Product Description

You do not mess with the Special Investigators! The events of 9/11 changed Jack Reacher's drifter life in a practical way. In addition to his folding toothbrush, he now needs to carry photo ID to get around. Yet he is still as close to untraceable as a human being in America can get. So when a member of his old Army unit manages to get a message to him, he knows it has to be deadly serious. The Special Investigators always watched each other's backs. Now Reacher must put the old unit back together. Someone has killed one of them, and he can't let that go.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3634 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Daily Mirror
Child is a great storyteller, building plots that, although
complex, are as compelling as they are ultimately logical...another
sure-fire hit.

Yorkshire Evening Post
The twists come thick and fast...and the surprise developments are
genuinely unexpected...Child, as always, delivers.

Guardian
It's his hero, hyper-tough ex-US army special investigator Jack
Reacher, who keeps me coming back for more...never a dull moment.

Customer Reviews

It's OK
I have read all the Reacher series, and one criticism that could be leveled is that there has been too little character development. Reacher is a great hero, but the "lone avenger" thing was a little too one dimensional.

This story sees things move on, because suddenly Reacher is forced to contemplate and compare his life against the lives of those he has worked with - this provides some welcome variety and depth to things. Similarly the story is more a puzzle than an action thriller, and Reacher has to rely on others to help, rather than fixing things on his own. This helps things in my view, as there are fewer plotlines which strain credibility.

All the familiar landmarks of a Reacher tale are here and this will keep you reading till the end, because you will want to know what happens - it's just that the journey travels through slightly unfamiliar territory.

Taught and twisting....and starting to feel a bit tired
Bad Luck and Trouble is your typical Jack Reacher novel from author Lee Child. Once again Reacher, our hard as nails, itinerant former Military Policeman hero, gets caught up in a twisting plot involving murderous and iredeemabe bad guys, a hidden conspiracy (this time with links to the global war on terrorism) and a mounting body count. This time the twist is that events require Reacher to reunite and work with former colleagues from his army days; colleagues almost as hard nosed & capable as he is. Apart from that it is the standard mix of hard edged, punchy prose, bone jarring action and twisted plotting, all leading up to to the usual final, bloody reckoning. Its also as entertaining and fast moving as always; a great example of the book that is impossible to put down.

So why only four stars? Well quite simply as good as Bad Luck and Trouble is it also has the undeniable hint of staleness about it. This is the eleventh Reacher novel and without any real exceptions they all follow the same standard template. This has produced some highly entertaining books, but reading this latest one there was a feeling of 'been there, read that' about it. There was no real sense of suprise in how events played out, and as always minimal character development or emotional depth. Reacher isn't exactly a one dimensional character, but nor is he someone with much room for personal development. With such a fixed central character the only way for Child to do something new with the series is by coming up with varied and interesting plots, something he seems reluctant to do. He does normally chuck in some unique twist, such as including Reacher's former colleagues this time around, but otherwise the plots tend to follow an increasingly predictable path. Unless that changes however, there is a real danger of familiarity breeding contempt and the series becoming boringly and predictably repetitive.

Its not quite at that stage yet, but nor is Bad Luck and Trouble in any way a departure from Lee Child's highly successful template. It will therefore please fans and is worth picking up, but its not going suprise anyone and the overly familiar plot quickly fades from the memory. It can only be hoped that Reacher's next adventure tries to break some wholly new ground.

Don't mess with Reacher
I am a big fan of the Reacher series..it's the no nonsense loner, such as Eastwood in the Spaghetti westerns, that has a real feel good factor, and tonnes of adventure, with clever plots.

Bad Luck/Trouble was good but not as thrilling as earlier works (Killing floor, One shot). Childs added Reachers old unit buddies as additional characters but the real strength of Reacher is his loner/ carefree approach. The plot also wasn't as strong as earlier works, I had expected a few more twists which didn't come. Still recommend a read, and I'm likely to get the next Reacher book, also!