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Jack Reacher #2
Die Trying
12 Compact Discs / 14 hours
The Barnes & Noble Review
August 1998
There are essentially two ways in which gratuitous violence can be used effectively in writing. If it is overwrought, appearing in excess in scene after scene, even the most severe violence becomes commonplace and bland. It's the Mortal Kombat syndrome: You can only watch a guy get his spine ripped out so many times before it loses its luster. For violence to really be exciting, it must either be sudden, so that the shock of brutal imagery you can't help but envision catches you unprepared and makes you cringe, or be unleashed after a careful buildup, so that you anticipate its arrival long enough for its absence to become excruciating, to the point where you're lusting after it, needing it. Lee Child, the author of Die Trying, is a master of both techniques.
The Barnes & Noble Review
August 1998
There are essentially two ways in which gratuitous violence can be used effectively in writing. If it is overwrought, appearing in excess in scene after scene, even the most severe violence becomes commonplace and bland. It's the Mortal Kombat syndrome: You can only watch a guy get his spine ripped out so many times before it loses its luster. For violence to really be exciting, it must either be sudden, so that the shock of brutal imagery you can't help but envision catches you unprepared and makes you cringe, or be unleashed after a careful buildup, so that you anticipate its arrival long enough for its absence to become excruciating, to the point where you're lusting after it, needing it. Lee Child, the author of Die Trying, is a master of both techniques.
Die Trying is Child's second book featuring Jack Reacher, an ex-Army Military Police major who is everything you want in an action hero and more. He is intimidatingly enormous. He is shrewd to the point of deviousness. He is good, but only when pushed. This is a guy who you just know, from the moment you meet him on the page, is capable of the most horrendous mayhem. And you want to see it, as soon as possible. Child, who is pretty shrewd and devious himself, makes you wait.
In Die Trying, Reacher gets tangled up in a kidnapping he's not supposed to have anything to do with. Gallantly stepping in to help a beautiful woman on crutches who is struggling with her dry cleaning, he puts himself in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time. The woman is FBI agent Holly Johnson,andoutside her dry cleaner's she, and Reacher along with her, is forced at gunpoint into the backseat of a car (which has been stolen in the opening scene in a breathtakingly sudden explosion of violence).
Their kidnappers are members of a highly organized neo-Nazi militia conglomerate who want Holly because she is very important to some very important people in the American government, and they have big plans to use her as a bargaining chip in a plot to mount a massive political insurrection. They really don't want any part of Reacher, but they don't quite understand that until they get him back to their Montana compound.
On the trip there, several days' journey in the back of a stolen delivery truck, Reacher's anger has time to fester and build. He has several chances to escape, but he is too calculating to take unnecessary risks. When these moments arrive, the pent-up violence waiting to be released swells off the page. But again and again, you have to wait until finally the driver of the truck steals into the barn where Reacher and Holly are chained to the wall in facing horse stalls for the night. He takes advantage of her injury and the fact that she has only one free hand to viciously beat her into submission, intent on having his way with her. Reacher is ten feet away and bound by a heavy iron chain looped through a ring in the wall. After desperately defending herself and almost defeating her assailant, Holly is conquered. The moment has arrived.
She undid the top button. Reacher counted: one. The driver leered down. Her hand slid to the next button. Reacher tightened his grip again. She undid the second button. Reacher counted: two. Her hand slid down to the third button. Reacher turned square-on to face the rear wall of his stall and took a deep breath. Turned his head and watched over his shoulder. Holly undid the third button. Dark peach brassiere. Skimpy and lacy. The driver shuffled from foot to foot. Reacher counted: three. He exhaled right from the bottom of his lungs. Holly's hand slid down to the fourth button. Reacher took a deep breath, the deepest breath of his life. He tightened his hold on the chain until his knuckles shone white. Holly undid the fourth button. Reacher counted: four. Her hand slid down. Paused a beat. Waited. Undid the fifth button. Her suit fell open. The driver leered down and made a small sound. Reacher jerked back and smashed his foot into the wall. Right under the iron ring. He smashed his weight backward against the chain, two hundred and twenty pounds of coiled fury exploding against the force of his kick. Splinters of damp wood burst out of the wall. The old planks shattered. The bolts tore right out of the timber. Reacher was hurled backward. He swarmed up to his feet, his chain whipping and flailing angrily behind him."Five!" he screamed.
What Reacher does to the hapless driver is pretty satisfying, all in all, but it's nothing compared with what happens when his captors get him back to Montana, where a ruthless psychopath named Beau Borken, a huge, hideous, brilliant monster of a man, lives like a god, ruling by fear over hundreds of militia men and women. The FBI, struggling to piece together the kidnapping from scant evidence, believes ...
14 pages, Audio CD
First published July 20, 1998
About the author
Lee Child
453 books34.7k followersLee 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 7,142 reviews
April 11, 2026
Good book, but it's not as great as I was expecting after the first book. I wish the first 3/4 of the book were as gripping and more like the last 1/4. The first 1/2 of the book, Jack is stuck in a truck, an innocent passer by in a kidnapping. Though Holly is far from a damsel in distress. As good as the premise is after a couple of deductions from Reacher about his fellow "victim," the most exciting thing in these pages was Reachers mental maths to keep his mind active. Ok, there are short bursts of action, with Reacher in a no-win situation, not being able to leave someone dependent on him. For this, Holly's injury was a good idea in the story.
The last 1/4 of this book is where the action is. This is where Reacher changes from prisoner to action man. I especially like the way Reacher is forced to face one of his own phobias. This is the mark of a hero, not someone with no fear but someone who feels fear but overcomes it. The difference between the start of the book to the end was, at the beginning, I was waiting for the pace to pick up, but for the last 150 pages, I could not put the book down. If the book changed like the earlier 100 pages earlier, I would have given it 5 stars definitely.
The last 1/4 of this book is where the action is. This is where Reacher changes from prisoner to action man. I especially like the way Reacher is forced to face one of his own phobias. This is the mark of a hero, not someone with no fear but someone who feels fear but overcomes it. The difference between the start of the book to the end was, at the beginning, I was waiting for the pace to pick up, but for the last 150 pages, I could not put the book down. If the book changed like the earlier 100 pages earlier, I would have given it 5 stars definitely.
August 13, 2016
Since I despised the first Jack Reacher novel Killing Floor you may be wondering why I read this second entry in this series. It’s all Tom Cruise’s fault.
Yeah, I know the Reacher fans were generally unhappy with Tiny Tom being cast as their hero who is supposed to be 6’5”, but I actually enjoyed the movie adaptation Jack Reacher quite a bit. Believe it or not a big chunk of the credit goes to Cruise who managed to convey the cocky arrogance needed while making it entertaining instead of over the top.* Plus, several people whose book judgment I trust have told me that the series got better over time so I figured I’d give Lee Child another shot. Besides, it could be another opportunity for me to be trolled by the hardcore Reacher fans, and who can resist that?
Jack Reacher is a former military policemen who is the baddest bad-ass who has ever bad-assed. Now retired he wanders around the country off the grid while making a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reacher is walking down a Chicago street when he sees a young woman with an injured leg struggling to deal with her cane and the dry cleaning she just picked up so he tries to help her out. Suddenly armed gunmen show up and force them into a car. Reacher has just gotten swept up into a kidnapping plot that has huge implications for the U.S. government. The cherry on top of that scene is that Reacher thinks that he wouldn't have any problems taking out the gunman one-handed because apparently he doesn't deem the problem worth dropping the dry cleaning he's holding, but he's worried about stray bullets going into a crowd of people behind him so he decides to play along.
I did like this one a lot more than Killing Floor. It helped that Reacher is thrown into a scenario more fitting of an action hero rather than splitting time trying to play detective. Switching from the first person narrative to third person here is also a big improvement s because rather than the main character telling us how awesome he is we get to either see it or have it relayed from an outsider’s perspective.
The plot still seems like something lifted from an action movie and doesn’t bear much scrutiny even though it gets the job done. I was questioning several points like
As in the first book at one point Reacher makes an intuitive leap of logic that would make Sherlock Holmes say, “Damn! How’d you pull that out of your ass?” There’s also a sex scene that induces enough eye rolling to cause the reader to make an appointment with their optometrist.
