Lee Child You Had One Shot And You Blew It!

The remote control for my television broke a good while ago and so, to change channels now, I’m reduced to getting up and pushing the buttons on the box itself to change channel. One evening during the first lockdown, after watching the news I went channel hopping. I stumbled across a film which intrigued me and I started to watch it, I wanted to know what had happened and there seemed to be some mystery going on, but then blasphemy after blasphemy ensued and I turned the film off. I checked the television guide to see what the film was called and found that it was a Jack Reacher film based on a Lee Child book called 'One Shot', I decided that if I came across a cheap copy of the book in a second-hand or charity shop I’d buy it, as the book may not contain blasphemy, and wanted to find out what had happened in the story.

During the same lockdown I found a few bags of books placed outside a then closed by order of Boris Johnson, second-hand bookshop which I like to frequent, I took the bags away with me for safe keeping. At this point I would like to say the bags contained the book that I was hoping to acquire, but alas they did not. After that particular lockdown had ended I took the books into the bookshop and the owner was very happy to receive them, in fact so much so that when I tried to buy a book or two from his shelves he insisted that I receive them with his compliments. I haggled with him as best as I could, but in the end the best that he would do was to allow me to pay half price for one of the three books that I was acquiring! I would not have minded, but I had from time to time been throwing the odd pound coin or two into an empty coffee cup during the lockdown to spend on books once bookshops had reopened, you know to help boost the economy and all that. But no matter as this allowed me to buy some other books from another local independent bookshop!

And so, now armed with a copy of 'One Shot' by Lee Child, I went off to find out what had happened. I wasn’t really interested to find out about the main character spending a night with a Norwegian dancer. Nor was I interested in the details of his old relationship with a woman who had previously been in the army with him either. In fact the comment of Helen, the lawyer in the story, really summed this up best, ‘That’s more information than I needed, Reacher.’ We then add some bad language to this and worse still blasphemy upon blasphemy and so Mr Child you had one shot and you blew it.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. No one should take His Name in vain. I can't stop you doing so Mr Child. However Christians really need to explain to God why they watch films or television shows with any blasphemy in them, read books or magazines with blasphemy in it,  etc. It is easy these days to search online for a detailed parent’s guide to any film you plan to watch, which should point out any blasphemy. The Divine Praises were introduced to make reparation for the sin of blasphemy, say them when you have a moment. Reading Fr Paul O'Sullivan’s short booklet, The Wonders of the Holy Name is also well worth while.

My copy of Lee Child's book? Yes, I tore it in half and it has gone in the recycling bin.