Customer Reviews
My fave Reacher story - By: edzshed, 10 Jun 2008 
The first Reacher book I read I was quite disappointed with, some months later I happened upon this in a second hand shop & decided to give it a go.....2 days later I'd finished it & have been a Reacher fan ever since. The plot moves at a cracking pace, the storyline itself is simply ace....I love it
Hooked - By: Gavin James, 16 Jan 2008 As my first exposure to Lee Child, this couldn't have been a better hook. Since reading this in June 2007, I've now bought the entire Jack Reacher catalogue to date & am working my way through, & loving every minute.
To begin with, I had a little trouble adapting to the style & language of this book, but purely because I'd read an article about Lee Child prior to reading his work. I knew he was a Coventry guy & had spent much of his time working for Granada Television, so when I first started Persuader & was confronted with a style of writing & language more stateside than born & bread American authors I'd encountered, I was a little taken aback & dubious as to his motives. The first page in particular read more like wannabee Western screenwriter in full flow, but it only took me to the end of the first chapter to become fully immersed in it, love it & be persuaded that it couldn't have worked as well any other way.
The story is simple, but clever & detailed & you're with Jack the whole way (this is one of few Jack Reacher books written in the first person). Child manages to make his loveable flawlessness believable & his motives impeccable while at the same time creating bad guys you can't help but hate.
Try it, you won't be sorry.
This latest Jack Reacher novel has all the fast-paced action that we - By: J. Bowles, 15 Dec 2007 The characters are alll well-developed & believable with Lee's trademark
strong women adding special dynamics to this story. Combined with an unusuallly twisted plot, it is probably one of Lee's best books yet. Written in the first person, Jack Reacher goes undercover, partly to help Duffy, a DEA agent chasing a major drug dealer in Maine, but mostly to try to find an old enemy he left for dead ten years ago while still in the army, an enemy who now seems to be associated with the dealer.
Reacher's motive is personal: unfinished business. Duffy's motive is personal: she sent a female agent in after being pulled from the case, & has lost contact with her. Everything is very off-the-record. It is a personal fight, & Reacher makes even more personal enemies with some spectacularly unsavory characters along the way. Expect some very dirty fights. The first person form does give a unique insight into the Reacher character & seems to work well, though I personallly think Lee Child handles the third person better. The sentences do get very short, giving an almost staccato feel to parts of the story. Probably how Reacher is supposed to think, but at times the lack of rhythm makes the reading harder than it needs to be.
The characters are great. Duffy is a particularly fine portrait, & Dominique Kohl, the investigator in the original case ten years ago, is lovingly sketched. As usual, Lee excels in strong women. The weaker women are less convincing: Elizabeth Beck, the long-suffering wife of the drug dealer, is a good enough effort while the other women (e.g. Teresa Justice) are barely developed beyond their names!!! I would also recommend reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates--if you haven't read it yet.
A Thriller in Every Sense of the Word - By: J. Chippindale, 12 Mar 2007 Contrary to what many reader's believe Lee Child is British, but moved with his family from Cumbria to the United States to begin a new career as an American thriller writer. What probably fools a lot of people is that is rare for a British author to be able to write American thrillers with any kind of authenticity. He has won a number of awards with his books & he lives just outside New York City with his American wife Jane. The couple have a grown-up daughter, Ruth & when Lee is not writing he shares his time between music, reader & supporting the New York Yankees.
It is difficult to say the least to even give a brief synopsis of these books without giving some clue or other away & spoiling it for the reader. Suffice to say that the author's books featuring Jack Reacher are up there with the best in crime thrillers & this one is no different in that respect to the others. If crime novels, particularly American thrillers ring your bell, then this author & this book is for you.
First person Reacher - can't beat it - By: A. Edge, 07 Mar 2007 I've read a few of the Reacher books, but I always prefer the ones written in the first person. I have no idea why this is...
The first chapter of this book (deliberately) misleads the reader, & then after that, everything is explained in the subsequent chapter(s). All very cleverly done, by the way.
The author then creates a very realistic impression of the main location where the story is set. A big house by the ocean. The characters also add to that realism. You could even argue that the location is an extra character in itself.
For me, this story is up there with my favourite book of the series (Killing Floor). I doubt you will be disappointed....