Still, the flaws here are the kinds of things you’d expect from the genre and not the pure stupidity of the first book. That makes me think that maybe this series is worth a read after all.
* I also give writer/director Christopher McQuarrie a lot of the credit for crafting an entertaining action/crime thriller. McQuarrie also had a hand in two crime movies I love. He wrote the screenplay for The Usual Suspects and wrote/directed The Way of the Gun, one of my favorite movies that almost no one has ever heard of.
Yeah, I know the Reacher fans were generally unhappy with Tiny Tom being cast as their hero who is supposed to be 6’5”, but I actually enjoyed the movie adaptation Jack Reacher quite a bit. Believe it or not a big chunk of the credit goes to Cruise who managed to convey the cocky arrogance needed while making it entertaining instead of over the top.* Plus, several people whose book judgment I trust have told me that the series got better over time so I figured I’d give Lee Child another shot. Besides, it could be another opportunity for me to be trolled by the hardcore Reacher fans, and who can resist that?
Jack Reacher is a former military policemen who is the baddest bad-ass who has ever bad-assed. Now retired he wanders around the country off the grid while making a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reacher is walking down a Chicago street when he sees a young woman with an injured leg struggling to deal with her cane and the dry cleaning she just picked up so he tries to help her out. Suddenly armed gunmen show up and force them into a car. Reacher has just gotten swept up into a kidnapping plot that has huge implications for the U.S. government. The cherry on top of that scene is that Reacher thinks that he wouldn't have any problems taking out the gunman one-handed because apparently he doesn't deem the problem worth dropping the dry cleaning he's holding, but he's worried about stray bullets going into a crowd of people behind him so he decides to play along.
I did like this one a lot more than Killing Floor. It helped that Reacher is thrown into a scenario more fitting of an action hero rather than splitting time trying to play detective. Switching from the first person narrative to third person here is also a big improvement s because rather than the main character telling us how awesome he is we get to either see it or have it relayed from an outsider’s perspective.
The plot still seems like something lifted from an action movie and doesn’t bear much scrutiny even though it gets the job done. I was questioning several points like
As in the first book at one point Reacher makes an intuitive leap of logic that would make Sherlock Holmes say, “Damn! How’d you pull that out of your ass?” There’s also a sex scene that induces enough eye rolling to cause the reader to make an appointment with their optometrist.
Still, the flaws here are the kinds of things you’d expect from the genre and not the pure stupidity of the first book. That makes me think that maybe this series is worth a read after all.
* I also give writer/director Christopher McQuarrie a lot of the credit for crafting an entertaining action/crime thriller. McQuarrie also had a hand in two crime movies I love. He wrote the screenplay for The Usual Suspects and wrote/directed The Way of the Gun, one of my favorite movies that almost no one has ever heard of.
August 27, 2020
Lee Child doesn't fail to deliver. What a compelling roller coaster ride full of tension, crime, military, FBI, treason... Jack Reacher is an innocent passer by when Holly Johnson, FBI agent, is abducted by three paramilitary men. What are their plans? where are Jack and Holly brought to? What about Beau Borken and his plan about an independent state? In this novel you'll learn about the madness of a cult (had to think about Waco, it was even mentioned in the book) and how difficult it is to overcome mad schemers like Beau Borken. What a villain! Jack Reacher on a very tight and sometimes brutal mission here. Great characters, intriguing action, evil scheming. This books keeps you reading on. Liked it and can highly recommend it!
July 26, 2021
In this, his second outing, ex-Army Major Jack Reacher is minding his own business, walking past a dry cleaning shop in Chicago, when an attractive young woman emerges from the shop with nine bags of expensive clothes, a bad knee, and a crutch. She drops the crutch and Reacher jumps to her assistance. In the same moment, two armed kidnappers materialize and order the woman into a waiting car.
As any crime fiction reader understands by now, in no more than three seconds tops, Reacher could have these two thugs on the ground whimpering like sick puppies with no problem whatsoever. Unfortunately, there are a number of innocent bystanders who might be hurt if the kidnappers manage to get off any shots. Reacher makes this calculation and then follows the woman into the car and is taken along for the ride.
It turns out to be a very long ride in an Econoline van, all the way from Chicago to northwestern Montana, where a nutty but well-armed militia group is preparing to declare its independence from the United States. The kidnapped woman, Holly Johnson, is critical to the militia leader's plans.
Under normal circumstances, Holly would be well-equipped to handle herself. She is one of the strongest female characters to appear in this series, but with her bum knee, which she injured in a soccer game, she could use a little help. Reacher, of course, is there to provide it, and he and Holly together will have to struggle mightily both to defend Holly's virtue and to prevent the militiamen from accomplishing their objectives.
This is a fun read, and fans of the series certainly won't want to miss it, even though it requires more than just the usual suspension of disbelief. The principal problem, which is not unique to this novel, is that the bad guys act completely irrationally when it comes to Jack Reacher. He bumbles into their kidnapping scheme and is totally irrelevant to their larger objectives. Still, rather than simply shooting him on the spot, thus eliminating any threat he might represent, they throw him into the van and drive him to Montana with Holly. Once there, again instead of simply disposing of Reacher immediately, the militia leader leaves him hanging around, perfectly positioned to throw a monkey wrench into their grand plans.
Still, it's easy to let that slide and, on the plus side, the book is an adrenaline-filled ride and is the perfect book to read on a summer afternoon at the beach with a bag of chips and a couple of beers. Die Trying is hardly the greatest book in the history of American literature but all the same, it's a whole lot of fun.
As any crime fiction reader understands by now, in no more than three seconds tops, Reacher could have these two thugs on the ground whimpering like sick puppies with no problem whatsoever. Unfortunately, there are a number of innocent bystanders who might be hurt if the kidnappers manage to get off any shots. Reacher makes this calculation and then follows the woman into the car and is taken along for the ride.
It turns out to be a very long ride in an Econoline van, all the way from Chicago to northwestern Montana, where a nutty but well-armed militia group is preparing to declare its independence from the United States. The kidnapped woman, Holly Johnson, is critical to the militia leader's plans.
Under normal circumstances, Holly would be well-equipped to handle herself. She is one of the strongest female characters to appear in this series, but with her bum knee, which she injured in a soccer game, she could use a little help. Reacher, of course, is there to provide it, and he and Holly together will have to struggle mightily both to defend Holly's virtue and to prevent the militiamen from accomplishing their objectives.
This is a fun read, and fans of the series certainly won't want to miss it, even though it requires more than just the usual suspension of disbelief. The principal problem, which is not unique to this novel, is that the bad guys act completely irrationally when it comes to Jack Reacher. He bumbles into their kidnapping scheme and is totally irrelevant to their larger objectives. Still, rather than simply shooting him on the spot, thus eliminating any threat he might represent, they throw him into the van and drive him to Montana with Holly. Once there, again instead of simply disposing of Reacher immediately, the militia leader leaves him hanging around, perfectly positioned to throw a monkey wrench into their grand plans.
Still, it's easy to let that slide and, on the plus side, the book is an adrenaline-filled ride and is the perfect book to read on a summer afternoon at the beach with a bag of chips and a couple of beers. Die Trying is hardly the greatest book in the history of American literature but all the same, it's a whole lot of fun.
February 10, 2017
“Get a problem, solve a problem,” he said. “That’s my rule.”
This was a winner!
I can wholeheartedly say that this book totally went above and beyond my expectations. It is a brilliant and intense mystery/thriller story with tons of action and several heart-stopping moments. If compared to the first book in the series, the plot is more complex and the characters have more depth. Surprisingly good! I can’t remember the last time I felt like my heart was going to burst from excitement while reading a book. Die Trying kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way through.
I don’t see any reason not to admire Jack Reacher. Everything about him screams confidence and competence. I have to ask this question out loud again—how could he remain so calm in almost every situation? How could he feel no trepidation even though the guns were pointed at him? What an OTT hero he is! Do I mind? Not a bit.
It was not in his nature to panic. Never had been. He was a calm man, and his long training had made him calmer. He had been taught to assess and evaluate, and to use pure force of will to succeed. You’re Jack Reacher, he had been told. You can do anything. First his mother had told him, then his father, then the quiet deadly men in the training schools. And he had believed them.
