LC/10/5/Colgan - Tom Colgan (of Penguin Books. N.Y.)

LC/10/5/Colgan

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Tom Colgan (of Penguin Books. N.Y.)

2003-2013

Reacher, Jack (fictitious character) -- Mother

Note card and envelope, 15/8/2003. MS. Congratulates LC on ‘Persuader’.

Note card, 23/9/2004. MS. Referring to ‘The Enemy’, Tom thought the scenes with Reacher and his mother were genuinely touching.

Letter, 29/5/2008. MS. Tom is bothered by Reacher’s browbeating of the home rest attendant in ‘Nothing to Lose’. He bemoans the system which glorifies the soldier, then throws him away when he’s outlived his usefulness. On the flip side, Tom praises LC for the preceding moving scene which he describes as the most moving LC has written – the visit with David.

Note card, 30/3/2010. MS. Tom writes that ’61 Hours’ had re-captured the energy that was missing from the first two books. He thinks it might have been the cold. “[Reacher’s] such an elemental force that he works best when opposed by nature.”

Note card, 38/2/2011. MS. Tom had just finished ‘Worth Dying For’. “I loved the way you just wrote the cops out of the picture.” He was particularly taken by the various criminal organisations working together and at cross purposes. “No one moves a plot along better than you.”

Note card, 20/12/2012. MS. With envelope. Praises LC for ‘A Wanted Man’. “Today we get a terrific twisted mystery, populated with several unforgettable characters in a setting that is practically a member of the cast. You’ve really grown as an author.”

Note card, 9/10/2013. MS. Tom congratulates LC on ‘Never Go Back’. He believes this is the first time Reacher’s main hypothesis has been proven wrong so late in the story.