Product Description

The new Jack Reacher thriller by the no.1 bestseller.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #719 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-24
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

David Sexton, Evening Standard
[Child] makes what he does seem simple. If it is, though, it's strange nobody else has managed it so well.

Maxim
Reacher fans will love it...taking justice into his own hands and to hell with the wos'name...a solid inter-Bond-film substitute.

Mirror
Classic Child...Reacher, both a man's man and a ladies' man, proves once again that he's also his own man.

Customer Reviews

One Man Versus the Town Plot Marred by Slow Pace and Unrealistic Threats
Unless you feel like you have to read every Reacher novel in the series, you could skip this one.

If you think America should withdraw immediately from Iraq, you'll like this anti-war book better than those who favor continuing to fight there. The primary subtext for this novel is that being in Iraq is bad for America, soldiers, and veterans of that conflict. If you believe that fundamental Christians are all scheming to create the Apocalypse, you'll also like this better than if you are a God-fearing, Bible-reading Christian.

Beyond whether or not you agree with the subtexts, the book's primary weakness is that it moves too slowly. After Reacher is expelled from the town of Despair to the town of Hope, he seems to spend most of the book traveling back and forth. Ho hum. Lee Child would have done better to develop a plot that kept Reacher in hiding in Despair. The book could have been 170 pages shorter and a lot more fun to read.

For those who want their villains to be veritable devils, this book will also disappoint. This villain is more annoying than threatening.

As for the big ending and what's at risk, it didn't seem credible so I couldn't take it seriously.

Not as Good as Some of His Others
Contrary to what many reader's believe Lee Child is British, but moved with his family from Cumbria to the United States to begin a new career as an American thriller writer. What probably fools a lot of people is that is rare for a British author to be able to write American thrillers with any kind of authenticity. He has won a number of awards with his books and he lives just outside New York City with his American wife Jane. The couple have a grown-up daughter, Ruth and when Lee is not writing he shares his time between music, reader and supporting the New York Yankees.

I am a big fan of Lee Child's books but I found this one very difficult to get into. I don't know whether it is the fact that the character of Jack Reacher is starting to wear a little thin or the fact that I didn't think the storyline was as good as the author's other books. Having said that the book was perfectly readable, it just did not come up to my expectations.

Jack Reacher, Lee Child's main character is a footloose and fancy free former army cop, hard as nails when it suits him and not afraid to wander outside the law if it suits him or is going to get him results. Trouble follows him around like a bad smell, Jack can never fathom out why, it just happens. Basically it is always Jack Reacher against the world and today is no different. In this new novel it is Jack Reacher against a whole town. He has just entered a sleepy Colorado town and they don't just want him out, they want him dead . . .