Product Description

Reacher comes to the UK! Dangerous, sexy and invincible.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2377 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The ‘surprise’ factor when reading the thrillers of Lee Child has, it must be admitted, vanished. Most readers who pick up the new book, The Hard Way, will be well aware that this extremely American narrative is, in fact, written by an Englishman. The days when early readers of Child (notably his American fans) would exclaim how amazing it was that Child got all the cultural reference points correct are long gone. And, in a way, that's not a bad thing--now we can judge the novels purely on their own terms. And if The Hard Way doesn't initially appear to be quite as impressive as its predecessors, that's not to say that it isn't a supremely assured piece of work.

Child's durable hero is, of course, ex-soldier Jack Reacher. Child's publishers claim 'men want to be him--women want to have him', and there's no denying that’s a considerable part of Reacher’s appeal. His footloose lifestyle and handy way with the trouble that he’s always encountering are handled by Child with great panache. In some ways, Reacher is the perfect existential hero: he owns nothing or no-one, and he is, in his turn, owned by nothing or no one. He is defined by the actions he undertakes--and that definition only lasts as long as the problem he is involved with. This one has an even wider range than usual, starting on a busy New York thoroughfare and moving to a violent finale across the Atlantic in the sylvan depths of the English countryside, with Jack up against some very dangerous opponents. Interestingly, Child’s publishers describe Jack Reacher in this novel as ‘invincible’, and (ironically) they put their finger on an interesting point in this latest entry. While Jack has always been supremely capable, earlier books have always had a genuine sense of danger--how the hell would Jack get himself out of the latest lethal situation? Here, the outcome seems less in doubt. But this is a minor quibble--Child could not write a bad book if he tried, and all the narrative momentum that propelled the earlier Reacher adventures is satisfyingly in evidence in his latest outing.
--Barry Forshaw

Synopsis
Late at night, in a New York cafe, Jack Reacher orders coffee in a cup made of foam, not china. So he can move on at a moment's notice. He owns nothing, carries less. He has never met a woman who said no or a case he couldn't solve. But now Reacher faces a new case so disturbing that the truth eludes him. He has to sweat the details and work the clues. Doing it the hard way, until what started on a busy New York street explodes three thousand miles away, in the sleepy English countryside. With Reacher striding alone in the shadows, armed and dangerous.

From the Publisher
Reacher comes to the UK! Dangerous, sexy and invincible.

Customer Reviews

Well worth reading
Whenever I pick up a Lee Child book I know I'm in for a great ride of a story and this did not disappoint. Yes, you can spot the twist and you know how it's going to end but still I couldn't put it down. Fantastic and highly recommended.

fabulous
Being a crime novel virgin (I bought this book for my dad and when he returned it, read it due to a book shortage), I didn't think I'd enjoy it. However, I couldn't put the book down and got into the story from page 1. Looking at some of the other reviews, it seems this isn't Lee Child's best novel but I thought it was well written, fast paced and believable; everything a good story should be.

Fabulous!
Bought this book for my dad who then returned it to me when he'd read it. Never really been into crime fiction before but this book has converted me! Extremely well written, hard to put down and keeps you thinking hard even when the book's closed. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a well written fast-paced story. Can't wait to get hold of more of Child's work.