Blue Moon

Jack Reacher, Book 24

By: Lee Child

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Blue Moon is the latest instalment in Lee Child’s internationally popular Jack Reacher series, read by Jeff Harding.

Shortlisted for the Audible Sounds of Crime Award 2020.

As featured on Richard & Judy’s ‘Keep Reading and Carry On’.

Jack Reacher is back in a brand new white-knuckle listen from Lee Child.

It's a random universe, but once in a blue moon things turn out just right.

In a nameless city, two rival criminal gangs are competing for control. But they hadn’t counted on Jack Reacher arriving on their patch.

Reacher is trained to notice things.

He’s on a Greyhound bus, watching an elderly man sleeping in his seat, with a fat envelope of cash hanging out of his pocket. Another passenger is watching too...hoping to get rich quick.

As the mugger makes his move, Reacher steps in.

The old man is grateful, yet he turns down Reacher’s offer to help him home. He’s vulnerable, scared, and clearly in big, big trouble.

What hold could the gangs have on the old guy? Will Reacher be in time to stop bad things happening?

The odds are better with Reacher involved. That's for damn sure.

©2019 Lee Child (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"This is one of his best." (The Times)

Classic Reacher, well narrated by Jeff Harding

Classic Reacher, well narrated by Jeff Harding. Chance meeting with a deserving victim, befriending a damsel (also a victim) followed by identification, analitical assessment and elimination of the bad guys. This is the latest in my Reacher collection. I put this one with the rest of them on the top tier of my library. Nice to hear the good guys, with righteous cause, overcome the odds and defeat the bad guys every now and then.

what happened to Jack Reacher?

I have read every Jack Reacher book and was puzzled with the character change in Jack. the narrator didn't help either.....we've come to know Jack through Dick Hill; please bring him back! so much death and holes in the story, is not what I'm used to. might be the end of the Jack Reacher road for me, sadly.

Disappointed

This was such a change from Lee Child. Extremely violent and not as much finesse as usual.
Reader was very stilted

Excellent

Of course, Jack Reacher (Lee Child) does not disappoint! Loved the book all the way. Riveting as always.

Absolutely CLASSIC Reacher!

This is genuinely CLASSIC Reacher!

But first things first, if you are someone who like gritty realism to underpin a storyline, or who gets irritated when an author plays a bit freely and loosely with his plot lines or even someone who gets frustrated when an author goes back down a classic, well-trodden path rather than constantly evolving things then please look away now. To be helpful I suspect you are not going to agree with what I have to say. No point reading any more. Honest.

Okay . . . have those guys gone now? Yes? Good . . . who cares what those guys think anyway? Who gets to the 24th Jack Reacher book and worries about such trivia? I mean what I say, this really is classic Reacher along the lines of the early books. Reacher, stumbles upon injustice in a place you've never heard of - this one isn't even named - and well, you know what happens. Reacher, with girl in tow, and down-trodden victims to protect, follows his own rather special moral code and chaos ensues. And on this occasion Child literally throws the works at him. Possibly no longer in thrall to Hollywood Child goes all out, if some of the Reacher books have been relatively sedate affairs this one absolutely bucks that trend and basically smashes it to pieces!

It's full of the classic Reacher investigative thinking, amazing fight scenes and of course lots and lots of that quick-fire prose and dialogue that have made these books stand out even in this hugely crowded genre. I doubt Jeff Harding needs any introduction, suffice it to say he crunches through this one with all the hard-edged style we've come to expect from him.

I've no hesitation recommending this to fans of classic Reacher and if anywhere at any point in your internal dialogue about the book you're tempted to ask 'Hey Jack, do you expect us to believe all this?". Don't bother you know what the next line of that story will be . . .

Reacher said nothing.

This book is utter garbage.

I've read all the Jack Reacher books. The last few have been sub par but this one is total rubbish.
All characters are 2 dimensional, although I feel that is slightly insulting to the x and y coordinates.
Nothing makes any sense. Jack Reacher encounters a problem, comes to some poor Sherlock Holmes conclusion about what's probably happening which turns out to be 100 spot on, then easilly overcomes the problem. All bad people are bad and stupid. All good people are good and clever. Reacher just kills a bunch of people with zero effort and zero conscience and zero consequence. Possibly his biggest challenge in the book is going without coffee for a few hours.
The books basically reads like Steven Segal's auto biography, if he'd written one.

the laziest teacher book ever?

Seems like someone asked Childs to write a Reacher novel, he took a pack of instant Reacher, Added one random waitress who seems impervious to mass executions, some convenient crack military personnel who don't mind their lives being put at risk and 2 of the most inept foes ever.

Then stick it in microwave for 3 minutes and , voila, publish.

Just a tedious death filled slog to an inevitable and brief conclusion.

Brilliant

Brilliant story and narration as always, gutted that I’ll have to wait ages for the next one!

Reacher back to his best

I have been waiting for this book with bated breath and it brings Reacher back to his aggressive and destructive best, twenty four books in and still compelling listening helped in no small way by the magnificent Jeff Harding who is a true master of his craft.

Classic Reacher

Loved it. Even though Jack is getting on a bit and he isn’t quite as sharp and lethal as he once was he is still more than capable of dishing out justice. The plot was fairly straightforward, which (to me) was good.
The writing was top notch as usual, very descriptive and full of humour, and as always Jeff Harding is brilliant and I can’t imagine Reacher’s voice in any other way now, the guy could read a dictionary and make it sound thrilling and suspenseful. Long wait for the next one now, hopefully it can be written in first person as I always find those ones a little more enjoyable.

Jack's gone nuts it's blooming fantastic !!

I'm not big on reviews but am a big Reacher fan and had to make a comment on his massive return to form !!!!!

Best Reacher in ages

Have really enjoyed every Reacher audio book from Killing Floor onwards. This however is absolutely brilliant. Finished it in under 3 days (couple of long car journeys in that...). Just great action, fun, pacing and story with characters you root for. Doesn't pad with too much intimate scenes as he's done in the past. Look forward to hearing this again.

Love it!

Jack Reacher entertains non-stop, a great story continuing a very readable series.

Just what you need to switch off immerse yourself in.

Boring, tedious and never ending...

I have listened to all the Jack Reacher stories but never have I fallen asleep so many times. The story was trite, took too long and had too much gratuitous killing. It was a joy to reach the end... finally. The last Jack Reacher I’ll be reaching for!!