Ashby brings class to an often times heartbreaking tale of forgiveness. Once in a Blue Moon is a trek through conflicting emotions, long withstanding mistakes and perhaps a second chance to make everything right. Yet, foolish pride can be a bitter pill to swallow when it comes to matters of the heart. A hauntingly, predictable tango into love.

Blue Moon is the 24th novel in the Jack Reacher series. Jack Reacher has an endearing, but strong-arm way about him. His wit and instincts guide him. He represents right through might, and he almost always seems superhuman as he resolves his problems. Always involved in intriguing mysteries, he sometimes uses bizarre means to save himself and others as he encounters danger. Suspend disbelief as you read this one. Reacher is a retired military cop. As a result, he is more aware of his surroundings than most people. He spots issues and solves problem purely by instinct and experience. He does not like to be tied down to any one place for too long. While traveling on a bus, looking a bit like a vagrant, with no particular destination or pressing need to be anyplace, he notices an old man asleep with a wad of cash in a bank envelope sticking out of his pants pocket. He also notices a low life eyeing the same man’s pocket with the money. When the elderly man, Aaron Shevick, gets off the bus, the lowlife follows him and Reacher assumes he will mug the old man and rob him. Jack Reacher exits the bus with them and follows. When the low life makes his move, Jack attacks him and rescues the elderly man and his money. He assists him on his walk home as he has injured his knee. From that moment on, Jack becomes involved with Aaron and Maria Shevick. He is determined to help them solve their monumental financial problems. Soon, he is impersonating Aaron and absorbing his risk of torture and/or murder from the disreputable loan sharks the Shevicks had been forced to use in order to fund their daughter’s experimental cancer treatment. Once insured, her insurance had lapsed and was canceled when the CEO of the company for which she worked, and was an officer of, failed to inform her that the policy had been canceled due to lack of funds. The company was failing. Moved by this crisis faced by the Sheviks, Jack steps in to help. The Sheviks were selling and pawning belongings and borrowing money from dangerous sources. Their daughter’s treatment was expensive and had to be paid up front or the hospital would deny the treatment, giving their daughter no hope at all of recovery. As Jack gets involved, there appears to be the beginning of a territorial war between two rival gangs, the Albanians and the Ukranians. Unwittingly, Aaron Shevik is involved. He has been dealing with Albanian loan sharks to save his daughter. Now he has to face the far more brutal Ukranians who have moved into the Albanian territory. When Jack steps in and pretends to be Aaron, he sets off a major turf war between the two rival gangs, one running a loan shark business and one running a protection racket. False assumptions run rampant, and they lead to ridiculous, faulty conclusions and barbaric threats and killings. Each gang leader misinterprets the events and the violent murders of their henchmen, until, finally, they begin to randomly slaughter each other as bedlam breaks out. Soon, the leaders begin to realize that they are being manipulated by an outside party, but it is too late to signal each other. Although they conclude that it can only be the Russians who have the skill and man power that seems to be wiping out their members, and both rivals think that Aaron Shevik (Jack Reacher), is working for the Russians who are trying to horn in on their “businesses”, it is too late for them to stop the domino effect and their demise. In this novel, Reacher is exceptionally blood thirsty and the violence often seems unnecessary. He is judge, jury and executioner without any legal backing for his behavior, yet he is displaying excessive physical force and randomly murdering those he encounters. He is motivated purely by his emotions and personal beliefs when he learns of the problems of this elderly couple. Exorbitant fees for the medical needs of their daughter forced them to engage with unsavory gangs and face tremendous danger to help her. The unfairness of it all makes him more and more determined to help them. There are many side tangents. Often there is unnecessary dialogue between characters. In addition, although the details of the plot may seem silly and defy logic, the storytelling talent of Lee Child and the exceptional performance of the narrator save the day. The book is written with an overlay of humor which numbs the effect of even the most violent scenes, making them seem palatable. The reader barely winces, but rather just has fun being distracted by this highly readable novel which maintains interest page after page. The subject matter is au courant in light of the Ukraine corruption controversy that exists in our own politics today and the Russia/Ukraine continued power struggle.

“We should be magnanimous in victory. Someone said that.”

 

“Full disclosure,” Reacher said. “I told you before. I’m a certain kind of person. Is the guy in the trunk still breathing?”

 

“I don’t know,” Abby said.

 

“But there’s a possibility.”

 

“Yes, there’s a possibility.”

 

“That’s me being magnanimous in victory. Normally I kill them, kill their families, and piss on their ancestors’ graves.”

 

“I never know when you’re kidding me.”

 

“I guess that’s true.”

 

“Are you saying you’re not kidding me now?”

