Everyone talks

by Lee Child

https://www.penguin.com.au/bonus/400-...

In this exclusive FREE Jack Reacher short story, a rookie detective finds Jack
wounded and in hospital…

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Short Stories, Audiobook, Ebooks

Unknown Binding

About the author

Lee Child was born October 29th, 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV's "golden age." During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of 40 as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars' worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.

Killing Floor was an immediate success and launched the series which has grown in sales and impact with every new installment. The first Jack Reacher movie, based on the novel One Shot and starring Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, was released in December 2012.

Lee has three homes—an apartment in Manhattan, a country house in the south of France, and whatever airplane cabin he happens to be in while traveling between the two. In the US he drives a supercharged Jaguar, which was built in Jaguar's Browns Lane plant, thirty yards from the hospital in which he was born.

Lee spends his spare time reading, listening to music, and watching the Yankees, Aston Villa, or Marseilles soccer. He is married with a grown-up daughter. He is tall and slim, despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise.

Reviews

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free short story from Penguin. Described as thus:

When read together, the twelve collected stories shed a little more new light on Reacher’s past, illuminating how he grew up and developed into a wandering avenger. Don't you just love that, he really is a wandering avenger!

I found this small free book in an article dated 2016.

Bullies got by on reputation alone, and the worse the reputation, the less practice they got in actually doing anything. Because other people always backed off. Therefore a bully's skills were rusty and eroded.

Reacher is in a hospital, shot up and being questioned by a female detective on her first shift.

She ends up learning some from Reacher, in his quiet unassuming way. And we, the reader, learn a lot about Reacher from Lee Child in his witty and clever way. Both Reacher and Child say a whole lot, without saying a whole lot, I find. And that, my reading friends, is all part of the appeal.

[Joanne Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short Reacher story and well worth listening to.

[Neyly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too short to even be called a short story.

Unique in that the story is told from the perspective of a young female detective called to the hospital to check out a gunshot victim.

Reacher fakes being shot, with the cooperation of a doctor, in order to bring a mobster down. A new detective, first day on the job, gets credit. By that time - actually next day - Reacher has left town by bus, of course.

And just for the record I questioned whether Reacher - at least the Reacher I know - would ever end up in the hospital with a gunshot wound.

Recommend: Not really. At least not if you have to search for it. I'm reading No Middle Name which contains - up to a point - "the complete collected Jack Reacher short stories." So I guess, in that case, sure.

[Capt. H. Hornblower Of His Majesty’s Navy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everyone Talks
Jack Reacher Novella
Free story issued by Penguin Publishing
By Lee Child

Overview 📝
A new police detective relates her interview with Reacher—who is in a hospital bed with gunshot wounds—regarding his role in bringing down a local protection racket.

Final Thoughts 🤔
I enjoyed hearing the story unfold through the police detective’s vantage point. The story itself was told in an upbeat and encouraging way, which helped its pacing. But Reacher didn’t ultimately stick around to provide the final linchpin in the detective’s case (though it wasn’t actually needed), the gunshot wounds suffered were never fully explained, and the story ended rather abruptly with no thought-provoking or surprise ending. Taken as a whole, the story was rather mundane.

Finally, the title of the story brought images of Reacher harshly interrogating a perp (as he regularly states to having the propensity of doing in other novels). Yet the story barely scratched any semblance of meaning from its title. False advertising.

2 ⭐️

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this short story. It was an easy read and it was enjoyable. It had a decent plot for being so short.

[Darryle B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this story, Jack Reacher and a new detective takes down a mob racket. Enjoyable short story. Recommended.

[Tgordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I didn’t get this short story...sigh...I may read again because I just didn’t understand the ending at all.

[Ridel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting thought exercise to wonder what Reacher's life looks like to a bystander. Here, we get to witness the perspective of a detective who encounters our vigilante hobo. It's fine. Almost like fanfic. It's also absurdly short so if you're bored, there's no reason not to waste five minutes.

But ultimately there's a reason why this was released for free, in that scenes like this have occurred in other Reacher novels (Midnight Line includes several).

Not Recommended, with reservations.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A newbie’s first case is a gunshot victim. The victim is our man Reacher. He got into town on a Greyhound and went into the first bar he saw. He witnesses a payoff for protection and follows the guy taking the payoff outside to confront him. Reacher does his usual persuasion to get the guy to talk. The info is given to the newbie who then busts the racket wide open and gets a serious pat on the back from her higher ups. Recommended

[XOX · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young cop went to the hospital for a gun shot wound victim.

The guy didn’t say anything at first. Then he told a story about a bad guy in town that he run into and he got shot as the result.

This wounded person gave a probable cause for an arrest.

In the end. The wounded guy, Reacher, left without a trace.

[Alexander Theofanidis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Το να είσαι η φρέσκια μπατσίνα στο αστυνομικό τμήμα είναι δύσκολο από μόνο του. Το να σου αναθέτουν να πάρεις κατάθεση από ένα γομάρι (ναι, αυτόν) που βρέθηκε στο νοσοκομείο και δεν έχει καμία διάθεση να μιλήσει (εξαιρούνται κάτι μονοσύλλαβα), είναι άλλο πράγμα…

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one. It was a quick read but still a good one, with a decent twist.

[Woody James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little Jack Reacher story.

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite rushed, but classic Reacher. Had to read the last couple of paragraphs again to confirm how it ended, but worth half an hours read.

[Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bra historia för att vara så kort, men så korta är svåra att ge något högt betyg, men i alla fall en medel 3a.

Har läst den som en av historierna i "No Middle Name".

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but good

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story had a very good plot.

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good quick short story. Typical Reacher saving the day well propping someone else up.

[Alan Standsalone Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok for a short story.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short Reacher novella where a young rookie detective goes to a hospital to report on a gunshot wound victim and finds Jack in the bed. She hears his story and tries to crack a big case.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read but I really enjoyed it. This Reacher story is from a different perspective and it worked really well for this particular story. I also enjoyed the twist at the end.

[Aimee Shaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

These little snippets can be enjoyable here and there but mostly feel pointless.

[James Ellson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great short story with a brilliant twist. You really do have to read this story twice!

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

slightly surprise end.

[Ragekage79 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice twist on that “wound,” Reacher.

[Beth]

A

[Mike Corgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good Jack Reacher short story

[Chris Laimit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much Reacher in this one, but it was okay.

[Bill Hohl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big departure from other narratives

[Anirudh Mannattil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, nothing going on.