Product Description

With six shots, five people were dead and one heartland city is thrown into terror. But within hours, the cops have it solved. It is a slam-dunk case, except for one thing - the accused man claims: "You got the wrong guy". After that, all he'll say is: "Get Reacher for me." Jack Reacher lives off the grid. He is a lone righter of wrongs and is irresistible to women. What could connect the ex-military cop to this obvious psychopath? Those who know, call Reacher 'the thinking reader's action hero'. This book is sharp, exciting, and addictive. "One Shot" is sure to get you hooked.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2944 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Lee Child's Jack Reacher thrillers always have remarkably inventive setups, and One Shot is true to form. A sniper, Barr, kills five people with six shots and leaves a clear trail of evidence; arrested, he asks for Reacher. When Reacher was a military policeman, politics stopped him pursuing Barr--he cannot understand why Barr would ask for him and Barr has been beaten in jail until he cannot remember himself. Yet, for Reacher, the loner who looks at things differently from civilians, the story does not add up--Barr should not have got himself caught, should not even have fired from where he did.

Child is a master of the perverse solution to the set of questions no-one ever asked in quite that way before, and the macho yet sensitive Reacher is one of the more interesting series characters in thrillers. One Shot is a smart set of puzzles which strings the reader along to false conclusions and a sense of real danger. It also, like its hero, has a heart. --Roz Kaveney

Evening Standard, April 11 2005
'fast-moving dialogue and gripping action sequences...the excitement lasts from the first to the final page'

Arena - Summer reads
'Reacher sees justice done while kicking commendable amounts of ass...Intricate plotting makes for an engrossing read.'

Customer Reviews

Not just for the boys !
I'm a 30 year old female & this series of books are, by far, my favorite thrillers of all time - keeping me guessing right up until the end.

Jack Reacher himself is just the right mix of cocky attitude, violence and sex appeal, with a little sensitivity thrown in for good measure! And if he's a little too good to be true, this just adds to the escapism that the books gives me (which is pretty much the point of reading them really).

My only complaint is the books are so good I read this one in 2 days.

Girls - if you haven't read any Jack Reacher yet, you don't know what you're missing !!

Not Child's best - but still good enough!
Nobody should pick up a Jack Reacher novel and expect great literature. I might be wrong but I suspect that that isn't Lee Child's purpose. What you get instead is a good dollop of wish-fulfilment, good writing, beautiful, intelligent and feisty females who are either integral to the development of the plot or just along for the ride, and implausible story lines! One shot is no exception - why change a winning formula? In Reacher, Child has created a character who is, perhaps, not quite the guy who every other guy wants to be (and with whom every woman wants to be?), well, at least not permanently. But it might be nice for a couple of weeks to: be able to kick ass as effectively as he does, to never be wrong, to be able, correctly, to second guess all the villains' moves and then to ride off into the sunset with a clear conscience and no dangling strings! But in common with all of its predecessors, and despite the implausibility of the plot, One Shot doesn't last a few days let alone a few weeks, it's a real page-turner. In a genre full of world weary, divorced, alcoholic, guilt ridden cops Reacher is a breathe of fresh air - the closest thing to Casey Ryback outside of the movies!

Brainy Action and Imaginative Investigation
If you haven't yet read a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child, you have a great treat waiting for you. One Shot is a great place to start.

As the book opens, a sniper moves into position in a crowded urban area . . . and quickly kills five people. The scene is like one that we've read about and watched on television all too often in the last few years. You'll feel it in your gut.

The police move in quickly and do an exemplary job of tracking down the sniper, one James Barr. Barr's finger prints are everywhere and there's lots of trace evidence. While his attorney interviews him, Barr stands mute . . . except to tell his attorney to get Reacher.

Reacher is soon on his way . . . not because anyone can find him . . . but because he hears about Barr's actions . . . and comes running (at least as much as one can run by taking a bus). Barr has killed before and Reacher has promised to take him out if it happens again.

But circumstances aren't what they seem, and Reacher finds himself drawn into helping Barr's attorney check out the evidence. More and more the evidence doesn't make sense. What does it mean?

In the background, mysterious figures track Reacher and try to derail his efforts.

Reacher is one of those iconic characters who define new dimensions for fiction. Reacher is an ex-MP who wants to stay off-the-map and live his life in peace . . . with occasional interesting interludes with beautiful ladies. He travels light. When his clothes get dirty, he buys new clothes and throws the old ones away. He always registers under assumed names (obscure baseball players from the 1930s are his favorite choice), pays cash and usually moves on the next day. He combines the bravado and battle skills of James Bond with his taste for ladies, but operates more like Dr. Richard Kimble in a Fugitive-like scuttle away from the limelight and police attention. Intriguingly, he operates on virtually no money so he has to talk his way into wheels to do his investigations. Reacher is a sort of antihero in other ways. He doesn't tell the truth, encourages others to lie and gets away with it. The results are unexpected, interesting and unique. Very nice!