The Midnight Line Review

The Midnight Line Review
By Alexis Mercer

My Dad and I used to watch Die Hard every year around this time. First it was the original Die Hard. Then we added all the sequels into the tradition, making it more of a marathon. I went off to college with a few VHS tapes: Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and the full set of Die Hard movies.

So in 1997 when Lee Child came out with his first Jack Reacher novel, Killing Floor, naturally my Dad and I ate it up. It was a series based on a supernatural like character, a former Military Police Officer in the Army. Mammoth in physical size, moral in his reasoning, hitchhiking the country with only a toothbrush, comb and debit card and constantly finding himself in situations that required him to flex his muscles and take care of evil.

For 20 years Dad and I have been reading these novels and not a single one has disappointed. Rather like Die Hard movies.

The latest release is The Midnight Line. Once again Reacher finds himself somewhere in America looking to mind his own business. But he comes across a West Point class ring in a pawn shop and makes it his single minded mission to find the owner of the ring he knows someone wouldn’t pawn off as it is a hard earned honor.

Unlike some of the books in the series, Reacher spends more time detecting and working with others to solve what becomes an obviously criminal situation. He retains his uncanny ability to think like the criminal to predict the next step, a true Reacher characteristic.

And he also flexes his physical muscle from time to time to handle the situation.

From the moment the book arrived on my doorstep until the time I flipped to the last page, 9 hours had passed. Three of them spent making dinner, eating and getting ready for the next day. At 1:00 in the morning, I closed the book, completely content with the decision to stay up to finish the book in one shot.

It was quintessential Reacher, one of Child’s best yet.

My dad had the willpower to keep his unopened until Opening Day, which proved to be a good decision since he saw zero deer.

We will sit down this Thanksgiving to watch Die Hard, just like when I was in high school. And we will check to discover the release date for the next Reacher book so we can pre-order it and count down the days until the next adventure begins.

If you are in Newaygo, maybe for Shop Small Saturday, stop by Flying Bear Books to pick up a copy of The Midnight Line. It will be on display near the register.

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