and plot than past installments.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Jack Reacher. I have over the years primarily read this series on audiobooks. Dick Hill has narrated all the series until the last book when he retired. To me, Dick Hill was Jack Reacher. I am a fan of Scott Brick, the new narrator of the series, but I am having problems adjusting to Brick as Reacher. Oh well, I will adapt.

In this book Reacher takes on two gangs to help an elderly couple who have borrowed money from the gangs. The book is well written and the plot twists and turns. The story is action packed with lots of violence. The book is easy to read and almost impossible to put down. Lee Child’s is a master storyteller. I can hardly wait for the next Reacher book.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is eleven hours and twenty-one minutes. Scott Brick does a good job narrating the book. Brick is a well-known award-winning narrator.

[James Thane · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I've enjoyed this series, I think it may be running out of steam. There's getting to be a certain inevitability to all of these plots and anyone who's read most of the series is almost certainly going to be at least a few paragraphs, if not a couple of chapters, ahead of this story all the way.

It begins well. Reacher is riding on a bus, with no particular destination in mind, when he spots a vulnerable old man and a younger man who seems almost certainly intent on assaulting the older man and stealing the thick envelope of money that the older man has carelessly left hanging out of the pocket of his jacket.

The bus stops in some unnamed city in middle America and Reacher follows the pair off the bus. Sure enough, as always Reacher's instincts are impeccable. The young guy moves in on the older man; Reacher puts the assailant out of commission and walks the old man safely home. It turns out that the man and his elderly wife are in desperate financial trouble and as a last resort, they have borrowed money from loan sharks who are closing in on them. Reacher sympathizes with the couple and decides to intervene on their behalf.

So far, so good, and I really liked the fact that this story seemed headed in the direction of a relatively small-scale operation with Reacher coming to the aid of a troubled elderly couple rather than having to save the entire town or even the entire world. But then it turns out that two rival gangs, one Ukrainian and one Albanian, have divided the town and are extorting money from practically every business in town. The loan-sharking operation is only a small part of the larger picture.

In for a penny, in for a pound, and before long Reacher has created a gang war with himself right in the middle of it, and at this point, the book went off the rails, at least for me. What follows is a series of set pieces in which Reacher takes on elements of each gang in turn, annihilating the gang members one at a time, then a couple at a time and then several at a time. There's very little imagination involved here and absolutely no suspense. You know how the story is going to end, although you can't imagine how high the body count will be by the time you finally get there.

I confess that, after reading twenty-four of these books, I'm losing my enthusiasm for them, at least a bit. But it seems to me that the author is as well. This book did not seem nearly as fresh and inventive as many of the earlier books in the series and I would advise anyone new to the series to begin somewhere much earlier than this book.

[Nick Brett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where do I start with possible the worst Reacher book of all them all?

Reacher ends up in a nameless city, saving someone from a mugging and then getting caught in the middle of two crime gangs, one Albanian and one Ukrainian. Author Lee Child tends to write short bits of dialogue and not bother filling in much, but here he doesn’t really bother to present any realistic scenario at all. The unnamed city seems to have no visible Law Enforcement or even citizens that are not, gangsters, Reacher’s friends or informers to the gangs. Lee Child can’t be bothered to fill in any gaps and make the city feel real. Reacher has become a psychopath, happy to murder people all over the place, yet as a reader, you are expected to still root for this because they are bad guys. He’s lucky though, he tips a waitress for two pizzas and coffees and that’s enough for her to sleep with him.

And this is so lazy. Reacher and Ms “Tip me and I’m yours” wander around as the entire community watches out for them and informs on them until someone catches up with him and he despatches them. Repeat.

Lee Child tends to re-write the same plot, (Reacher-small town in middle of nowhere-bad guys-mystery or secret-female cop) and that was getting far too tedious. Great character but the author was running out of things for him to do. So this is different. But worse, oh, so very very worse.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

Tons of reviews for this one already. I'm a fan but this was not one of my favourites. Just had a problem accepting that 30-40 people can die violently in a small city with practically no police response. But I did enjoy the story of the elderly couple & the characters that made up Reacher's posse.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Moon is the 24th in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child and once again it’s a farfetched, well written explosion of entertainment! Riding the Greyhound bus, Reacher sees an old guy on a seat ahead of him, asleep, with an envelope hanging out of his pocket. He also sees another guy watching the old man. When the bus stops and the old guy gets off, the other man follows and although it’s not Reacher’s stop, he also gets off.

The small town was in the middle of a turf war between the Albanians and Ukrainians; the old man whom Reacher had decided to help was mixed up in the problems. What followed over the next few days was usual Reacher fare, with those on his side much better off than those who weren’t…

I haven’t read a Reacher in awhile, but once again I loved it. Full on action, electrifying pace with plenty of bodies and Reacher always coming out on top. Would he always though? There will be a time when he won’t win – but perhaps not today! Highly recommended for Reacher fans!

