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Summary: Jack Reacher is my hero!
Review: I am definitely one of those who waits impatiently for the next Lee Child book. Since I've read them all, I feel like Reacher is an old friend. Personally I like him better when he doesn't get so emotionally involved (i.e., Die Trying) but I enjoyed Persuader from start to finish.Jack becomes embroiled in an off-the-books undercover operation for personal motives. He's among brutal, untrusting people--with limited ability to communicate with the good guys. Lee Child's plotting is wonderful, and Jack Reacher is more than a macho man. He uses his brain more than his fists and knows his limitations. I had no problem distinguishing the past from the present--even without italics. The past was fed out in just the proper increments to explain Reacher's present thoughts and actions. Mr. Child, keep 'em coming!
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Summary: Jack gets his teeth loosened
Review: PERSUADER, the seventh installment of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, is perhaps the best so far. On a Boston sidewalk, Reacher almost collides with a man shot three times - including twice in the head - and pitched off a cliff into the Pacific ten years before. Having a former colleague in the Military Police put a trace on the man's license plate brings the Drug Enforcement Agency to Jack's door. And what might your interest be, sir? Reacher, is it? Jack, a former Army MP major that now wanders the United States as a near-vagrant always on the lookout for wrongs to rectify, finds himself aiding the Feds as he goes undercover to penetrate a fortified mansion on an isolated headland on Maine's wild coast. The DEA suspects that the mansion's owner, Zachary Beck, is using his importing business to bring in something other than Oriental floor coverings. And Beck apparently has a connection to Reacher's sidewalk ghost. Jack doesn't care about Beck or his rugs, but does have another old score to settle once and for all. And this time he going to get it right, or die trying. The plot of PERSUADER includes the first time I can recall Jack feeling fear. Well, not fear maybe, but at least apprehension. Beck's gatekeeper, Paulie, is six inches taller, ten inches wider across the shoulders, and two hundred pounds heavier than our hero. Paulie's arms are bigger than Jack's legs. And he's surprisingly quick. Both you and Reacher know that, at some point, he's going to have to fight this monster. From Jack's point of view, that's going to be the dodgy bit. The reader savors the expectation. Jack's my favorite Loner and Tough Guy in the Trashy Literature genre. But, his habitual physical impregnability becomes almost monotonous. So, the fact that Reacher's life comes within a gossamer thread of being extinguished more than once in this thriller is refreshing. Now that his vulnerability has been established, I look forward more than ever to Child's next volume. Part of Jack's allure is that there's a hint of dysfunctionality to his personality. In PERSUADER, the reader learns that during Reacher's time in the service as an Army officer, he owned no civilian clothes. In an earlier book, it's revealed that Jack doesn't even know how to iron a shirt. Child's hero has some serious issues, which I hope someday the author will explore.
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Summary: Jack Reacher -- great leading man in great thriller!
Review: It was tough not to like Jack Reacher when we tried our first Lee Child novel, "Killing Floor". Back in "Persuader", the seventh in the series, our amazing hero Reacher is his usual one-man army in tracking down relentlessly a man he thought he killed ten years ago as a military MP. The book opens fast as Reacher gets involved in what looks like a kidnapping, kills a couple of bad guys, and then by accident, a cop. This gains him access to the fort-like New England estate of the kid he saved; and we all figure out pretty soon that the Beck family is crooked. That the Becks don't seem to be calling the punches though implies some higher level villains are involved. Our hero goes on to figure it all out, kill off a bunch of the banditos single-handedly, while rescuing a DEA agent whose undercover op has gone bad. The DEA boss, Susan Duffy, helps Reacher with weapons, intelligence, and a little lovin' for good measure! Some clever flashbacks to the story of ten years ago almost gave us two mysteries in one near the end of the book. We have come to expect hard-nosed thrills and chills from Child, and this book is no exception. While Reacher is an immensely likable, talented, and clever man, he is also a ruthless killer who breaks necks and assassinates his foes with hardly a backward look. That he's always on the side of truth and justice probably lets us let him get away with it, but there are many moments in the story not for readers with weak "fortitudes". That we can hardly turn the pages fast enough is its own recommendation, as is our desire to seek out his latest novel of suspense as well as the earlier ones we've missed. You shouldn't need much more persuadin' than that!
