Past Tense

	Title:
	Author:	Lee Child
	Published:	November 5, 2018, Delacorte Press
	No. of Pages:	400
	Cover Price:	$28.99 Hardcover, $14.99 Kindle

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Jack Reacher, America’s beloved loner, is back in Past Tense, the 23rd novel in the series by bestselling British author Lee Child. Jack is hitchhiking to California, but sees a sign pointing to a town that he remembers his father was from. Because he is in no hurry, he decides to stop and check it out. When he checks in with the recorder’s office, he is told that no one by the name of Reacher is shown to have ever lived there; Reacher is puzzled, and when he looks into it, opens a can of worms. At the same time, a young couple traveling from Canada has car trouble and ends up at a motel in the same town. The motel management is nice to the couple, at first, but something strange is going on, and the couple is unable to leave.

Jack Reacher fans already know this character, and Child has developed him into an icon. Reacher is so different from most characters in thrillers, and that’s part of the appeal. Reacher gets himself into trouble almost everywhere through no fault of his own, except for the fact that he is there, and often risks his life to save strangers. He is truly one of the most unique characters in modern fiction. Readers know he is ex-military, over 6 feet tall, and in almost perfect physical shape, which makes him appealing to the ladies and difficult to deal with to the men who know he can take them down.

In Past Tense, Reacher does learn some things about his past, his father, and his father’s home town, but those things are not what he expects. Reacher does happen on the young couple, and what happens there is bizarre and unique, even for Reacher.

As always, this Reacher novel is highly recommended. Fans will be on the edges of their seats and new readers will wonder why they haven’t read Lee Child’s novels previously.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.