I have to be honest and say that although Jack Reacher is one of my favourite fictional characters, the last few adventures haven't quite lived up to the earliest ones, and The Midnight Line really fell flat, for me, especially the ending. So it was more in hope than anticipation that I picked up Past Tense... and boy, was I pleasantly surprised.
Past Tense is, in my opinion, the best Reacher book since Worth Dying For, which is my favourite Reacher book ever. It's right up there with the very best stories, taking two apparently disparate threads and bringing them slowly closer and closer together until a titanic collision, in which Reacher, for once, isn't the only hero.
(Just throwing in here how much I love Patty. Damn. Atta girl!)
I'd have liked a bit more information about Reacher's father at the very end, but I feel like that could be coming in a possible future book. There's definitely another mystery there to be solved, and even though Reacher doesn't want to at the end of Past Tense, I think it's the kind of thing which might niggle away at him until he decides to chase the thread.
This was a genuinely enjoyable read, Reacher at his taciturn, stubborn best. Five stars.
