Bad Luck and Trouble - a review

I'm really getting through a fair few crime novels of late. Recently, I've read Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child, which was a twisting, turning and satisfying violent tale (as is to be expected from Mr Child) that sees Jack Reacher (his itinerant, ex-MP hard man/drifter) hook up with his old army unit to try and solve the murder of an ex-member of said unit.

Involving a team, as opposed to the one-man army ethic of previous novels, this story was something of a departure - and a welcome one at that. Most of the ancillary cast did play second-fiddle a little to the uncompromising, larger than life Reacher, but that was to be expected.

The story opens in typical attention grabbing, seat of the pants style with one of reacher's buddies, who he hasn't seen in years, being thrown out of a helicopter over the desert. Why? We don't know yet. Who? We don't know that either. Child is something of an expert at posing such questions early on, and throwing his characters right into the middle of the mix, so that they have to work backwards and forwards to ge the answers.

Child, as always weaves a wonderful tale that is shot through, straight from the barrel of a sig sauer, with numerous plot twists and plot shifts. There's the obligatory betrayal, revealed nicely through the course of the narrative and a very pleasing, cyclic ending.

It's a real page-turner (I can't think of a single novel of his that isn't), with a massive number of chapters (all part of the narrative drive) that produce a kind of staccato bullet fire approach to reading it.

If you've not read a Lee Child book before, I'd suggest picking this one up. It's a nice departure from the norm, is very easy to get into and offers a little insight in Jack Reacher's background.

I look forward to reading Lee Child's next novel, Nothing to Lose, with great interest and anticipation.