Fletch Reflected
by Gregory McDonald
RATING: 7 out of 10

Over 2 decades, Gregory McDonald wrote 11 novels featuring one of my favorite characters of all time - Irwin M. Fletcher, affectionately known as Fletch. The timeline of the books was actually really interesting, jumping around chronologically and weaving interesting characters in and out of his stories.

The last two books in the series (Son of Fletch, Fletch Reflected) are not considered a part of the Fletch series according to McDonald’s official site. The character of Fletch appears a lot in Son of Fletch (which was the last book I read), but I think that McDonald perhaps intended to create a new series of books around Fletch’s son, Jack, so he introduced him with a hybrid novel that was about half Fletch-driven and half about his son.

Fletch Reflected almost entirely focuses on Jack during the time immediately following the end of Son of Fletch. It is an interesting story in which he starts to investigate the attempted murder of an eccentric scientist who keeps all his family very close, despite their obvious loathe towards him.

It’s a pretty good book, a little better than Son of Fletch, but perhaps I’m just a little burnt on the whole series. It’s been really fun to read the whole series and see the full spectrum of what McDonald envisioned when he created the character of Fletch. It’s amazing that he was able to maintain the character and his attitude from 1974 to 1994. The only similar instances that I can think of are Ian Fleming’s James Bond (12 novels in 13 years, but the franchise has carried through to many more books) and Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt (that’s for you, Jake).

(I’m sure that there are other examples, but those are the only ones I could think of right now.)

I’m a little sad that the series slowed down and ended, but at the same time, I can’t imagine writing about the same character for that long. I don’t think I could recommend the book by itself without the rest of the series. However, it’s still a fun read, so if you like Fletch and haven’t read this book, I would definitely suggest it.

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Son of Fletch
by Gregory McDonald
RATING: 7 out of 10

When I received all 11 Fletch books from Tom and Carol (my in-laws) for my birthday a while back, I imagined myself reading all 11 books in succession in the order that they were published. (McDonald actually jumped around in Fletch’s life timeline in the order of stories he told. Fletch Won and Fletch, Too - the books that chronicle Fletch’s first and second adventures - actually were written much later in the series, coming out over a decade after the original book - the one made famous by Chevy Chase’s film portrayal - was written.

Now, it’s true, I rocked through the first 9 books in the series in rapid succession, devouring McDonald’s quick wit and dialogue like I would a Chipotle burrito. However, as I reached the end and I learned more about the final two novels in the series, Son of Fletch and Fletch Reflected, I found two things:

1. There was about a 7-year gap between Fletch, Too (Book 9) and Son of Fletch (Book 10)
2. You could say that the books “jumped the shark” by making Fletch a father through a previous engagement in one of the earlier stories.

That’s not to say that McDonald shouldn’t have done these things; I imagine that there was much clamoring for another Fletch novel, but after writing 9 books about the same character, you have to imagine that things might get a little stale.

As for the book, it was only OK by the rest of the series’ standards. It contained the same witty dialogue, but I found it hard to follow at some stages and I certainly entered it a bit departed from the series. Since there is a lot of reference to events that occur in other books, I had to rack my brain at times to remember things. But still, it’s a good, fast-paced novel and I enjoyed it.

I’m planning on finishing the series by reading Fletch Reflected next. It, too, is about Fletch’s son, Jack. Toward the end, McDonald received an immense amount of pressure from his publisher to use the Fletch name in the book titles, even though he wanted to make reference to Jack in the last two. (Read more about it here.)

Finishing the book made me think more about the upcoming film version of Fletch Won that is being developed. Originally it was meant to be a Kevin Smith project under the new Weinstein company, but the Weinsteins wouldn’t let Smith make the movie he wanted to, so he backed out to do other things. Now, Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence is attached to write and direct with Scrubs star Zach Braff attached to play the role of Fletch. I’m not sure this is a good or bad choice yet. I think Ryan Reynolds might have been more true to the character McDonald created so many years ago…Braff just isn’t suave enough.

That’s not to say I won’t go see it, because I will…just with some reservation.

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I know it’s been a while. For the 5 of you out there that read this, greetings from the beyond.

Busy busy lately with the launch of Alli Arnold Art as well as topFIVEdesign. Still playing in my weekly poker game and still losing on bad hands. I would regurgitate last night’s, but it’s too painful.

Seen a few movies. Hostage is really dark…like a dark Die Hard. Hitch was funny. Predictable, but funny. The NCAA tournament has been abysmal for Jayhawkers like myself. Bucknell? Really? And these so-called “classy” seniors can’t manage to shake the hands of the team that flat-out outplayed them? I expected more.

And then there’s this. I have complained before about how I think that Jason Lee would have been great, but Zach Braff…he’s so hot right now. Hansel. So hot right now. Scrubs is one of my favorite shows and Garden State was a terrific movie, one that should have been more acclaimed than it was last year. At least he won an Independent Spirit award and a Grammy for best Soundtrack. I think he is a rising star in Hollywood and I look forward to all that is coming from him. Would love to see him as Fletch. Or Ryan Reynolds. He would be good too.

UPDATE: Kevin Smith has confirmed that they (Braff and him as well as him and Weinstein) have spoken about it and all are excited about it…I am excited!

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