PositiveNew York Journal of BooksThere is great fidelity in this first, co-authored Reacher book to the fully formed gestalt of its predecessors ... But some things are missing. The pace for this book is more of a canter than a gallop; that showed particularly in the closing chapters, which heretofore have been impossible to stop reading. The mystery inThe Sentinel felt too convoluted, and hence making for a protracted denouement. There are times when the writing felt more like filler, rather than driving the story forward ... This may seem a tough review. In fact, however, The Sentinel is quite an enjoyable book because of its fidelity to the Reacher brand and character[.]
Lee Child
PositiveNew York Journal of BooksThe fight scenes are amazing when those full of themselves make the mistake of violating Reacher’s basic rule of (non) engagement. Each novel’s tempo grows in pace, driving the story like a drumbeat to its satisfying resolution (and the reader’s relief). The finale of Blue Moon feels like the third stage of a moon rocket, exploding toward its destination. Wernher von Braun would be proud. Then Reacher again is back on the road, as if nothing had happened. He neither needs nor takes any reward. \'Once in a blue moon things turn out just right.\' Our internal code of justice, a moral true north, has been served. While that’s never easy, when it happens it feels like a priceless commodity.
Lisa Gornick
RaveNew York Journal of BooksLisa Gornick, as a writer and a psychoanalyst, beautifully reveals the natures of a host of characters: rich and poor, drunken and abstemious, impulsive and cautious, artistic and crass, and those who are noble though not of nobility and those of (mostly American) nobility who are far from noble. She gives us a four-generational tale that begins and ends with hope ... A great novel, which this surely is, transports us through time, place and into the souls of its characters ... You will be deeply moved. You may cry at the end of this novel. Gornick has given her readers a tale suffused with pathos and moral imperative, which tugs kindly and powerfully at our hearts.
Lee Child
RaveNew York Journal of Books\"Lee Child’s new novel is more measured—cerebral—in its exposition [than his previous novels], which allows for the suspense to more methodically reach its boiling point. There are still the signature explosive fights and confrontations that Reacher fans love, and he continues to dispatch those that dare perturb him or don\'t treat others right, no matter how tipped against him the odds may be ... A reader\'s heart often sinks when there are but 100 or so pages to the finish of a Reacher book. That\'s because we don\'t want Mr. Child\'s storytelling to end, however much one wants the suspense to be resolved ... The walls of two deadly and one family plot converge in the closing chapters of Past Tense. What has been said about being a \'page-turner,\' the crescendo that propels a reader forward certainly applies here.\