 

“I’m saying in my case magnanimity is in short supply.”

 

“You’re taking food to an old couple in the middle of the night.”

 

“That’s a different word than magnanimous.”

 

“Still a nice gesture.”

 

“Because one day I could be them. But I’ll never be the guy in the trunk.”

 

“So it’s purely tribal,” Abby said. “Your kind of people, or the other kind.”

“My kind of people, or the wrong kind.”

 

“Who’s in your tribe?”

 

“Almost nobody,” Reacher said. “I live a lonely life.”

Reacher is on a bus bound for somewhere. He sees an older man being targeted for a mugging (both he and the would-be thief have noticed a fat envelope that seems to be holding cash). When the man and his predator get off at some city, Reacher abandons his planned trip to follow along.

Obviously, he foils the mugging, but the older man is injured, so Reacher appoints himself a guardian and assistant until he can get the man home. He learns that this man and his wife are in debt to a Ukrainian loan shark, and it's not looking good. They got in this state due to some incredibly believable bad luck, and Reacher decides to take it upon himself to get them out of it. Maybe not permanently, but at least for the foreseeable future. He has essentially one week to extricate them from their current predicament, and Reacher is hopefully going to beat that clock and get back on the road.

We're not told what city this takes place in, it doesn't matter—it's a small-to-medium sized city with two competing crime syndicates. One is a Ukranian mob, the other is an Albanian mob. They each control half the city, with a very clear line of demarcation.

They're currently enjoying an uneasy peace, and are nervous about a new police commissioner coming soon—neither group has been able to find a way to manipulate or bribe him and they're in his sights. Before I forget, I want to say that I love that both groups speak/write in unbroken English—I get why other authors use broken English for these kinds of characters, but it feels less cartoonish this way.

Once Reacher starts doing his thing, a little comedy happens. Reacher is trying to do X. The Ukrainians see the effects and assume the Albanians are doing Y. The Albanians see the effects and assume the Ukrainians are up to Z. The clear messages Reacher is sure he's sending aren't being received by anyone. Before long the two factions are on the brink of war—which is the last thing that anyone wants.

While he's trying to help out this older couple, Reacher befriends a waitress, Abby. Soon, she leads him to some other allies—a couple of musicians (one a former Marine) and a security consultant who used to be a Company Commander in an Armored Division in Europe during the Cold War. There's some good-natured chest-thumping between the three veterans which helps lighten to tension.

Abby is tough and smart. She reminded me a lot of Patty from Past Tense—she adapts to the dangerous situation she finds herself in pretty well. She's not crazy about it, she's pretty freaked out, honestly. But she pulls herself together enough to help Reacher as well as being his conscience occasionally (she's less willing than he is to leave a trail of bodies in their wake). Like Patty, once things get rolling, Abby starts analyzing her situation and what's going on with the Ukrainians/Albanians in a very Reacher-esque way.

What makes this one distinctive from others in the series? It feels very ripped-from-the-headlines. Not in the sense that Law & Order based stories on actual events, but in that it addresses a handful of things that are in the news practically every day lately. Sure, Reacher frequently deals with real issues, but this seems the most timely since Gone Tomorrow a decade ago (I could be wrong about that, but that's the one that jumps to mind without taking time to review the details of each of the 23 previous novels). I don't think Child could/should keep that up, but doing something so fresh-feeling every now and then would be a great idea.

Also, Reacher seems a bit different—still Reacher, I'm not saying that Child's changing him, but he's not quite his usual self. For starters, he seems more inclined to a "kill 'em all" approach to the various criminals (especially later in the novel). Now, this could be because he wants to ensure the safety of this older couple who really can't defend themselves, so he's getting the defense in pre-emptively. The other possibility I can think of is that he assumes there's only one language both organizations will understand.

The other difference is Reacher seems more mortal, at least more aware of his mortality. He tells Mrs. Shevick that he knows he will be beaten one day—but today isn't that day. He's also more obviously lonely (not just because of the semi-joking material quoted above). It's like being that lone wandering warrior is taking its toll on Reacher. We've seen this before from time to time, but it seems to be growing lately. I remember reading in Martin's Reacher Said Nothing that Child had considered retiring the series around The Midnight Line, I can't help but wonder if this is a sign of that becoming imminent.

A stronger cast of non-"Bad Guy" characters than we're used to seeing from this series, a winning female lead, some tragic victims, a bunch of ruthless criminals, a lot of bullets flying and Reacher at his toughest. There's so little to not like here. One of my favorites lately.

Book: Read a book by a Korean author or set in Korea, that takes place at sea or on a river, where the plot involves a festival, where the moon or rain plays a pivotal role in the plot, or with rain, water or the moon on the cover.

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