Lee Child - Crime & Beyond Book Club

Kerry Hammond is back with her report from the Crime & Beyond Book Club. This time Jack Reacher is in town and there's a pop quiz that should keep you on your toes. 

Crime and Beyond met this past month to discuss Never Go Back by Lee Child. Our club has read several Lee Child novels and many of us are huge Jack Reacher fans. We even had a Jack Reacher/Lee Child quiz to test our knowledge of both the character and the author. The questions are listed in this review with the answers at the end, in case anyone wants to test their knowledge.

Readers who follow the series may remember a previous book in which Jack spoke on the telephone to Major Susan Turner. Reacher really enjoyed talking to Major Turner and liked her voice so much that he decided he needed to meet her. In Never Go Back, Reacher finally makes it to Virginia to meet her, after traveling all the way from South Dakota. When he arrives he finds that she’s been arrested and being held in an army prison. Reacher knows Turner is innocent, how could someone with a voice like that be guilty? But when he starts to get involved he is reinstated to the army and charged with causing the death of a guy he beat up 16 years ago (what, Reacher beat someone up?) and is told that there is also another issue - a woman is claiming that she gave birth to his child. Said child is now a teenager and living in California with her mother. So Reacher does what anyone would do, he sets out to prove his and Turner’s innocence, and find out if he’s a father.

Never Go Back was a fun read, very entertaining and interesting. We liked the fatherhood angle because it showed some vulnerability in our manly man. Reacher always travels alone, even though he invariably stops to help people along the way. It was fun to have a sidekick for him in this book, and Turner was a great person to fill the role. There was a lot of action and some butt kicking, both Reacher’s trademarks. At least one male member of Crime & Beyond admitted to liking Reacher’s approach to life. As usual, some of the ladies questioned his disposable clothes and hygiene. Still others agree that we will take him just as he is.

So here are some fun questions to test your knowledge of Jack Reacher and his creator, Lee Child.

•    How tall is Jack Reacher?
•    How much does Reacher weigh?
•    What color are his eyes?
•    In what city was he born?
•    What is the birth date he shares with Lee Child (month and day)?
•    How is his full name listed on his birth certificate?
•    What is the first book in the Jack Reacher series? 
•    What number in the series is Never Go Back?
•    What is Lee Child’s real name?
•    What doesn’t Jack have that almost every other adult American has (there are a lot of answers to this, but one that really stands out)?

After reading the book, many of us could picture it turning into a movie. We looked it up and sure enough, it may be the second Reacher book to grace the big screen. I can’t wait. I wonder who will play Turner.

Highlight the text below to see the answers to the Reacher quiz.

Answers to Quiz:

(1) 6’5” (2) 250 lbs (3) Blue (4) Berlin (5) October 29 (6) Jack-None-Reacher (7) Killing Floor (8) 18 (9) Jim Grant (10) A 

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