To be honest, I don’t know how to write this review without giving the story all away, so I think I’d better stop right here. This is a book that you need to read it for yourself.
**This one can be read as a standalone.
Jumping to the next book!
This was a winner!
I can wholeheartedly say that this book totally went above and beyond my expectations. It is a brilliant and intense mystery/thriller story with tons of action and several heart-stopping moments. If compared to the first book in the series, the plot is more complex and the characters have more depth. Surprisingly good! I can’t remember the last time I felt like my heart was going to burst from excitement while reading a book. Die Trying kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way through.
I don’t see any reason not to admire Jack Reacher. Everything about him screams confidence and competence. I have to ask this question out loud again—how could he remain so calm in almost every situation? How could he feel no trepidation even though the guns were pointed at him? What an OTT hero he is! Do I mind? Not a bit.
It was not in his nature to panic. Never had been. He was a calm man, and his long training had made him calmer. He had been taught to assess and evaluate, and to use pure force of will to succeed. You’re Jack Reacher, he had been told. You can do anything. First his mother had told him, then his father, then the quiet deadly men in the training schools. And he had believed them.
To be honest, I don’t know how to write this review without giving the story all away, so I think I’d better stop right here. This is a book that you need to read it for yourself.
**This one can be read as a standalone.
Jumping to the next book!
June 11, 2017
Once again I accompany Jack Reacher, ex-military policeman-turned-drifter, in his adventure. Die Trying is the second book in the series and here Reacher has gone to Chicago. He tries to help a young, attractive woman struggling on crutches with her laundry. In return for his courtesy he gets kidnapped along with the woman. The woman, Holly, claims to be a FBI and there are other interesting facts about her which would revealed as the story progresses.
In case you don’t know who Reacher is – he is Sherlock Holmes & Rambo combined. At nearly six and a half feet tall he is extraordinarily strong – an expert marksman - makes deductions like The Great Sherlock Holmes. Needless to say women find him irresistible. He is the embodiment of boyhood fantasies which some men still nurture inside themselves.
While held captive by the kidnappers Reacher impresses Holly with his calm, brains, physical fitness. He even tries psychological games on the kidnappers to gain some upper hand.
Awaiting Holly is a psychotic killer who is referred to as the commander by his followers. He is also building a room from which nobody can escape.
This is an action adventure thriller – it has conspiracies, twists, misdirections, maniacs with guns, undercover FBI agent, traitors, plenty of gunfights and some fistfights, betrayal and whatnot! Lee Child, the author, has tried his best sustain your interest. Parts of the book are so suspenseful that you would keep turning the pages.
I liked three things about this novel.
First, the author had tried to add facets to Reacher’s character. Jack Reacher – the unflappable warrior experienced fear!!! Later he conquered this fear of course, but still. Child has also brought out the soft side of Reacher – his emotional reaction when he thought that his mistakes would lead to the deaths of innocent people, his dilemma over killing dangerous dogs acting under orders – nothing truly original but some efforts were made at fleshing out his character.
Second, the character of Holly. Compared to Roscoe in Killing Floor, Holly is a much stronger character. She needs Reacher but can use her brains, courage and strength when the situation demanded. Again, not so original but an improvement over the last character.
Third, the FBI investigation into the kidnapping of Holly.
These efforts have earned the book a rating of 3 from me.
On the flip side, the behavior of some of the villains did not make any sense. They had planned such an elaborate conspiracy but acted like fools at times. My “no spoiler” policy forbids me from saying anything else.
Lee Child writes entertaining novels – the very nature of action thrillers makes the stories unrealistic. I get that. I really do. But, what I would have preferred was a more believable plot. The execution could have been a bit better.
I was not very impressed with the first book (Killing Floor) but still read the second one because
1. The series has been highly praised by Stephen King and Jeffery Deaver – the best endorsements a thriller writer can get
2. My friends keep encouraging me that Reacher grows on you with time
My library has got some books in the series and I shall try out a few more. In fact I am in the waiting list, for the next book in the series-Tripwire, from my library.
Just suspend your disbelief and you might enjoy this novel. If you prefer your thrillers to be more realistic and cerebral then this book is definitely not for you. But, if you like action then why not!
In case you don’t know who Reacher is – he is Sherlock Holmes & Rambo combined. At nearly six and a half feet tall he is extraordinarily strong – an expert marksman - makes deductions like The Great Sherlock Holmes. Needless to say women find him irresistible. He is the embodiment of boyhood fantasies which some men still nurture inside themselves.
While held captive by the kidnappers Reacher impresses Holly with his calm, brains, physical fitness. He even tries psychological games on the kidnappers to gain some upper hand.
Awaiting Holly is a psychotic killer who is referred to as the commander by his followers. He is also building a room from which nobody can escape.
This is an action adventure thriller – it has conspiracies, twists, misdirections, maniacs with guns, undercover FBI agent, traitors, plenty of gunfights and some fistfights, betrayal and whatnot! Lee Child, the author, has tried his best sustain your interest. Parts of the book are so suspenseful that you would keep turning the pages.
I liked three things about this novel.
First, the author had tried to add facets to Reacher’s character. Jack Reacher – the unflappable warrior experienced fear!!! Later he conquered this fear of course, but still. Child has also brought out the soft side of Reacher – his emotional reaction when he thought that his mistakes would lead to the deaths of innocent people, his dilemma over killing dangerous dogs acting under orders – nothing truly original but some efforts were made at fleshing out his character.
Second, the character of Holly. Compared to Roscoe in Killing Floor, Holly is a much stronger character. She needs Reacher but can use her brains, courage and strength when the situation demanded. Again, not so original but an improvement over the last character.
Third, the FBI investigation into the kidnapping of Holly.
These efforts have earned the book a rating of 3 from me.
On the flip side, the behavior of some of the villains did not make any sense. They had planned such an elaborate conspiracy but acted like fools at times. My “no spoiler” policy forbids me from saying anything else.
Lee Child writes entertaining novels – the very nature of action thrillers makes the stories unrealistic. I get that. I really do. But, what I would have preferred was a more believable plot. The execution could have been a bit better.
I was not very impressed with the first book (Killing Floor) but still read the second one because
1. The series has been highly praised by Stephen King and Jeffery Deaver – the best endorsements a thriller writer can get
2. My friends keep encouraging me that Reacher grows on you with time
My library has got some books in the series and I shall try out a few more. In fact I am in the waiting list, for the next book in the series-Tripwire, from my library.
Just suspend your disbelief and you might enjoy this novel. If you prefer your thrillers to be more realistic and cerebral then this book is definitely not for you. But, if you like action then why not!
January 5, 2020
3.5★
“Extreme violence, awesome force. Whoever did that, I wouldn’t want him to get mad at me, that’s for damn sure.’”
The “whoever” here was Jack Reacher, and that pretty much sums up the tone of this long ‘adventure’. I’ve read a couple of Child’s Jack Reacher novellas and short stories, but this is the first full-length novel. It's #2 in the series, although they can be read in any order.
Plenty of action, some of it suspend-disbelief-worthy, I have to say, a little bit of character background, mostly Reacher’s, and more lessons than I cared for in weaponry and which handgun suits which kind of hand and which rifle shoots how far or obliterates how much.
Reacher stops to help a young woman with her dry cleaning while she’s limping along with a crutch when he’s caught up in her kidnapping by a trio of not-very-nice fellas with a van. He’s got no idea what’s happening, but being more than a pretty face, he quickly figures out all kinds of things about her, her identity, and about the men.
She doesn’t seem quite as surprised as she should, and the men seem a little amateurish. It’s a long haul across country for them all, with no indication of which way they’re going or why, or what their final destination is. Meanwhile, we learn a bit about Reacher’s background and his powers of deduction.
Raised in a military family and serving for several years himself, he has a soldier’s instincts and bearing. And quite a bearing it is, too. 6’5”, 220 lbs, solid muscle and quick reflexes. Well-trained, experienced, with lots of service medals as well. But he missed out on a lot. He’s always been able to figure out where he is and what’s going on, but back “home”, he’s at a loss.
