So, I got to the grocery store to pick up a prescription and discover the pharmacy doesn’t open until 9:00 am. It’s currently 8:45 am, so I have a choice: drive home (5 minutes), do something for 5 minutes, then drive back (another 5 minutes). Or, I could just hang out until the pharmacy opens. I chose the second option.
To kill the time, I went to the book section and picked up the first thing that caught my eye: Worth Dying For, a novel by an author I’d never heard of before: Lee Child. By 9:00 am, I was hooked. So much so, that I immediately went home and bought the Kindle version and spent every free minute over the next several days reading the rest of the book.
Since Worth Dying For is the fourteenth book in the series, I bought the first book (The Killing Fields) as soon as I finished, and pretty much read it straight through. Then I stopped, because I do have to get other stuff to get done in my life.
Granted, these are “guilty pleasure” books; full of action and intrigue, but not particularly intellectual. His writing style reminds me of Louis L’Amour, one of my other favorite authors: he’s great at describing the scene and makes you feel like you’re really there; short on conversation and character development but long on action. The hero of the series, Jack Reacher, is just a guy who wants to be left alone but isn’t afraid to use his unique talents to take care of himself and help others. He’s the “everyman” that every guy wishes he could be. He’s probably a sociopath since he kills and maims without remorse, but the people certainly deserve it (as they say in the South, “He needed killin’.” is a valid defense).
Guys will like these books, girls probably won’t. If you like thrillers then Child is an author you may like, but be forewarned: you may get hooked!