Review: Persuader

Persuader by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took a long break from the Reacher series. After the excellent Prime series, I decided to return. I enjoyed this. The plot was complex enough not to be predictable, but not unnecessarily convoluted. Reacher is Reacher. He's able to survive some fairly challenging circumstances -- it strains the credulity but that comes with the territory. It is hard now not to see Alan Ritchson in my mind as Reacher; though he's a bit older in my head.

I liked how Child wove together Reacher's memory with the current events; it added tension and the parallelism underscored key elements. More characterization could have been down with the Beck family; we get to know them just enough for the plot but no more.

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Review: Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai

Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai by Matti Friedman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wonderful book. Friedman ably balances Cohen's personal story in Israel with a history of the 73 Yom Kippur war. Cohen is an enigmatic figure; and through this unique personality, Friedman is able to show us a different side to Israel. Friedman's book tells us how the 73 war played a pivotal role in Israel's "national personality" much as it did on a personal and professional level for Cohen. This is neither a complete biography of Cohen nor a history of the war; but through it one will learn a lot about both in an intimate and charming way.

The audio version does a great job; with a voice actor portraying Cohen when Cohen's unpublished account of his time in Israel during the war. Otherwise the author reads it; and does so as skillfully as a professional reader.

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