Rating: 
Summary: Never met a Jack Reacher book I didn't like
Review: This is the second book in Childs Reacher series. It's a fabulous series with a hunky larger than life character who is humble, confident, fearless, always out-thinks the bad guys, and really knows how to kill. Jack Reacher lives life only in the present in a way that's a cross between hobo and Zen wanderer -- no possessions, no lasting relationships, no home, no luggage.
I started the series with Childs' 2 Reacher books written in the first person -- Persuader,the last, and The Killing Floor, the first. I think they're better for their first-person POV and Childs' dexterity with the character of Reacher. In Die Trying, I loved the hypnotic psychotic snake-charmer like character of the villain Beau Borken, and Holly Johnson is one of Childs' stronger more resourceful female characters. The description of Reacher's journey through the mine shaft is some excellent listening. Dick Hill does an incredible job as reader for all the Reacher books. Recently, I read an excerpt from Enemy, the upcoming Reacher book and was truly surprised at how terse Childs' dialogue is. I highly recommend the audiobook format. I hate Reacher's bad hygiene, worse than ever in Die Trying, and find it unbelievable Holly would touch him for the smell. I mean this is an active man oozing with testoreone, adrenaline, and sweat, not to mention contact with mounds of corpses and crawling through rats in a mine shaft! Couldn't he take just one shower in a 5-day period? Thankfully in later books Childs gets Reacher to water more frequently and gives him a toothbrush. Also those extra long descriptions of a bullet's trajectory -- filler! I did have to suspend belief on a few things. A huge dynamite explosion on the road that did not damage the highway? But this is fiction, and this is a fabulously enjoyable series to listen to. Can't wait for Enemy to be published, the first Reacher book I will read rather than listen to.
Rating: 
Summary: 2nd complicated Jack Reacher thriller is a pleaser !
Review: We were hardly the first to become enamored with Lee Child's new thriller hero Jack Reacher, an ex-military police investigator extraordinaire who beat all odds in his debut in "Killing Floor". He's back in his sophomore outing, and every bit as tough, smart, and determined to save the day as before. This time he's just being a Good Samaritan to an injured woman struggling with her dry cleaning when the two of them are captured by what turns out to be one of those fanatical Montana freedom-or-die militia outfits. The woman, Holly Johnson, a sophisticated FBI agent specializing in white collar crime soon turns out to be almost as gritty as Jack as they are forced to ride for days in a dark panel truck to some unknown destination, held captive each night. That Holly is the daughter of the Joint Chief of Staff seems to be the hostage taker's motive, and before it's over, the FBI, the Marines, and Jack's good ol' ex-boss General Garber are all in on the militia attack. Who will have the final say in life or death is never much in doubt, but there were several times where our leading characters could have been offed, contributing to the non-stop suspense we already expect of Child. We'll also forgive some romantic hijinks 'tween Jack and Holly, although even that development matured to a surprising outcome
With rapidly turning pages and a complicated plot til nearly the last page, we were thoroughly entertained and engaged. Our only quibble might be that Reacher might be like a cat and get "9 lives", but it seems he used every one of them in this tale. We can't wait to dig into the rest of the Child/Reacher series!
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