Questions of Travel

Questions of Travel Cover PhotoThere are two parallel stories running in this book. One story is of Laura Fraser, who was born and brought up in Sydney and the other is of Ravi Mendis, born and brought up in Sri Lanka. This book describes life and experiences of two different people. The author has beautifully described in great details the various places and times which both of these people lived.

Its a very slow novel and needs a lot of concentration and regularity in reading. This is the first novel of this kind which I have read. It took me some time to finish this. At the end I feel that there was too many details and the focus of the book was more of an artistic touch. I could not relate with either of the two characters in this book.

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Bad Luck And Trouble (Jack Reacher #11)

Bad Luck and Trouble Book Cover ImageIn addition to his standard folding toothbrush, Jack Reacher started carrying his passport as his identity document and an ATM card to withdraw cash from his account. This is a good progress into the “civilized world” for a guy like Reacher.

One fine day while withdrawing cash, he saw a deposit with a very strange looking number, something which triggered an alarm in his sub-conscious. After validation the source of deposit from his bank, he realized its a call from a fellow officer seeking help, and he proceeded immediately to LA. Upon his arrival he found that 4 out of his old team of 8 special investigators from Army days is missing and perhaps dead. And Reacher got involved in the investigations along with the remaining members of his team. It turns out a mix of arms/defense technology and terrorism related stuff.

It was a pleasure seeing Reacher working in a team, rather than the usual “alone”. He seems to also realize that they are getting out dated in terms of modern methods of investigation and are being out-smarted by other folks. In this case, Reacher manages to secure some finances for himself so that he can continue for some more time without having  to work somewhere in order to replenish his depleting bank reserves.

Let us see what happens in the next book in the series.

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The Hard Way (Jack Reacher #10)

The Hard Way Book CoverJack Reacher is back in the New York City having his favorite coffee shots in a shop and observing the street. He saw and ignore a man getting in a wrongly parked car and driving in it until the next evening when he visited the same coffee shop (quite unusual for Reacher to be at same place twice) again. He found a man inquiring about any customers present last evening.

This changed his next few days when he was involved in investigating the kidnapping of a wife, a daughter and missing driver cum bodyguard. He found himself in the midst of mercenaries and got involved with an ex FBI investigator, visited London, found the truth, tried to correct some wrong doing and so on and so forth.

The Hard Way is another classic Reacher thriller.

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The Enemy (Jack Reacher #8)

The Enemy Book Cover Image“The Enemy” is the 8th book in the “Jack Reacher” series by Lee Child and this book is a class in itself. Unlike the previous books where Jack Reacher was shown as an X-Army MP, an ultimate loaner finding trouble where he goes, this book is a based on Reacher’s past life during his Army days from the 1990’s.

In this book we got a chance to spend some moments spent with Reacher’s mother and brother. We get to know some historical facts about Reacher’s mother from the day’s of the world war II.

The book starts with the death of an Armoured General in a cheap New Carolina motel under disturbing circumstances. Further in the first few pages we get to know that Reacher was transferred out of Panama to North Carolina on the new year’s eve. Then a sequence of murders start, some of which implicate Reacher himself and it was looking like he got himself in trouble with some delta force Sargent’s. Reacher saw that along with 20 other elite unit major’s, his CO, Col Garber got transferred same night and a bureaucratic Col replaces him who did not want Reacher to investigate the murders and bury them. Reacher being Reacher continues the investigation along with a young lady Lt, found the culprits and risk being court martialed but ended up loosing rank and seniority.

A very gluing book, a must read for Reacher fans.

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Persuader (Jack Reacher #7)

Persuader Book Cover Image“Persuader” is the 7th book in the Jack Reacher series. Jack Reacher is an X Army MP Major and has been roaming around the US without any commitments. This makes him an ultimate loaner. However there is one serious problem, that wherever he goes, he finds a trouble and gets deep into it.

This time too, he was having a drink and he saw a face that reminds me of a 10 year old case from his Army days, which he thought to have resolved. He pursues his investigation and is caught up in the drama involving drugs, guns and some action. There isn’t any serious bloodshed in this book and most of the book is purely a detective work wherein Reacher ends up working as a bodyguard in order to find out the person responsible for the murder of two of his MPs. As has happened in his other books (right from the first book), Reacher finds time for some non-committal love and romance with one of the DEA officers, Duffy.

I have been liking the Reacher series and for me it have been very difficult to put down the book, once I started a book. The writing style of Lee Child is as usual very descriptive and sometimes I love the second by second description of thought and events, which often lasts couple of pages easily. Lee Child does a a lot of research for writing these books and this is evident from these descriptive passages.

In my opinion, a good read (3 out of 5 stars) and I am seriously looking to start the next one. Perhaps today 🙂

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