“. . . he’d lived and served all over the world most of his life. Outside the United States. It had left him knowing his own country about as well as the average seven-year-old knows it. So he couldn’t decode the subtle rhythms and feel and smells of America as well as he wanted to.”
For him, he might as well be in a foreign country. But with weapons, he really is right at home, and I did feel as if the author could have left a lot of the information in an appendix rather than fill so many pages with it.
Something he does know, is what time it is wherever he is.
“. . . he knew what time it was to within about twenty seconds. It was an old skill, born of many long wakeful nights on active service. When you’re waiting for something to happen, you close your body down like a beach house in winter and you let your mind lock on to the steady pace of the passing seconds. It’s like suspended animation. It saves energy and it lifts the responsibility for your heartbeat away from your unconscious brain and passes it on to some kind of a hidden clock.”
Handy. As for his other skills, I’d sure like to see someone actually do this trick. And then pick a lock.
“Reacher nodded and finished his coffee. Sucked the fork from the stew clean. Bent one of the prongs right out and put a little kink into the end with pressure from his thumbnail. It made a little hook.”
Ok, I suspended disbelief and read on, but really, it was too long and too grisly for me. I quite like Child’s short, choppy style of writing action sequences, while some of his descriptions can get almost poetic. There’s a lot of blood and guts and torture, which will appeal to a lot of readers. I just like a good story with interesting characters – I don’t want to see the horrific brutality, thanks.
This is told in the third person, which is necessary, as there are times when Reacher isn’t with the kidnap victim, and we need to know what’s happening with her.
I’ll no doubt read some more of the series, but I think I’d better let the blood dry first. The good thing about a series is that you know he lives to fight another day. (No guarantees about anybody else, of course).
“Extreme violence, awesome force. Whoever did that, I wouldn’t want him to get mad at me, that’s for damn sure.’”
The “whoever” here was Jack Reacher, and that pretty much sums up the tone of this long ‘adventure’. I’ve read a couple of Child’s Jack Reacher novellas and short stories, but this is the first full-length novel. It's #2 in the series, although they can be read in any order.
Plenty of action, some of it suspend-disbelief-worthy, I have to say, a little bit of character background, mostly Reacher’s, and more lessons than I cared for in weaponry and which handgun suits which kind of hand and which rifle shoots how far or obliterates how much.
Reacher stops to help a young woman with her dry cleaning while she’s limping along with a crutch when he’s caught up in her kidnapping by a trio of not-very-nice fellas with a van. He’s got no idea what’s happening, but being more than a pretty face, he quickly figures out all kinds of things about her, her identity, and about the men.
She doesn’t seem quite as surprised as she should, and the men seem a little amateurish. It’s a long haul across country for them all, with no indication of which way they’re going or why, or what their final destination is. Meanwhile, we learn a bit about Reacher’s background and his powers of deduction.
Raised in a military family and serving for several years himself, he has a soldier’s instincts and bearing. And quite a bearing it is, too. 6’5”, 220 lbs, solid muscle and quick reflexes. Well-trained, experienced, with lots of service medals as well. But he missed out on a lot. He’s always been able to figure out where he is and what’s going on, but back “home”, he’s at a loss.
“. . . he’d lived and served all over the world most of his life. Outside the United States. It had left him knowing his own country about as well as the average seven-year-old knows it. So he couldn’t decode the subtle rhythms and feel and smells of America as well as he wanted to.”
For him, he might as well be in a foreign country. But with weapons, he really is right at home, and I did feel as if the author could have left a lot of the information in an appendix rather than fill so many pages with it.
Something he does know, is what time it is wherever he is.
“. . . he knew what time it was to within about twenty seconds. It was an old skill, born of many long wakeful nights on active service. When you’re waiting for something to happen, you close your body down like a beach house in winter and you let your mind lock on to the steady pace of the passing seconds. It’s like suspended animation. It saves energy and it lifts the responsibility for your heartbeat away from your unconscious brain and passes it on to some kind of a hidden clock.”
Handy. As for his other skills, I’d sure like to see someone actually do this trick. And then pick a lock.
“Reacher nodded and finished his coffee. Sucked the fork from the stew clean. Bent one of the prongs right out and put a little kink into the end with pressure from his thumbnail. It made a little hook.”
Ok, I suspended disbelief and read on, but really, it was too long and too grisly for me. I quite like Child’s short, choppy style of writing action sequences, while some of his descriptions can get almost poetic. There’s a lot of blood and guts and torture, which will appeal to a lot of readers. I just like a good story with interesting characters – I don’t want to see the horrific brutality, thanks.
This is told in the third person, which is necessary, as there are times when Reacher isn’t with the kidnap victim, and we need to know what’s happening with her.
I’ll no doubt read some more of the series, but I think I’d better let the blood dry first. The good thing about a series is that you know he lives to fight another day. (No guarantees about anybody else, of course).
March 25, 2018
Ex-military MP drifter Jack Reacher gets into trouble again and fights, kicks, breaks and shoots his way out.
So this is the way its going to be … and that’s cool. Lee Child is keeping the plot and credibility fast and easy and choosing the formula that works: hero gets in trouble, fights the bad guys and kicks ass. There could be a pretty woman needing saving along the way and of course she’s going to be attracted to our man.
This time around Reacher is at the wrong place at the wrong time (and I’m guessing this will be a ubiquitous narrative device moving forward) and gets mixed up in some domestic terrorist assholery that also involves high levels of government. There’s plenty of fists and lead flying, blood and gore and big explosions.
Sort of reminded me of John D. MacDonald’s 1979 Travis McGee novel The Green Ripper, and there are similarities between Reacher and McGee, but obliquely and MacDonald is the more thoughtful writer. While Child has Reacher making some astute social and cultural observations, this is nowhere near the level of subtly intellectual commentary MacDonald was able to pull off.
There’s also plenty of writing surrounding marksmanship and Child does some nifty work describing the ballistics in a technical fashion that is fun to read.
What I like most about the Reacher storyline is that (and stay with me here) is it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite TV shows: Kung Fu.
OK, OK, I know what you’re saying, WHAT IN THE HELL??? does Jack Reacher have in common with Kwai Chang Caine???
Besides that they are both drifters? And they both find adventure and kick ass and fight bad guys and solve problems and invariably save the day and then keep drifting into the sunset? Both keep an intractable cool, stay above the fray with a calm, measured, disciplined stoicism. Reacher has an almost Zen like ability to stay in the moment and be situationally aware. While this is certainly due to his life in the military and his extensive training, was that background so different from Caine’s exhaustive and isolated training as a Shaolin monk? Are they not both deliberate outsiders who earn respect with their courage, fighting prowess and extraordinary ability?
Just saying.
So this was another good book, Reacher is a way cool tough guy and charismatic protagonist and this is a very entertaining series.
So this is the way its going to be … and that’s cool. Lee Child is keeping the plot and credibility fast and easy and choosing the formula that works: hero gets in trouble, fights the bad guys and kicks ass. There could be a pretty woman needing saving along the way and of course she’s going to be attracted to our man.
This time around Reacher is at the wrong place at the wrong time (and I’m guessing this will be a ubiquitous narrative device moving forward) and gets mixed up in some domestic terrorist assholery that also involves high levels of government. There’s plenty of fists and lead flying, blood and gore and big explosions.
Sort of reminded me of John D. MacDonald’s 1979 Travis McGee novel The Green Ripper, and there are similarities between Reacher and McGee, but obliquely and MacDonald is the more thoughtful writer. While Child has Reacher making some astute social and cultural observations, this is nowhere near the level of subtly intellectual commentary MacDonald was able to pull off.
There’s also plenty of writing surrounding marksmanship and Child does some nifty work describing the ballistics in a technical fashion that is fun to read.
What I like most about the Reacher storyline is that (and stay with me here) is it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite TV shows: Kung Fu.
OK, OK, I know what you’re saying, WHAT IN THE HELL??? does Jack Reacher have in common with Kwai Chang Caine???
Besides that they are both drifters? And they both find adventure and kick ass and fight bad guys and solve problems and invariably save the day and then keep drifting into the sunset? Both keep an intractable cool, stay above the fray with a calm, measured, disciplined stoicism. Reacher has an almost Zen like ability to stay in the moment and be situationally aware. While this is certainly due to his life in the military and his extensive training, was that background so different from Caine’s exhaustive and isolated training as a Shaolin monk? Are they not both deliberate outsiders who earn respect with their courage, fighting prowess and extraordinary ability?