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Summary: Lee Child's fan base will grow thanks to this fine novel
Review: Bestselling author Lee Child and his fictitious hero Jack Reacher are back in action. PERSUADER is Child's seventh consecutive novel about the former military man with a mysterious past. He gets into plenty of trouble when he stumbles upon a kidnapping attempt of a well-to-do college student and decides to take a closer look. Having never read a Child novel before, I was extremely impressed at how the author wastes no time in placing the reader right into the thick of the action. From the start of the first chapter, the suspense and action never seems to slow down. With bullets flying past him, Reacher is able to safely return Richard Beck to his parents' palatial compound on an island off the coast of Maine, whereupon Reacher discovers Beck is no ordinary college student --- he's the son of affluent Oriental rug importer Zachary Beck. Without giving too much of the story away, the kidnapping that Reacher stumbles upon wasn't actually a kidnapping at all, but a staged event that Reacher and some federal agents organized to get Reacher inside the Beck fortress. Fans of Child's Reacher novels should remember the name Francis Xavier Quinn, a former villain Reacher thought he had done away with 10 years ago, until he sees Quinn walk past him on a busy Boston street. As the story's plot continues to unravel, Child reveals that the elder Beck has somehow intertwined his life and his family in some sort of blackmailing scheme with the likes of Quinn. Child pushes all the right buttons to convey to his audience that Reacher isn't just some washed up GI; he is a well-informed killing machine somewhat similar to the late Ian Fleming's Bond, James Bond. Reacher is well versed in the art of self defense, can handle numerous types of weapons, swims in the icy cold Atlantic Ocean and even plays a game of Russian roulette to show Beck he should be taken extremely serious. And, of course, Reacher does extremely well with the ladies as Reacher and DEA agent Susan Duffy toss aside their working relationship and dive head first into a torrid affair. Another interesting aspect about PERSUADER is how Child is able to keep the reader constantly guessing and the pages turning. Although Child's serial character hasn't even scratched the surface in terms of popularity, like James Patterson's Alex Cross, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Robert B. Parker's Spencer has, the former television writer and England native undoubtedly has a following that will continue to grow with this fine new novel. --- Reviewed by David Exum
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Summary: Brutal , Suspenseful and Spectacular!
Review: These three words describe Lee Child's Persuader, but you could use a lot more - terrific, heart-stopping, wonderful, but in all things it is a brutal story. The book is named after a very sophisticated assault rifle, and the book is aptly named since it is a very sophisticated thriller that will have you turning pages from the very first. This book is also unique in the Reacher series because we get to see a younger Reacher in it as well as the Reacher we have come to love (the loner). There are flashbacks to when he was a military cop, and it's interesting to see that. The guy actually does have a past. In this book Reacher is on a personal vendetta to get someone that he thought he killed ten years before. He meets all kinds of bad people, and on his way to exact his revenge he kills a lot of those people. He is faced with the most dangerous adversary out there - one who has really nothing to lose, but Reacher won't quit until he gets him. Hang onto your seats - you're in for a wild ride - and you won't be getting much else done while you're reading this book. It's a stunner!
Rating: 
Summary: Over Reached
Review: I've read all the previous Reacher books, started to lose interest with Echo Burning and I no longer care what happens to our superhero. This book, like Child's other books, is generally well written and plotted, but the scene with the bad guy's wife towards the end was contrived and forced. Why on earth do so many successful authors (and film stars for that matter) suddenly take themselves too seriously and try to make a political statement. Very silly and uninformed. Like the reader from Overland Park, I'm through with Reacher.
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Summary: A Not Reluctant Hero
Review: This was my first Jack Reacher/Lee Child book. I found the main character - Jack Reacher - a bit implausible at times. He always figured everything out that no one else could and overcame his enemies against all odds. I had difficulty warming up to him, but I imagine that is a result of not knowing the character from earlier books. The person who told me about Child said I needed to go back to earlier Reacher novels to get the essence of the character. In Persuader, Reacher is dropped in the reader's lap without any expalnation as to the make-up of the character, which is fine (and probably a bonus) for the reader who knows him, but short shrift for those who do not. Even without any background, the reader can easily see that Reacher is a loner who will drive himself to achieve his ends and bend or break rules whenever necessary. He is a cold-blooded warrior trying to "make things right". That having been said, I enjoyed this book. Reacher recognizes a nemesis from ten years before who he thought was dead. When he does some basic questioning, the DEA is all over him and puts him on a mission to help them. He only doess so for his own ends - to get the nemesis. Child weaves the story from ten years before nicely into the present day plot so as to add depth to the main plot line. Although, as noted, Reacher seems to be a super-hero, he and his Federal agent back-ups make some glaring errors that come back to haunt him and keep the plot moving with terrific misdirection. This is a stark, well-written thriller/mystery. Child really can do a great plot. Not only do I recommend this book, I will go back and begin at Jack Reacher's beginning.
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Summary: Nonstop action, Highly enjoyed audiobook.
Review: The audiobook version of this book was fantastic. Jack Reecher is the man. It was really well written and the reader was also very good. I could not wait to get back in my car and listen to more of the story. Now onto the first book (Killing Floor). Persuader is highly recommended.
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Summary: A fatal flaw that nags at me
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I didn't start from the beginning of the series, but read the previous book first. It was written in the 3rd person, and although I enjoyed it, I found Persuader, written in the first person, to be a much more enjoyable read. Maybe pushing into Stephen Hunter "A Time to Hunt" territory. All that aside, I had one major problem with the plot. If you haven't read it yet, stop right here. Here's my issue: Reacher "steals" a Maxima from behind a mall. This Maxima links Beck's son's "attempted" kidnapping to some drug dealers in Hartford. So my problem is this: The Maxima was in no way related to the kidnapping attempt. It was supposedly a random vehicle, and the son would have explained this to his dad and associates. The fact that the car did belong to some Hartford drug dealers and had a fake license plate should have ratted out Reacher right then and there. I still enjoyed the book, just bought the new one, and would recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: One of "Jack Reacher"'s better books
Review: Although Lee Child is a very good author, this is one of his better books. A page turner from start to finish, Jack Reacher fans will thoroughly enjoy this one.
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