Blew it today. The forecast called for all day rain, heavy at times, lightning and thunder, but a window opened in late morning. At noon I went out for one's of Waj's gyros. The sky was ominous, but there was no precipitation. I debated whether to spend a couple of hours at the viaduct, and talked myself out of it. I was soon kicking myself as I laid down to read. Brief glimpses of sun came through the blinds. It's now close to five, and the rain has still not continued.
I've finished another novel in the mystery/thriller genre, Lee Child's taut, no nonsense Bad Luck and Trouble. I respected it from the beginning. The prose is crisp and the narrative goes about its business with no amount of fat, no phony camaraderie or silly innuendo, which is so refreshing. It is a simple story of revenge, told in straightforward language, with an authentic feel, and in a reasonable amount of pages, approximately 200. He gets it. It was the eleventh of his 15 novels, all of which have the same hero, Reacher, an Army brat who did not see the U.S. until he was nine. He was a special forces leader, now retired and living as a drifter. Bad Luck and Trouble reunites the team, who track the murderers of one of its members. Oddly, the author is not American. Lee Child grew up in England and had a successful career at the BBC, including involvement in Prime Suspect, Helen Mirren's excellent, gritty series. He did not begin writing until his mid 40's, when he was fired. He now has homes in Manhattan and the south of France. On a scale of five: I rate Bad Luck and Trouble three-and-a-half. Tami Hoag's A Thin, Dark Line remains my favorite of the genre. Child's prose, which features many intentional run on sentences, is second to Joy Fielding's.
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