Just saying.
So this was another good book, Reacher is a way cool tough guy and charismatic protagonist and this is a very entertaining series.
November 5, 2015
So, this time Jack Reacher is captured by some Waco style militia group. They've also captured a, coincidentally beautiful, FBI agent with a sports injury. Together they must escape, trust each other, fall a little bit in love, foil the bad guys, and maybe have a little bit of nookie on the way...
In fact coincidence is the key word in this novel, coincidence and cliché. Frankly there's way too much of them both throughout. The novel wavered between a 2-star and a 3-star for me. On the one hand the story was good and engaging. I wanted to keep reading to the end. On the other hand, some of the descriptive writing was so heavy handed it was laughable. I'm happy to put this down to second-novel nerves though. Just trying too hard to be better than the first success.
Finally, some of the story devices let it down too. Can anybody (even Jack Reacher) really pick up a sniper rifle they've never shot before and write a letter on a tree trunk several hundred yards away. And would they really want to 'make out' right next to the grave of the guy they just buried – especially as she keeps professing her love for some other chap we don't know about. They didn't ring even close to true.
In fact coincidence is the key word in this novel, coincidence and cliché. Frankly there's way too much of them both throughout. The novel wavered between a 2-star and a 3-star for me. On the one hand the story was good and engaging. I wanted to keep reading to the end. On the other hand, some of the descriptive writing was so heavy handed it was laughable. I'm happy to put this down to second-novel nerves though. Just trying too hard to be better than the first success.
Finally, some of the story devices let it down too. Can anybody (even Jack Reacher) really pick up a sniper rifle they've never shot before and write a letter on a tree trunk several hundred yards away. And would they really want to 'make out' right next to the grave of the guy they just buried – especially as she keeps professing her love for some other chap we don't know about. They didn't ring even close to true.
October 27, 2022
Reacher, right in the thick of it!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌍🌎
Character development: 🥺🤭🤫😕😎
The Hero: Jack Reacher - he grew up in the military lifestyle and joined the military himself. He spent years as a Military Police officer and has been in a bunch of disturbing situations. Now that he is out of the Military, he has been traveling around and getting to know the country he spent so many years fighting for. Reacher is 6’5”, muscular and extremely intelligent. He is currently working as a doorman in a blues club on the south side of Chicago.
< b>The heroine(s): Holly - a young FBI agent from a well to do family. She works at the Chicago FBI Office doing forensic accounting. She is important to the people she works with because her efforts were putting away a lot of people that were previously hard to get. She recently hurt her knee playing soccer and walks with a crutch.
The Story: Jack notices Holly struggling to carry her laundry and walk with her crutch after leaving the laundromat, so he offers to carry the laundry when both of them are taken hostage at gunpoint and transported in a van to a destination.
I am really enjoying Lee Child’s writing style and his storylines are very good. I hope the Reacher series on Amazon runs for many seasons and explores the plots of many of these books. I really enjoyed the first season and would enjoy seeing the plot of this book on the small screen. It was exciting, suspenseful and interesting throughout.
I listened to this via audiobook. Jonathon McClain did the narration and he was excellent. He has many different voices and uses them all. It was completely enjoyable and I really liked listening and plan to do quite a few more from this series. Reacher is a likable character since he is so self-assured and intelligent.
The world building was terrific. I like the way Lee Child includes all the details about things like weaponry, snipers, militia, getting out of certain situations and the physics behind certain acts. It all adds to story and the realism.
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The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌍🌎
Character development: 🥺🤭🤫😕😎
The Hero: Jack Reacher - he grew up in the military lifestyle and joined the military himself. He spent years as a Military Police officer and has been in a bunch of disturbing situations. Now that he is out of the Military, he has been traveling around and getting to know the country he spent so many years fighting for. Reacher is 6’5”, muscular and extremely intelligent. He is currently working as a doorman in a blues club on the south side of Chicago.
< b>The heroine(s): Holly - a young FBI agent from a well to do family. She works at the Chicago FBI Office doing forensic accounting. She is important to the people she works with because her efforts were putting away a lot of people that were previously hard to get. She recently hurt her knee playing soccer and walks with a crutch.
The Story: Jack notices Holly struggling to carry her laundry and walk with her crutch after leaving the laundromat, so he offers to carry the laundry when both of them are taken hostage at gunpoint and transported in a van to a destination.
I am really enjoying Lee Child’s writing style and his storylines are very good. I hope the Reacher series on Amazon runs for many seasons and explores the plots of many of these books. I really enjoyed the first season and would enjoy seeing the plot of this book on the small screen. It was exciting, suspenseful and interesting throughout.
I listened to this via audiobook. Jonathon McClain did the narration and he was excellent. He has many different voices and uses them all. It was completely enjoyable and I really liked listening and plan to do quite a few more from this series. Reacher is a likable character since he is so self-assured and intelligent.
The world building was terrific. I like the way Lee Child includes all the details about things like weaponry, snipers, militia, getting out of certain situations and the physics behind certain acts. It all adds to story and the realism.
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April 5, 2017
My Rating : 4.8/5
Die Trying is the second installment in the Jack Reacher Series. Die Trying is wrote in a third person perspective where as the first book was in first person. I really loved the person perspective but the third person perspective covered more ground. So, No problem. The prose and writing in this book is better than the first one but stilled the pacing felt a bit more slow. Here and There. The characters are well written and yeah, The dialogues are exceptionally good and correct for the characters who speak it. Jack Reacher shines as the hero as always and the book is a very good thrill ride. I loved it and I am going to read the next book in the series soon. Bye, Thank You for reading this.<>
Die Trying is the second installment in the Jack Reacher Series. Die Trying is wrote in a third person perspective where as the first book was in first person. I really loved the person perspective but the third person perspective covered more ground. So, No problem. The prose and writing in this book is better than the first one but stilled the pacing felt a bit more slow. Here and There. The characters are well written and yeah, The dialogues are exceptionally good and correct for the characters who speak it. Jack Reacher shines as the hero as always and the book is a very good thrill ride. I loved it and I am going to read the next book in the series soon. Bye, Thank You for reading this.<>
May 11, 2021
I really enjoyed the first Jack Reacher novel, Killing Floor, but this second attempt was utter bilge. From a ridiculous opening set-up, the novel descends into a mixture of adolescent fantasy, incredible happenstance, laughable set pieces and ridiculous plot twists. On the other hand, it says something about Lee Child as a writer in that he very nearly gets away with it, because much as I was groaning at how amateur the whole thing seemed, I kept reading, almost to the end. Almost. I gave up when I realised I didn't really care enough about any of it - the characters, the plot, the impending climax where, as in a James Bond movie, everyone will get what they deserve. In fact, Jack Reacher is James Bond, really, and even by book two I know what I'm going to get with this series. Jack will get the baddie, make love to the beautiful woman he's been thrown together with and pay scant respect to any authorities who happen to get in his way of delivering justice.
I won't give up with Lee Child and the Reacher series, unless the next one I read is as bad a stinker as this, because there is no doubt the man can write thrillers. He even managed to shoe horn a reference to Aston Villa in this one, reflecting his Brummie roots, but it wasn't enough to redeem what I think must have been one of his very first attempts at getting published, rejected until he hit one out the park with The Killing Floor.
I won't give up with Lee Child and the Reacher series, unless the next one I read is as bad a stinker as this, because there is no doubt the man can write thrillers. He even managed to shoe horn a reference to Aston Villa in this one, reflecting his Brummie roots, but it wasn't enough to redeem what I think must have been one of his very first attempts at getting published, rejected until he hit one out the park with The Killing Floor.
September 21, 2014
I wish I knew Jack Reacher. That he was a friend of mine. Reacher takes care of his friends. No matter where you might be in the world he will come and find you. Reacher is loyal. You can always count on him.
Jack Reacher likes women. He likes intelligent women. Reacher looks out for women.
Reacher is not someone to mess with. He's smart, courageous, patriotic, and extremely well trained. He has a calm about him that works well in tough situations. He is an avenger for those less fortunate.
