Night School

 

Night School is the twenty-first book in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. Its cover proclaims it a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and the publisher's website calls it the eleventh straight global bestseller in the series. Lee Child's books have gained a significant audience. 

The first sentence of Night School has a lovely parallel structure: "In the morning they gave Reacher a medal, and in the afternoon they sent him back to school." "They" do one thing to Reacher in the morning, and do another to him in the afternoon. 

We don't yet know who "they" are – some group of people who have authority over the named character, Reacher. We might know who Reacher is. By the twenty-first book in an extremely popular series, people who pick up this book may have good feelings about reading more about the series' main character. This is a series dividend: Readers become invested in following the character. Those readers may have some opinions about what Reacher deserves. 

What's interesting here is that the two actions "they" do to Reacher are oddly different. Usually, someone gives a medal to a hero, someone experienced and accomplished. Usually, someone sends another person to school when that person is lacking in experience or judgment or knowledge. So which is it? Do "they" admire Reacher and want to reward him or disapprove of Reacher and want to retrain him? In this sentence, it is both, and that sets up a mystery and some tension. 

Placing "school" in the strong, final position lets the sentence end on a surprise. Until the word school, they could have sent Reacher somewhere that would have expressed more approval: back to work, back to his hotel, to the parade, home, to the front. Think about how each of those hit differently. "Work" would add an edge of "the work never ends," "his hotel" lands almost trivially, "to the parade" doubles the celebration, "home" suggests either a well-deserved rest or a dismissal, "to the front" suggests duty and sacrifice. The word "school" is precise, suggestive, unexpected. That one word matters a lot. 

All in all, it is a tight, graceful sentence that lets us know Reacher might be in trouble, with his bosses if nothing else, and has us wondering what will happen next. The sentence seems very likely to inspire someone who read it from the rack to pick up the book and buy it. 

P.S. Yeah, I'd probably add a couple more commas. 

Graphic design by Ken Silbert