Gregory McDonald

Fletch and his newfound son, Jack, go undercover to help Jack's ex-lover find out who is trying to kill her fiance's father

Fletch Reflected

Patrick Book

Not going out on his highway note, but I’m going to miss these.

Chris Aldrich

Oddly, even after two books with Jack as a character, there isn't very much differentiation between he and a young Fletch. I do feel like he's a bit more reserved and not quite as ascerbic in his humor, but there's just something missing to make him a completely differentiated character. I had missed Crystal, so it was nice to have her back, but she didn't seem to have the same sort of spark or confidence, which I missed from her earlier appearance in Fletch's Fortune. Fletch himself seems to have slowed down a bit, but he also wasn't taking the lead in this either. I don't think there was a single adverse reference to Irwin Maurice by Fletch in the entire text, yet there was one neutral to positive mention of it by Fletch, followed by a questioning disparagement of it by Jack.

I did like the Mortimer character and his long time hatred for Fletch, though some of the dialogue read/played more comedic than as a more appropriate brewing hatred. There is some scant background about Mortimer's character and past with Fletch, but it could potentially play out as another entire Fletch backstory in itself. Without a really well motivated plot, I'm not sure I'd want to read that prequel though.

There is only the slightest of pauses between this book and the prior Son of Fletch. Except for the denouement of action in the prior book, this one simply picks up with what's happening on the following day. Unlike most in the Fletch series where the plot gets off like a shot on page one or page two, the motivation for the major plot of the book doesn't drop until about a fifth of the way in. Also different from most in the series, this book has a primary plot which follows Jack while there's a secondary plot following Fletch and Crystal. I presume that Mcdonald meant for the two books about Jack to be a spin-off of sorts and so maybe he was changing the model a bit?

While I appreciated the close out of what Fletch did to help Crystal after the last installment and the Mortimer character did provide some entertainment, I could have done without the B plot here. I'd have preferred more action with Jack and maybe even Fletch on the "compound". There is an interesting juxtaposition between the compounds of the last book and this book in terms of their functions and socioeconomic statuses within the two works.

The ultimate murder of Radleigh was unfulfilling though Fletch did get a few nice rejoinders as a result. The ending nearly mimiced the all-too-quick wind down of Son of Fletch and was generally underwhelming for me. I suspect the general problem with the piece overall, was that Jack didn't really have to work too hard at hiding himself and wasn't directly in danger at all during the entire piece which left some of the suspense out. Leaving all of the suspense on Radleigh's shoulders just didn't do enough for me.

Summary

While relatively entertaining, this is one of the least interesting and motivated stories in the Fletch canon. I'd rank it toward the bottom of the pantheon, though it was at least more fun to read than Fletch Too, which was just painful.

Original review along with notes, hightlights, and annotations can be found at BoffoSocko.com

Fletch Reflected

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