Jack Reacher has high morals. He keeps his promises friend or foe. Their is no better man than Reacher.
I wish I knew Jack Reacher.
Jack Reacher likes women. He likes intelligent women. Reacher looks out for women.
Reacher is not someone to mess with. He's smart, courageous, patriotic, and extremely well trained. He has a calm about him that works well in tough situations. He is an avenger for those less fortunate.
Jack Reacher has high morals. He keeps his promises friend or foe. Their is no better man than Reacher.
I wish I knew Jack Reacher.
August 19, 2021
Alright. Enough of this tom foolery and being all excited by Mr Reacher. But why not! Reading this stuff is fun for me. I'm in lockdown. I'm working on my own all day long in the library industry without my clients, students, or teachers in front of me to help. So.. if I am doing quiet work and can do so, I will listen to my audio versions of this delectable series. And for what it's worth, my public library has every Jack Reacher offering on audio!! Oh my - I have over twenty years to catch up on. This is pretty funny.
The thing I love about Lee Child's writing is that it matches his protag to a tee. Short and snappy offerings, says what needs to be said without fanfare, and delivered with wit and a smoothness that only Mr Reacher can get away with. Smooth as a whistle. As cool as a cucumber. But he delivers cooler word usage than this, that's for sure.
How many girls will he meet over his lifetime, and he is already late thirties, so being the impatient person that I am, I am unable to stay in the moment and am fast forwarding quite rapidly. Reacher will always save the day, if he stuffs up he realises straight away and will always know how to right the wrong. The author knows a lot about weapons and military, I find this is interesting. I know nothing about this stuff but I feel I am in safe hands.
In this instance Jack meets Holly and hopefully will save her, along with a lot of other people. I wonder which lucky lady he saves next. Bring it on.
The thing I love about Lee Child's writing is that it matches his protag to a tee. Short and snappy offerings, says what needs to be said without fanfare, and delivered with wit and a smoothness that only Mr Reacher can get away with. Smooth as a whistle. As cool as a cucumber. But he delivers cooler word usage than this, that's for sure.
How many girls will he meet over his lifetime, and he is already late thirties, so being the impatient person that I am, I am unable to stay in the moment and am fast forwarding quite rapidly. Reacher will always save the day, if he stuffs up he realises straight away and will always know how to right the wrong. The author knows a lot about weapons and military, I find this is interesting. I know nothing about this stuff but I feel I am in safe hands.
In this instance Jack meets Holly and hopefully will save her, along with a lot of other people. I wonder which lucky lady he saves next. Bring it on.
February 27, 2019
3.5 Stars
I enjoyed this a little less than book one (Killing Floor) in terms of plot, but that's mostly due to the fact that the whole dangerous militia group thing annoys the shit out of me as a rule.
The bad guys here were just straight up wacko, whereas I prefer my bad guys to be a little more complex and captivating in their level of crazy, if that makes any sense.
Jack Reacher, as usual, was fairly badass and heroic. I like the guy. He's definitely someone I'd want protecting my back if shit hit the fan.
I very much appreciated that the female character featuring in this story (Holly) was a strong, brave, intelligent woman, totally badass in her own right. She played a good supporting role.
My issues mostly remain with the writing itself. I find it choppy and very basic in terms of skill and delivery. The dialogue, too, often bothers me, especially with all the constant "he said this/he said that" nonsense. It's repetitive and often annoying, reading the exact same lines over and over.
Overall, I like the series and the lead character of Reacher enough to continue on at some point, but I hope that the quality of the writing improves over time.
I enjoyed this a little less than book one (Killing Floor) in terms of plot, but that's mostly due to the fact that the whole dangerous militia group thing annoys the shit out of me as a rule.
The bad guys here were just straight up wacko, whereas I prefer my bad guys to be a little more complex and captivating in their level of crazy, if that makes any sense.
Jack Reacher, as usual, was fairly badass and heroic. I like the guy. He's definitely someone I'd want protecting my back if shit hit the fan.
I very much appreciated that the female character featuring in this story (Holly) was a strong, brave, intelligent woman, totally badass in her own right. She played a good supporting role.
My issues mostly remain with the writing itself. I find it choppy and very basic in terms of skill and delivery. The dialogue, too, often bothers me, especially with all the constant "he said this/he said that" nonsense. It's repetitive and often annoying, reading the exact same lines over and over.
Overall, I like the series and the lead character of Reacher enough to continue on at some point, but I hope that the quality of the writing improves over time.
September 7, 2018
I tried & kept giving Child the benefit of the doubt, but just can't take it any more. Child has some great overall plots, interesting places & characters. He really got my hopes up with this one. The FBI part is well done. It's a shame they are all ruined by making Reacher a super hero in human form. Child never passes up any opportunity to make Reacher 'look good', but it keeps backfiring.
My breaking point came in a horse barn. The heroine just had her bad knee kicked a few times. Reacher just tore his chains from the wall. One of 3 bad guys is now dead - the driver. Does Reacher check his pockets for keys, like maybe to the van? Nope. What time is it? Dawn, right when his enemies would be at their lowest ebb - his favorite time. Does he think about scouting the area & going after them? Nope.
He sits down & gets a big hug & thank yous from the heroine for saving her honor & the chapter ends with them blissfully consoling each other. Have you ever had a limb with a torn ligament knocked around even a little? Feel like cuddling afterward? I haven't. I wanted everyone to stay far away!
Besides, accepting just made Reacher look stupid. He's supposed to be the tough, logical operator. Time is wasting. Take care of business, have tender moments & take care of nerves afterward.
The shotgun was an issue again. If you're loading a shotgun for people, what do you put in it? Buckshot is likely. There's about 20 #4 shot in a 12 gauge shell, less if #00. The lightest shot might have 50, but we have 'hundreds of small holes' in the roof of a van after being shot at from 10'-15' with no big center hole. Anyone who has ever fired a shotgun at a board, tree, or car from fairly close wouldn't make that mistake. There are also enough shot scattered around that Reacher piles them up. Hyperbole is allowed, idiocy though? No.
Then there was the bad guy. He is apparently the leader of a cult. What do all cult leaders have in common? They are charismatic. Child paints this guy like a cross between Bo Radley & Hannibal Lector. Who would follow such a person? Most would cross the street at the sight of him.
And the guy is hiring people, then killing them, just to be evil, I guess. We're under the working assumption here that he laid his plans far enough ahead that he's had the heroine followed for at least a couple of weeks, but he has to hire a crew to gut a room & then kill them for fun? Why not his own people? Tearing out plaster & floor boards doesn't take skilled labor. Killing people in a rural area where everyone knows everyone else's business is just stupid. If it was in my neck of the woods, one of them would be the sheriff's brother or cousin. Guaranteed to get exactly the kind of notice a person doesn't want.
Nope, just can't take it any more. I'm done with Reacher. The movie was better than the books have been & I don't expect much from Hollywood. When a Tom Cruise movie is better than the book, then the book is drivel.
My breaking point came in a horse barn. The heroine just had her bad knee kicked a few times. Reacher just tore his chains from the wall. One of 3 bad guys is now dead - the driver. Does Reacher check his pockets for keys, like maybe to the van? Nope. What time is it? Dawn, right when his enemies would be at their lowest ebb - his favorite time. Does he think about scouting the area & going after them? Nope.
He sits down & gets a big hug & thank yous from the heroine for saving her honor & the chapter ends with them blissfully consoling each other. Have you ever had a limb with a torn ligament knocked around even a little? Feel like cuddling afterward? I haven't. I wanted everyone to stay far away!
Besides, accepting just made Reacher look stupid. He's supposed to be the tough, logical operator. Time is wasting. Take care of business, have tender moments & take care of nerves afterward.
The shotgun was an issue again. If you're loading a shotgun for people, what do you put in it? Buckshot is likely. There's about 20 #4 shot in a 12 gauge shell, less if #00. The lightest shot might have 50, but we have 'hundreds of small holes' in the roof of a van after being shot at from 10'-15' with no big center hole. Anyone who has ever fired a shotgun at a board, tree, or car from fairly close wouldn't make that mistake. There are also enough shot scattered around that Reacher piles them up. Hyperbole is allowed, idiocy though? No.
