A year or so ago I picked up one of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels (presently being made into a movie with Tom Cruise), and although I didn’t think much of the writing, I burned through it insatiably in a couple of days, and then another, and another. That’s how these books are read I realise, they satisfy some basic part of the lizard brain that wants more fat and sugar more more more, but with all the nutritional value of styrofoam.
On our recent trip to Spain there was a stack of similar books left by other family members, and I tore through one by Gregg Hurwitz in less than twenty four hours. I was struck at how similar it was to the Lee Child books. Lots of manly attention to minutiae to validate the author’s hours of research – no, please, tell me exactly how many clips that gun will take, and how much each bullet weighs, it’s really important to my investment in this story – plus a heavy dose of extreme violence, the hero with just the right balance of utter unfailing competence and sudden fallibility just when it most serves the suspense, and a happy ending, of sorts.
On our recent trip to Spain there was a stack of similar books left by other family members, and I tore through one by Gregg Hurwitz in less than twenty four hours. I was struck at how similar it was to the Lee Child books. Lots of manly attention to minutiae to validate the author’s hours of research – no, please, tell me exactly how many clips that gun will take, and how much each bullet weighs, it’s really important to my investment in this story – plus a heavy dose of extreme violence, the hero with just the right balance of utter unfailing competence and sudden fallibility just when it most serves the suspense, and a happy ending, of sorts.
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| sent from: London, UK. destination: London, UK |
Summer Six Word Novel
Implacable hero.
Ultra violence.
Happy Ending.
It arrived – sorry for the delayed response – I was distracted by hens and turkeys – now THERE is a summer novel 🙂