"A Wanted Man" by Lee Child - a book review

I am what you would call a bookworm. Since I started reading I have been reading books nonstop. When I was younger I would go to the local library with one of my parents to choose books to take home. The library was a magical place for me. There was a children's section, teen section, adult section, romance section, and probably a few more that I never made it to. Every time I visited the library I would take out a stack of books that seemed interesting to me at the time.


Since moving to Israel my supply of good English books has become somewhat limited. I used to wait for my parents to come for a visit and bring be their old books, however when they stopped buying as many books and simply took them out of the local library, they were no longer able to help me. Next I turned to a friend who lived nearby. The genre of books was different than what I was used to, but a book is a book and I will read pretty much anything. After a few years that friend moved away and recently I was lucky enough to find a community library with loads of English books. It turns out that the library was actually trying to get rid of some English books and therefore they let me take a stack home indefinitely.

One of the books in said stack was Lee Child's "A Wanted Man". The main character in many of Lee Child's books is Jack Reacher, a big and tough ex-army man. I really enjoyed reading about Reacher's adventures in this book. Jack Reacher fights for justice whether it is legal or not. He is streetsmart even if he is not so tech-smart and he manages to get by with a few bills in his pocket and a strong sense of justice (as well as some good old brawn).

One of the only things I didn't like about the book (or similar books for that matter) is over romanticism. When an author makes a character seem too larger than life it loses a realistic feeling and that ruins a book for me. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of fantasy! However, I wouldn't want to think that people are reading similar books and thinking that they can go on a vigilante fighting for justice as they please, because that would just wreak havoc! I don't always trust the justice system and yet it is there for a reason. If everyone took the law into their own hands the world would be a dangerous place.

The book was very entertaining and descriptive. I was able to imagine all the characters and scenarios the author painted, which takes skill. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend as well as reading in general. Reading is a great way to improve your vocabulary and writing skills.