Never Go Back by Lee Child

I am trying to work my way through the selection of Lee Child books on our shelves. I find them easy to read and, if I'm reading at bedtime, they do not tax me too much. Most recently I read Never Go Back. It is the eighteenth book in the Jack Reacher series, although it doesn't really matter the books can be read in any order.

The Blurb

After an epic and interrupted journey all the way from the snows of South Dakota, Jack Reacher has finally made it to Virginia. His destination, the closest thing to a home he ever had: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th Military Police.

Why? He wants to meet the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner. He liked her voice on the phone. But now he's arrived, she's disappeared, and things are getting weird.

Accused of a sixteen-year-old homicide and co-opted back into the army, Reacher says nothing.

But he's sure as hell thinking of a way out.

The Review

The Jack Reacher books each follow an episode in the life of former American Army Major Jack Reacher who wanders across the continental USA righting wrongs and fighting for good to triumph over evil.

In Never Go Back, Reacher speaks to the woman who has taken over his command, he likes her voice and so decides to travel from South Dakota to Virginia to put a face to the name. If you know how huge the USA is, the premise that anybody would travel almost 2,000 miles because they liked the voice at the other end of the phone requires a substantial suspense of disbelief.

Assuming you have managed that, the ensuing action is gripping and exciting. Some of the characters lack definition and are a bit wooden. I also felt that the period of the book where Reacher is in California was much longer than it needed to be and did not advance the story proportionately to the number of chapters it filled. (I felt a stronger edit could have avoided a mucky middle.)

The other part of the book that disappointed me was the end. Bearing in mind this is a book in excess of 500 pages and more than sixty chapters, the ending was abrupt and a bit lazy. An author of Lee Child's experience could have created an ending that was longer, better and more satisfying.

I don't do spoilers and on the whole Never Go Back was a fun read, but in my opinion, it is not the best book by Lee Child. Having said that, his sales speak for themselves, he is a popular author with a tried and tested formula. I wish him well, but I am unlikely to recommend this book to any but the most die-hard Reacher fans.

The Author

Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in New York. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world and have sold over one hundred million copies. Two blockbusting Jack Reacher movies have been made so far. He is the recipient of many awards, most recently Author of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours.