In the footsteps of Ethan Hunt (Mission Impossible), Jason Bourne (Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity fame), Jack Ryan (Tom Clancy's hero), Jack Bauer (24) and of course the legendary unforgettable James Bond (martini, shaken but not stirred), I found another quick thinking, invincible, away from danger without a scratch type of a hero in the form of Jack Reacher in Tom Child's Gone Tomorrow. All hail Jack Reacher! I bet it will be made a movie soon. The last time I heard, Tom Cruise has been rumoured to be casted in the leading role. (Oh,no!)I just completed reading this book which I bought from my last holidays! It is just another thriller with an ala-John McClane (Die Hard) type of a hero who could get away from any situation with his thinking cap and nerdy type of knowledge of plethora of issues. Nerdy book worm, he is not. Reacher is an American ex-Special Forces army personnel with expert know-how on weapons, ammunition and combat. He appears to be a drifter now with no permanent address (that is what I assume from my reading) and no family members to moan for him if ever anything happens to him. The enjoyable part of reading this book is the soliloquy manner of writing in the first person where the hero thinks aloud his thoughts. His reasoning and deductions to coming to a conclusion is much like Humphrey Bogart's role (Sam Spade) in Maltese Falcon!
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| Bogart and femme fatale in Maltese Cross |
The story (see trailer below) starts with Reacher travelling in the subway train at 2am (don't ask why) when he notices a suspicious lady in the same coach who fits the description in his book of experience of a suicide bomber. The only problem was that she committed suicide alright, she shot herself, but no bomb was around! That started a snowball of events with him being on the run. Suddenly, he is wanted by everyone - the NYPD, FBI, an up and coming Senator's henchmen and a mother and daughter team of Ukrainian / Afghan descent.
The benefits of reading a book versus watching the film (as I mentioned before) are the small itsy-bitsy information which are mundane and of doubtful use in daily life that you get from books that no film will ever mention. For example, people are the least alert at 4am in the morning, so if you are planning to attack a nation (like Japan did in Pearl Harbour), that is the best time and the best time to break in to rob a house! The book also educates us of ways to get a fresh shower from a medium range hotel by tipping the home keeping men and to get a good nights' sleep at a hotel by checking in late (very late, past midnight) into the hotel and tipping the front desk for a fragment of the regular cost! And the technical facts about the subway which was not too challenging for a mentally challenged person from a non-engineering background like me.
Reacher's escapade is the result of the hunt for information allegedly held (memory stick) by the suicide victim in a form of sensitive photographs involving Osama Bin Laden and the Senator during his tour of duty. After all the swashbuckling, as usual, the good guys (also known as Americans) came out as victors but the memory stick with all the sensitive information gets run over and crushed in the streets of New York (the big Apple)!
Posted on 11.11.11 @ 11.11am
To commemorate Remembrance Day which is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918; hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice ("at the 11th hour" refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 a.m.)
The benefits of reading a book versus watching the film (as I mentioned before) are the small itsy-bitsy information which are mundane and of doubtful use in daily life that you get from books that no film will ever mention. For example, people are the least alert at 4am in the morning, so if you are planning to attack a nation (like Japan did in Pearl Harbour), that is the best time and the best time to break in to rob a house! The book also educates us of ways to get a fresh shower from a medium range hotel by tipping the home keeping men and to get a good nights' sleep at a hotel by checking in late (very late, past midnight) into the hotel and tipping the front desk for a fragment of the regular cost! And the technical facts about the subway which was not too challenging for a mentally challenged person from a non-engineering background like me.
Reacher's escapade is the result of the hunt for information allegedly held (memory stick) by the suicide victim in a form of sensitive photographs involving Osama Bin Laden and the Senator during his tour of duty. After all the swashbuckling, as usual, the good guys (also known as Americans) came out as victors but the memory stick with all the sensitive information gets run over and crushed in the streets of New York (the big Apple)!
Posted on 11.11.11 @ 11.11am
To commemorate Remembrance Day which is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918; hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice ("at the 11th hour" refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 a.m.)
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