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wondering Reacher soon comes to the aid of an elderly gentleman having clocked an envelope of cash and a loitering mugger soon to strike on a Greyhound bus.
Reacher's moment if aid soon leads him into an even bigger fight between to rival gangs.
These type of action packed fast paced thriller's are exactly the reason why I still enjoy reading this series so much.

Jack soon learns the reason why elderly Aaron Shevick has that amount of money on him is due to spiralling debts as both Aaron and his wife Maria are desperately trying to paid for their daughters cancer treatment by resorting to loan sharks.

The American Healthcare system seems quite topical at the minute from this side of the pond.
Lee Child is able to express what many Brits feel when it comes to the eye watering amounts for life saving treatments.
I seen some figures in the new recently and just couldn't quantify the numbers...

While I don't think this anywhere near the best in the series, having that emotional investment to the Shevick's helps push the narrative forward.
The rest of the novel follows pretty familiar ground as Reacher is willing to fight for those who he believes have been wronged.

A decent entry in the long running series.

[Veronica ⭐️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

*https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
Blue Moon reads as a standalone if, like me, you are new to the series.

When Reacher helps an elderly man after an attempted mugging he inadvertently gets caught up in the Albanian and Ukrainian turf wars in an unnamed American city.

Once Reacher becomes involved you know the odds move in your favour. But it’s not an easy road to recompense.

Reacher teams up with an unlikely bunch of civilians, Hogan an ex marine, Barton a musician, Vantresca an ex Army Commander and Abby a waitress to do battle with both the Albanian and the Ukrainian gangs. The fighting was brutal and bloody and I wondered whether this group would really shake it off so easily.

What starts as a minor take-over, in the city’s criminal underbelly, escalates to an out of control tit for tat as the two gangs have no idea what they are fighting over.

The story is filled with plenty of action and danger, including blow by blow descriptions as every situation is sized up in full detail.
The inclusion of dry humour is a respite from the violence. The body count is high in this novel. I lost count at forty-five!

If you are new to the series or already a Reacher fan this book will not disappoint.

[Truman32 · Rating 2 out of 5]

In his newest Jack Reacher thriller, Blue Moon, Lee Child has made the rather unusual decision to turn his much-loved hero to the underdog into the villain. It is now the scores of Ukrainian and Siberian gangsters that need a Jack Reacher type savior to protect them from the real Jack Reacher who is indiscriminately killing everyone he dislikes. Now, as the foul language I loudly use in front of children and grandmas as well as my extremely revolting choice of pornography (usually involving otters wearing open-toed shoes so I can ogle their adorable little otter-toes) will attest I am not a prude. But holy cow? The senseless violence and killing in the book is C to the R to the A to the Z to the Y. CRAZY. And this is the toned down version of the book. A friend with a job high up at Child's publishing house showed me an earlier draft and this one had Reacher murdering many more people he considered “bad guys”. The bagger at Piggly Wiggly who placed Reacher’s cantaloupe on top of his loaf of bread, the barber that took a little “too much off the top” of Reacher’s mullet, and the Taco Bell worker who forgot Reacher’s extra fire-sauce packets all had their necks broken in the earlier draft.
The thing that gets me is that none of these mobbed up guys are fleshed out. We do not know why Reacher is killing them other than they are in the Ukrainian or Siberian gang. Many of the people Reacher kills are simple guards. Let me tell you a story. A few years ago I hurt my back and I lost my job. The only work I could find was as a sentry for an outfit called SPECTRE guarding their diamond powered super laser. Sure, I knew my boss Ernst Blofeld was a jerk and probably up to no good, but I had bills to pay and hungry children that demanded milkshakes and tacos. I had no choice. Now do I deserve to get my neck broken and have my lifeless corpse thrown in the back of a Lincoln town car? I don’t think so. I volunteer at my church and help coach my kid’s pickle ball team.
Blue Moon contains a lot of action (something that seemed missing from the previous books) and another terrific setup involving Reacher protecting an older gent who is in deep with the loan sharks. But a lack of character development (particularly involving the gangsters) as well as Reacher’s somewhat unnerving propensity to just kill his foes (even while incapacitated or knocked unconscious) makes this story a lesser entry in an otherwise fun series.

[Metodi Markov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review on English, followed by the Bulgarian one. Ревюто на английски е първо, следва това на български.

Wow, for the first time Lee let Reacher off the leash and boy, I did liked every page of it!!!

This book is a real page turner and it kept me awake till the den of night.

