Tag Archives: Lee Child

Buck a gallon gas

Posted on December 20, 2007 | Comments Off on Buck a gallon gas

Grocery shopping the other evening at H.E.B. I noticed a new Jack Reacher novel, "Echo Burning," by Lee Child and succumbed. Ex-Army MP Reacher is interesting, the plots too, and this sucker, actually published in 2001, is no exception. The story is set in Texas, which Child, who I have read has abandoned his Brit home for life in New York, imagines in a fairly well-rounded fashion. It starts out, predictably, as homogenized redneckland where the minorities are oppressed, but gets more accurately diverse and complicated, as it moves along. I did stumble over one detail early on. There may be more but I haven’t finished it yet. Reacher stops in an Exxon station in West Texas and fills his 20-gallon tank for twenty bucks. I had to reread it to make sure I hadn’t read it wrong.  Maybe Child thinks we refine our own oil to keep the price down? Uh, no, we’re using Hugo’s Venezualan product like everyone else, and buck a gallon gas disappeared in, oh, about the 1970s.

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Parked up

Posted on December 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Parked up

I’m enjoying the first Jack Reacher novel (actually the second, after a prequel, though one is advised to read a few before the prequel) by Lee Child. But I keep stumbling over two British-isms that don’t belong in the mouths of characters from rural Georgia: "straightaway," and, especially, the obscure phrase "parked up." Sloppy work, Mr. Child, even if you are a Brit yourself. But, really, sloppy work seems to be the nature of book publishing these days. Doing a bit of Web wandering I see the books are published simultaneously in the U.S., Britain and Australia. That explains it, I guess. Wonder if they think American Southerners use their lingo? Take my word for it, you chaps, we don’t.

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