Then there was the bad guy. He is apparently the leader of a cult. What do all cult leaders have in common? They are charismatic. Child paints this guy like a cross between Bo Radley & Hannibal Lector. Who would follow such a person? Most would cross the street at the sight of him.
And the guy is hiring people, then killing them, just to be evil, I guess. We're under the working assumption here that he laid his plans far enough ahead that he's had the heroine followed for at least a couple of weeks, but he has to hire a crew to gut a room & then kill them for fun? Why not his own people? Tearing out plaster & floor boards doesn't take skilled labor. Killing people in a rural area where everyone knows everyone else's business is just stupid. If it was in my neck of the woods, one of them would be the sheriff's brother or cousin. Guaranteed to get exactly the kind of notice a person doesn't want.
Nope, just can't take it any more. I'm done with Reacher. The movie was better than the books have been & I don't expect much from Hollywood. When a Tom Cruise movie is better than the book, then the book is drivel.
September 10, 2011
This was so bad. I started out really enjoying this series, but I'm losing interest. It's disappointing.
The storyline was interesting with unique twists and turns but the minutiae was lame. Like having a love scene just after Holly & Reacher discover the dead body of the FBI spy who was discovered and was basically crucified by the 'bad guys'. It was tasteless and tacky. Plus, then when Holly is finally rescued from being kidnapped, instead of running to her Dad first she runs to Reacher. The clincher was at the very end when they kill the guy driving the car loaded with explosives and then Reacher & Holly say there goodbye as its come to fruition that Holly and her supervisor McGrath are in love with each other. So she leaves Reacher to go off with McGrath. And Reacher stays on the highway and hitchhikes to his next location.....
Plus, all the details of the bullets as they're moving/shooting and Reacher's ability to keep accurate time over a long time in his head is too much. The story dragged on and the ending was lame.
The storyline was interesting with unique twists and turns but the minutiae was lame. Like having a love scene just after Holly & Reacher discover the dead body of the FBI spy who was discovered and was basically crucified by the 'bad guys'. It was tasteless and tacky. Plus, then when Holly is finally rescued from being kidnapped, instead of running to her Dad first she runs to Reacher. The clincher was at the very end when they kill the guy driving the car loaded with explosives and then Reacher & Holly say there goodbye as its come to fruition that Holly and her supervisor McGrath are in love with each other. So she leaves Reacher to go off with McGrath. And Reacher stays on the highway and hitchhikes to his next location.....
Plus, all the details of the bullets as they're moving/shooting and Reacher's ability to keep accurate time over a long time in his head is too much. The story dragged on and the ending was lame.
August 20, 2017
Like the first in the Jack Reacher series, this was both recommended and given to me by a good friend.
Like the first I really enjoyed it, and have given it 4 stars, it was well written and fast paced. And now comes the but, I think, and we shall see, whether I might find these books becoming a little formulaic. As I said so far, after 2, I have enjoyed them and the character, but will he become predictable and boring ??
Like the first I really enjoyed it, and have given it 4 stars, it was well written and fast paced. And now comes the but, I think, and we shall see, whether I might find these books becoming a little formulaic. As I said so far, after 2, I have enjoyed them and the character, but will he become predictable and boring ??
October 12, 2020
Jack Reacher- swoon!!!
I really don't think I could ever get bored of reading about his adventures, he's my favourite fictional character at this stage. The whole concept of this ex army dude wondering around the US with nothing but a fold up toothbrush and getting into scraps is so simple but I'm adoring it.
I really don't think I could ever get bored of reading about his adventures, he's my favourite fictional character at this stage. The whole concept of this ex army dude wondering around the US with nothing but a fold up toothbrush and getting into scraps is so simple but I'm adoring it.
January 26, 2013
This is the second of the Jack Reacher series. My husband liked the first one so much he's been bugging me to read the second one with him.
Jack gets involved in a situation with a beautiful young FBI agent named Holly. Reacher was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Holly is kidnapped, Reacher winds up being taken along with her. Slowly, they begin to figure out what the reason for the kidnapping might be, and find themselves in a militia compound fighting for their lives.
Holly specializes in finance and has a resume to die for, but she feels like she is always walking in her father's shadow, a high ranking member at the white house and her Godfather is the president himself. So, Holly makes a very nice bargaining chip.
When Holly's father finds out his daughter has been kidnapped,he along with Holly's staff with the FBI are hot on her trail. They have pictures of the kidnapping, but they think Reacher is one of the bad guys.
But, that's not their only problem. Someone working with them might be playing both sides of the fence.
The second installment in the series wasn't as strong as the first, but it was still worthy of a four star rating. Lee Child still hasn't gotten past all the shrugging and nodding and his writing style still slows me down a bit. I have no idea how many ladies read this series, but I would imagine Reacher has a larger male fan base. Thus, the author goes into a great deal of detail about weapons and the speed of bullets and so on, which is interesting to a degree, but normally goes over my head and I tend to tune out during those paragraphs. But, my husband loves all that stuff.
Reacher is still a ladies man and there is still a quality about Reacher that is really sexy.
The plot is of course high octane with lots of action and intrigue. Lovers of this series will not be disappointed.
Overall this one gets an A-
Jack gets involved in a situation with a beautiful young FBI agent named Holly. Reacher was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Holly is kidnapped, Reacher winds up being taken along with her. Slowly, they begin to figure out what the reason for the kidnapping might be, and find themselves in a militia compound fighting for their lives.
Holly specializes in finance and has a resume to die for, but she feels like she is always walking in her father's shadow, a high ranking member at the white house and her Godfather is the president himself. So, Holly makes a very nice bargaining chip.
When Holly's father finds out his daughter has been kidnapped,he along with Holly's staff with the FBI are hot on her trail. They have pictures of the kidnapping, but they think Reacher is one of the bad guys.
But, that's not their only problem. Someone working with them might be playing both sides of the fence.
The second installment in the series wasn't as strong as the first, but it was still worthy of a four star rating. Lee Child still hasn't gotten past all the shrugging and nodding and his writing style still slows me down a bit. I have no idea how many ladies read this series, but I would imagine Reacher has a larger male fan base. Thus, the author goes into a great deal of detail about weapons and the speed of bullets and so on, which is interesting to a degree, but normally goes over my head and I tend to tune out during those paragraphs. But, my husband loves all that stuff.
Reacher is still a ladies man and there is still a quality about Reacher that is really sexy.
The plot is of course high octane with lots of action and intrigue. Lovers of this series will not be disappointed.
Overall this one gets an A-
June 25, 2025
I had read Killing Floor years ago, and I've watched the movies and TV shows based on Jack Reacher. Thought it was time to finish the series I started by book. I really like the Reacher persona, but I had an epiphany last night while reading this one. Reacher is a bigger, more American, more likeable, less techie version of James Bond. He gets out of every situation. There's always a "Reacher woman" (sorry-not-sorry, but I refuse to refer to them as girls), who is ready and wanting to engage in lusty activities with him, just like Bond has his harem. He's smart, charismatic, and secretive. Yup, he's our version of James Bond and infinitely more attractive to me because he doesn't objectify women.
Glad I have another series to catch up on, and there are plenty of Reacher books to go. Still have to laugh a bit that Tom Cruise thought he was literally big enough to play Reacher, who is well over six feet tall. As a short person, I say this with love - even when I used to wear six-inch heels, I was still only ever going to be a full 5'6" with the aid and 5'0" without. No amount of shoe lifts will ever get him to 6'5," but I sure do like his chutzpah!
Rounding up to 4.
Glad I have another series to catch up on, and there are plenty of Reacher books to go. Still have to laugh a bit that Tom Cruise thought he was literally big enough to play Reacher, who is well over six feet tall. As a short person, I say this with love - even when I used to wear six-inch heels, I was still only ever going to be a full 5'6" with the aid and 5'0" without. No amount of shoe lifts will ever get him to 6'5," but I sure do like his chutzpah!
Rounding up to 4.
November 11, 2022
I've given this book three stars but it kind of deserves more. It's an entertaining read, a page turner for sure. My problem with it is that I finished it and realized that when you finally get the big reveal at the end and figure out what's happening, and why, I went back and asked myself why the bad guys would have done what they did at the start of the novel to get the story rolling. And it didn't make sense to me.
