Yes, they are pretty formulaic I agree. Tripwire was a good one, but there have been several of the series where I have guessed the 'twist' and that was one of them. Takes a bit of the shine off, sometimes.

Seeing as it's that time of the year, I reckon the Ghost of Christmas Past needs to come to visit you tonight and take you to watch Dolph Lungren's Jack Reacher. Tom Cruise might not have the physical presence of the Jack Reacher of the novels, but he's more Jack Reacher in every other respect than Lundgren could ever be.



I like Jack Reacher and think the books are good. But FFS they are Murder She Wrote for blokes. I can't understand why people just can't let go of him being this imposing giant.

Its probably the bit in most of the books that describe him as being 6 foot 5 inches with a 50 inch chest and weighing between 220 and 250lbs.



You may as well ask if Harry Potter really needed to be a young boy in the films.

Not only is he so big, but that size is purely natural as Jack Reacher hates the gym!



The Jack Reacher of the books is a ridiculous cartoon character. A bad ass Military Policeman who takes down the baddest of the bad special forces warriors??? You accept that utter drivel but aren't prepared to let go of Reacher being so big?



Of course the Jack Reacher of the films would be better with an imposing actor. But there's practically none of them around these days. Jason Statham and Channing Tatum are too of the biggest action stars right now. They're closer to being Tom Cruise than they are of being Reacher. If the film producers waited for a 6ft 5 giant who can portray Reacher, it would never get done.

You either accept the concept of a storyline or you don't, its how fiction works - see Star Wars.

Because as Jerry Chicken says, it's exactly who he is. Even if you do leave aside the size factor, a big part of the Reacher character is that he is someone whom people are usually wary of approaching, being quite unkempt as well as a little scary looking. How many people would be too intimidated to approach Tom Cruise if he wasn't famous?



The Jack Reacher film is an excellent example of when an adaptation just doesn't make sense to me. Not a bad film on its own terms, but altered in such a way that I don't really understand why they were so determined to use the source material other than as a name to get people through the door.

Tatum, probably, Statham, you must be having a laugh. Where would Tom Cruise fit in in The Expendables, and how would a Jerry Maguire remake with Jason Statham go?

Having said all that, and whilst I enjoy the American crime genre in a novel (just can't get interested in a crime novel set in the UK, and yes, I realise that Lee Child is British), after you have read a few you realise pretty quickly that there is a pre-set template for the crime novel and its hardly ever veered from to the point where at page 200 you're waiting for the false ending where everyone thinks the killer is behind bars now but wait, there's 50 more pages left so THERE MUST BE A FINAL TWIST !!!



Dipping into the genre once every few months is fine but read more than two back to back and you do wonder if you've already read this one - I love James Lee Burke as a writer but his novels are almost what used to be described as pulp fiction unless you leave a decent gap of several months between each one.



Maybe thats why John Grisham throws in the odd non-fiction book every now and again ?

I'm not a fan of creepy Tom, but I personally liked his performance as Reacher. While he clearly physically isn't anywhere close to the same, I thought he got close to the nuances of the character. I actually thought that the ending of the film was more in line with the character than the ending in the book.



I've recently just finished "Personal" so I've read all the novels, but not the short stories. Heard an amount before reading it about its setting in Romford, but disappointed at the lack of Essex feeling! That aside, like a lot of the recent Reecher books, I thought the set up was good, but the ending unimpressive and almost rushed as if Lee Child didn't know where to take the story.



Now onto Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series

I think you'll like those just as much if not more than the Reacher series, but as I mentioned above, they do get a little formulaic.

I'd recommend the Tom Rob Smith trilogy of Child 44, The Secret Speech and Agent 6.

Agree also Tom Wood and Chris Pavone

Has anybody read my latest novel "Two Seasons" yet with its background of work, family, old friends and rugby league. I know quite a few people who have either bought a copy or had one bought for them as a Christmas present but as yet no one appears to have had any time to read it.

As I await some feedback, I am combining starting to write my next novel with looking at three books which hopefully might give me some fresh ideas: Ray Gent's "Rugby League In Its Own Words", Mike Critchley's "As Good As It Gets" and Gillian Tetts "Fools Gold".

Currently reading Porno by Irvine Welsh, struggling with some of the lingo especially with Begbie!!

Steve Earle and his take on [iIn Cold Blood.[/i



[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30846163[/url





[i''The power of intellect and humanity flowing from heart to hand to pen to page.''[/i



I also got it.

On this subject, there's been uproar on both sides regarding the suggestion of Idris Elba as the next James Bond.



To me, James Bond is the quintessential white British secret agent as has been portrayed since Dr No. That's not racist, it comes from years of watching white British men playing him. I'm fairly open to a black man playing Bond, but by moving away from the established vision of the character it could become just another action film. Fleming certainly visualised him as white. As it happens I think Elba could probably do a very good job but for me Bond is what Bond has always been.



Anyway, on books - has anyone tried Iain M Banks' Culture series? Some are a bit long-winded and a self-indulgent but the concept behind the Culture universe is superb, fairly hard sci-fi but with plenty of humour and twists. Think I've got through most of them. The idea of The Minds is fascinating.



Finally, anyone else browse the 'cheap' sections of Amazon from time to time? Plenty of unknown authors flogging their works for less than a pound, or even for free, who have kept me entertained on many trains and planes. Doubt many would be considered literary classics and I've abandoned more than a few but also come across some very entertaining reads - the sort of books or series you can plough through in a few hours.

I agree re Bond. It's not racist it's just I've always visualised Bond as white. It's the same as if he were to be American rather than British.



Having said that I think it'd be quite good with Elba as Bond. A big change but maybe that's what it'd need when Daniel Craig finishes.



I also think Fleming meant him to be white but that's just because there wouldn't have been a black MI6 officer at the time he was writing.

I'm back having a revisit at the Karl Malantes novel of the Vietnam War,[iMatterhorn.[/i

Did a hundred pages or so of it in previously but gave it up due to extra-curricular at the time.

Was enjoying it as well so here goes with another attempt.

Just finished porno very predictable obvious Renton was far too clever for sick boy, didn't see Begbie's demise coming though.



Now reading "last night a DJ saved my life" bringing back a few memories

Just finished Eltons latest ' Time and time again ' as usual it sets an interesting conundrum



" If you had one chance to change history ...



Were would you go?



What would you do?



Who would you kill? "



Gives thought to current world events , and where we are headed

Well, I gave in and put away the first six Reacher books last week. It's trash and about as superficial as a layer of frost in September. But the lunacy is so enthusiastic you find it hard not to like it. I junked the book on the ranch in Texas but the rest are ok.

If you want a good sci-fi which is contemporary, in the post-apocalypse genre without conforming to the usual stereotypes, has great characters, plenty of laughs and unlike 99 percent of all sci-fi is beautifully written try "Tales From The Radiation Age" by Jason Sheehan.

Just started One man, one murder by Jakob Arjouni - first two chapters are promising.

After going to the "pictures" to see "The Theory of Everything" at the weekend I am re-reading that old popular classic "The Brief History of Time". I'll let you know if I get to the end of it.

If you like physics books, I'd recommend Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos.



Speaking of science-y books, Science: A History by John Gribbin is brilliant. Covers basically everything from the Renaissance onwards across all fields of science.