Despite some minor plot problems it's a great read. Well, some Russians and some mobsters can find it a bit depressing. 🤣😂

———————————————————————————————

Леле, какъв страхотен екшън. Лий пуска на воля Ричър за първи път и аз се насладих максимално на всяка една страница!!!

Книгата е много увлекателна, държа ме буден до ранни зори.

Въпреки няколкото пробойни в сюжета, си е страхотно четиво. Е, някои руснаци и гангстери могат да се депресират яко от развитието на сюжета.🤣😂

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

As escapist vigilante fiction, this is a three star read. As a Jack Reacher tale, it rates much lower.

I’m a long-time fan of Jack Reacher, the smart, capable ex-military cop with a fairly steady moral compass. In this story, though, Reacher is more blood-thirsty commando than cop. While in previous books he readily used violence to achieve a goal, here he seems to revel in it with over-the-top bloodshed and mayhem. The beheaded guy sent up in the elevator was an especially egregious incident.

Reacher ostensibly is doing this to help out an elderly couple who are in debt to the local mob. But even the reasons behind this debt and the urgency of obtaining money don’t ring true. The story of life-saving procedures and tests being withheld until payment being made ahead of time is pure, unadulterated BS. The doctors and hospitals would proceed with treatment and try to get payment afterwards, not demand it ahead of time in a life and death situation.

In addition, Reacher is aided in his bloody task not only by some ex-military types (who would have knowledge about guns and attack procedures) but by some civilians who really wouldn’t have a clue and shouldn’t be so eager to join in. Reacher’s apparent love interest, a waitress with no given history of any kind of relevant experience, not only jumps in to the breach like a pro, she sounds just like Reacher in her assessment of the situations. Numerous times I had to check back to see who was speaking when she gave her opinion of motivations and actions.

I’m not sure if Child wrote this while watching a marathon of Rambo-type movies or if he deliberately is changing course and character for the series. If so, I am not a fan.

[Uhtred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Child's books starring Jack Reacher are certainly not literary masterpieces, but they never disappoint, and this too deserves 4 stars. If a reader already knows Reacher, he/she knows what awaits him/her by reading his new adventure and also in this case we find all the ingredients that made famous this ex-army policeman: physical prowess, his own interpretation of Justice (which most of the times it does not coincide with justice understood in the legal sense), irony and self-irony, an analytical and very fast mind, in addition to his now famous shots of pure violence towards the various criminals that he encounters from time to time on his way. In this episode Reacher, who as usual is going quietly on his own throughout the USA, finds himself involved in an affair where he has to deal with the mafia war between Ukrainians and Albanians in a small town and where some usurers are humiliating and robbing an old couple who need money for their daughter's health. Guess who will help them, and guess how it turns out. A massacre.

[kartik narayanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blue Moon is not the best Jack Reacher story but it is certainly better than the previous instalment in the series - Past Tense.

While the body count is probably the highest in the series, I liked that Jack Reacher showed small amounts of vulnerability and that age is catching up with him. He is still Superman/James Bond/Jason Bourne rolled into one but this character arc is a bit more believable - as far as action thrillers go.

Other aspects of the book which made it a bit more palatable is the addition of bunch of people who side with Reacher. This allowed for some kind of interactions and drama which would not be present otherwise.

Sadly though, it feels like Lee Child is on a downward slope with his writing since he keeps repeating an idea/dialogue multiple times at different places in the book. These ideas vary from place to place but they are milked thoroughly for what they are worth.

Nevertheless, fans will enjoy Blue Moon and I still look forward to reading more Jack Reacher stories.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 24th outing for Jack Reacher (published in 2019) and I thought about giving it only 2 stars. It's not that I'm tired of the character or series but this one definitely took off into a fantasyland for me. I still found it entertaining. It starts in a standard Reacher way--Jack gets off a Greyhound bus in a city and then saves an old man from being robbed. It turns out the old guy is deeply in trouble with a loan shark. I like how Reacher helps the guy deal with the problem. But it turns out that Reacher has put himself in between two rival gangs--the "Ukrainians" and the "Albanians"--who have divided up the unnamed (generic) city. Reacher is soon taking on the gangs and the bodies begin to pile up on the streets. The ethnic gangsters seem to be especially inept and, in any gunfight, they make excellent targets, just like the stormtroopers in Star Wars. I kept asking, where are the police in this town? They were supposed to be controlled by the gangs so you'd think they would be helping the gangs to catch Reacher--which would put him in a bad spot--fighting the cops as well as gangsters.
So I think the series got detached from reality in this one. All Reacher was lacking was a cape so that he could fly around the city after the baddies. I think I'll go back and read some of the earlier ones I've missed rather than read any new Reachers that come out now!