A page turner for sure, just not one you can really think about too much.
A page turner for sure, just not one you can really think about too much.
February 3, 2018
It wasn't bad. The book was on its way to a four star rating for sure and then it just seemed to slow down. Reacher was kidnapped along with a girl in the beginning and it was interesting. The plot moved nicely, and the interjections of deep thought by Reacher added to the story.
At some point I felt like it became an escape and get captured version of Groundhog Day. Its kind of ironic when I think about when I read it. It wasn't a bad read, it just felt like more of the same. After awhile I started to just want to get it over with.
The ending was definitely satisfying and I like the character Jack Reacher, but I was bored for a little while.
3.5 stars
At some point I felt like it became an escape and get captured version of Groundhog Day. Its kind of ironic when I think about when I read it. It wasn't a bad read, it just felt like more of the same. After awhile I started to just want to get it over with.
The ending was definitely satisfying and I like the character Jack Reacher, but I was bored for a little while.
3.5 stars
May 13, 2018
This could have been very good, at HALF the length.
The best thing: I very much enjoy Child's strong female roles. Wonderful!
Running around back and forth 50 times across the woods with nutcase Militias got really tiresome. Having to read every tiny little detail of every single action of every character was mind numbing. Ugh.
As usual, the start was great, and the climax was fun albeit far too long.
I will continue with the series in the hope that Child reigns in his verbiage.
One thing about the climax:
(The woman blushes once in this book)
Notes:
Glock 17, first chapter kidnap scene
Seventeen rounds to a magazine, hence the name. And it was light. For all its power, it weighed under two pounds. The important parts were steel. The rest of it was plastic. Black polycarbonate, like an expensive camera.
Full size image
Barrett M82 semi-automatic rifle
Full size pic
.
The best thing: I very much enjoy Child's strong female roles. Wonderful!
Running around back and forth 50 times across the woods with nutcase Militias got really tiresome. Having to read every tiny little detail of every single action of every character was mind numbing. Ugh.
As usual, the start was great, and the climax was fun albeit far too long.
I will continue with the series in the hope that Child reigns in his verbiage.
One thing about the climax:
(The woman blushes once in this book)
Notes:
Glock 17, first chapter kidnap scene
Seventeen rounds to a magazine, hence the name. And it was light. For all its power, it weighed under two pounds. The important parts were steel. The rest of it was plastic. Black polycarbonate, like an expensive camera.
Full size image
Barrett M82 semi-automatic rifle
Full size pic
.
January 8, 2021
It took me forever to read this book. Not because of the book but because of life. Every time I had a moment to actually physically read instead of listening and multitasking....I would fall asleep. Or get interrupted. Anyway I found some pretty good quotes while reading this that sure do pertain to a lot happening today with the government and our world. So maybe because of the timing of when I read this book I liked it more than some other people did. Anyway I like Reacher and I am sad to hear that the latest in the series have seen him become someone else. I may need to skip the last one or two. But for now I have many more Reacher novels to entertain me.
September 24, 2024
3.5 stars ✨..
This is the second Lee Child book I’ve read, all about jack Reacher the man mountain that gets into some real scraps, at least he gets the girl!!
You would think at his height and build he would see trouble!
I started this book and got about 20 pages in and i thought it might be a DNF but after getting an earful of “ waste of time buying them!! So I carried on, I’m glad I did, I got quite involved in the end.
Jack and a FBI agent get kidnapped by a gang and taken to there base! Where the story progresses and you see how jack
Gets in and out of scrapes, there’s more to Holly ( FBI) as the story goes on.
Well written and informative (if you want to know about guns)!.
At the end of the day Lee child and jack reacher is a good read,worth a go.
As with all books it’s each to their own, you decide 😊 .
Just one thought, do Americans have washing machines or does everyone use a laundry?? Just wondering 🤔
This is the second Lee Child book I’ve read, all about jack Reacher the man mountain that gets into some real scraps, at least he gets the girl!!
You would think at his height and build he would see trouble!
I started this book and got about 20 pages in and i thought it might be a DNF but after getting an earful of “ waste of time buying them!! So I carried on, I’m glad I did, I got quite involved in the end.
Jack and a FBI agent get kidnapped by a gang and taken to there base! Where the story progresses and you see how jack
Gets in and out of scrapes, there’s more to Holly ( FBI) as the story goes on.
Well written and informative (if you want to know about guns)!.
At the end of the day Lee child and jack reacher is a good read,worth a go.
As with all books it’s each to their own, you decide 😊 .
Just one thought, do Americans have washing machines or does everyone use a laundry?? Just wondering 🤔
May 29, 2018
I started the Reacher (as everyone calls Jack, Reacher) books a while back and have since picked up one now and then. I watched the movie a while back and decided I'd start to 'try" and catch up with the series.
This one was (for me) the weakest so far. That said it is the second in the series so I live in hope that the books will get better. Here the plot is rather weak and as always there's a certain implausibility about Reacher altogether.
The book does deliver on the action as that's sort of the signature of this series. I found myself however struggling not to roll my eyes at multiple portions of this one.
Still if you are simply a Reacher fan you'll probably get along with the book better than I did, I had trouble not just pitching this one and pushed through a lot with major skims.
2 at most for me sorry.
This one was (for me) the weakest so far. That said it is the second in the series so I live in hope that the books will get better. Here the plot is rather weak and as always there's a certain implausibility about Reacher altogether.
The book does deliver on the action as that's sort of the signature of this series. I found myself however struggling not to roll my eyes at multiple portions of this one.
Still if you are simply a Reacher fan you'll probably get along with the book better than I did, I had trouble not just pitching this one and pushed through a lot with major skims.
2 at most for me sorry.
March 20, 2019
Mogu da čitam sve i svašta, zaista. Ali... ovo je bilo toliko plitko, naivno, predvidljivo, razvučeno, sa kvalitetom pisanja ispod proseka i sa jako iritantnim glavnim likom da sam u više navrata htela da odustanem iako to nikada ne radim. Mislim da se moje druženje sa Li Čajldom, a pre svega sa Džekom Ričerom ovde završava.
July 3, 2012
I'm going to add the same review for all of the Reacher series, so if you've read this one, you've read 'em all. If you feel a certain affinity for the lone hero, a man of principle, of unwavering knowledge and assent as to his own actions, than Jack Reacher's your kinda guy.
Lee Child has created an unforgettable and unique character in his creation of Jack Reacher. Jack seems to implicitly understand that he is a unique animal/human running around on this planet and that in spite of social conventions, cultural trappings, and whatever conventions and abstractions we allow into our mind in order to alleviate this core fact of our singularity (and aloneness)...the truth of it is not something Mr. Reacher denies.
He embraces it. Understands his philosophy implicitly, revels in his physical being,his conventions and values. He defends those he loves, those he does allow into his world, with a loyalty bar none while never letting go of the notion that he is alone and being perfectly comfortable with that.
I read one, and within two months read all 15 books with an appetite that couldn't get enough.
Enough said,
HR
Lee Child has created an unforgettable and unique character in his creation of Jack Reacher. Jack seems to implicitly understand that he is a unique animal/human running around on this planet and that in spite of social conventions, cultural trappings, and whatever conventions and abstractions we allow into our mind in order to alleviate this core fact of our singularity (and aloneness)...the truth of it is not something Mr. Reacher denies.
He embraces it. Understands his philosophy implicitly, revels in his physical being,his conventions and values. He defends those he loves, those he does allow into his world, with a loyalty bar none while never letting go of the notion that he is alone and being perfectly comfortable with that.
I read one, and within two months read all 15 books with an appetite that couldn't get enough.
Enough said,
HR
June 1, 2024
The plot is full of holes, the set-up takes a little too long, the bad guy is a composite caricature of every bad guy archetype imaginable; all of that is true. But the saving grace is the Reacher character, who doesn't swagger and spout one-liners, and he's also (thankfully) not an alcoholic ex-New York cop crying over the woman he lost, he's just a former MP turned drifter who thinks his way through situations and generally keeps his mouth shut until it's time to act. Child's color-by-numbers prose never gets in the way, so it all boils down to a very readable action-thriller.
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