Rating: 
Summary: READ TO THE NTH DEGREE
Review: The voice of former military man Jack Reacher is stentorian, commanding. Leave it to first-rate performer Dick Hill to fully embody whatever character he's reading, and he does Reacher to the nth degree.
As one might expect with such a voice, Reacher is a fully-in-charge kind of guy. That is until the day he's kidnaped along with a woman. That same Chicago day a dentist is abducted from his office parking lot and bunched into the trunk of his car.
Turns out that the woman grabbed along with Reacher is Holly Johnson, a special agent from the FBI's Chicago office. So, of course, the FBI is working overtime in an effort to find her. They've no clue that she's in the clutches of a psychotic neo-Nazi who gets his jollies from watching blood loss.
On the other hand, the psycho has no idea that he has Reacher, a super smart Silver Star hero and a sharpshooter, on his hands. Listen along as Holly and Reacher plot to outsmart their captors.
Rating:
Summary: One man army
Review: Die trying is my first experience of Lee Child and his protagonist Jack Reacher. But it definetely won't be the last. The novel starts with a line which goes like: "Joe Smith died because he felt brave." Then we have a tight scene describing the situation farther... That's the way to fire off a thriller!In this book Jack Reacher is a by-stander grabbed by the kidnappers of a young FBI agent. As the author tells all the critics of coincidenses being at the heart of the novel: @It was a freak chance." Truthuly, I don't like coincidences in books, too, but I can forgive them in a good one. This is one of those. Why did the bad guys kidnap a FBI agent? What is being built in a room in a remote Oklahoma location? And who is the man, who cruelly kills the workers, after they completed building? Mr. Child wrights with sureness of a seasoned author, and when he takes a rest from plot turns he gives you the action scenes most authors would die trying to reproduce. It is a rare author indeed, who can talk about velocities, weapon parts and all the technical data, and still keeping it exciting. There are minor points which cost the book one star in my opinion - the main being some things coming out of the blue in the last pages of the novel (these things concern Holly, and I won't say any more of them), but this is really a strong thriller, with a solid plot, hard-as-nails protagonist and the book equivalent of bullet-time scenes of Matrix.
Rating: 
Summary: Jack Reacher the Hero of the 21st Century.
Review: Die Trying is the sensational sequel to Killing Floor by Lee Child. If you haven't read Killing Floor I would recommend doing so before you read this book as it provides a basis for Reacher's character realism. As before the main character is Jack Reacher, ex military policeman and all round superhero. Reacher is intelligent, deductive and physically prodigous, so if you like heroes of the elite variety then this is the character for you. If you prefer cardiganed librarians and lack the ability to suspend disbelief (an essential criteria for FICTION readers) avoid this book as the storyline is astounding with a capital ASTOUND. Lee Child has produced a book that captivates and ensnares its readers with suspense, intrigue and a plot with more twists than a bowl of particularly tangled spaghetti. A man mountain of a psychopath, a beautiful FBI agent with more secrets than the FBI itself, moles galore and the president of the United States, all come together in the valleys of Montana, in a literary feast. If that isn't enough there's even a spot of romance (but not too much). All in all a book for those of us who believe in a world where heroes do exist.
Rating:
Summary: Lee Child brings back Jack Reacher....
Review: for his second outing. Child's first novel about the anti-hero, Reacher, "The Killing Floor", was complex and compelling; and hard to put down. Some of his narrative was definitely the work of a "first-time" author. I looked forward to reading about Reacher in series, assuming the plots would stay action-packed, and the writing would improve. "Die Trying", the sequel, does not disappoint. It is a fast-paced read sketched out along the same lines as Child's first novel, but in a "Montana militia" setting. Child's writing style, unfortunately, has not improved. He mimics the contrivances of the first novel: coincidental involvement of Reacher in a major crime, the necessary female entanglement, the incredible string of violence that finally leads up to Reacher being able to exit to continue his poor man's tour around the country. That's OK, but there is also a ton of repetitive writing - from the detailed description of every weapon Reacher touches or sees in the book, to the numerous times his captors should have done him in, only to see him elude them, but ultimately lose his freedom (but not his life) instead. Child is also guilty of having his characters repeat phrases over and over, and this appears to be a problem of bad editing. Despite these broad areas of criticism, I gotta admit that its incredibly hard to put a Jack Reacher novel down. Reacher is resourceful and the author succeeds in capturing your attention with every twist of plot. So...on to Tripwire, the 3rd in the series!
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down
Review: I have a recurrent grouse that not enough thrillers are good enough at keeping you gripped, so three cheers for this one which I couldn't put down. In fact, apart from Free by Paul Vincent I have had a lean year looking for well written page-turners and it's alreay November. Oh well, Lee Child and Paul Vincent seem to be hard working authors so we'll just need to keep buying their stuff I suppose.
Rating: 
Summary: Never met a Jack Reacher book I didn't like
Review: In another rapidly paced action thriller, Lee Child hero, ex military policeman and superstar Jack Reacher, as he is inclined to do, unwittingly stumbles into a kidnapping. While ambling down a Chicago street he accidently collides into an attractive, limping and crutch toting woman knocking down her dry cleaning. While helping her pick up her fallen garments, Reacher and the woman are accosted by two gun wielding guys and forced into a waiting car. They are abducted and then transfered and locked into the cargo area of a truck where they are driven to an unknown destination. In short order Reacher learns that his kidnap companion is FBI agent Holly Johnson who is recuperating from torn knee ligaments and on light duty for the moment. She happens to be the daughter of Joint Chiefs of Staff leader General Johnson and also the god daughter of the president. After a long arduous journey, in which Reacher declines several escape attempts to protect the injured Johnson, they finally arrive at an enclosure deep in the forests of northwestern Montana. This geographically secure enclosure is the home of the Montana Militia, a para-military neo-Nazi group headed by a 400 pound behemoth Beau Borken. Borken, a paranoid and maniacal son of a California farmer who blew his head off when the government repossessed his farm, is a ruthless murderer who has no use for the U.S. government. He plans to use Holly Johnson's kidnapping to convert his militia into a separate nation! The FBI gets wind of the plot through a covert operative within Borken's group. Without presidential support they commence an operation to free Johnson. Reacher, of course, while being held prisoner also plots to accomplish the same thing. Childs' follow up to The Killing Floor, while falling a little short of the intrigue is still suspenseful and a worthwhile chapter in a continuing series.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific read
Review: In broad daylight on a crowded downtown Chicago street, two armed thugs abduct Jack Reacher and FBI agent Holly Johnson. The pair, who never met before, are handcuffed together and driven to the isolated Montana citadel of militia leader Beau Borden. Jack is getting a full understanding of Murphy's Law as he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Borden learns that Jack is a former Army sniper, he tries to convert the man to his cause of overthrowing the American corrupt government by stealing some missiles and using Holly, daughter of the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as a hostage. However, instead of winning Jack over, the two prisoners manage to escape, get captured, escape, get captured, etc. As the military plans to attack Borden's encampment, Jack and Holly need one more escape. DIE TRYING is not the fourth "Die Hard" movie nor is it a cross between "Hogan's Hero's and "Die Hard" even though the novel reads as if it could be either one. The bloody story line will be devoured by the ultra-action fans of high drama and Jack is a fun hero. However, Borden and his men make Colonel Klink and his men look like Einstein, thereby reducing the impact of what is otherwise an exciting thriller. Lee Child shows much talent, but must concentrate as much on his villain as much as he does on the hero and heroine. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Grim Adventure in the Militia Heartland
Review: Jack Reacher is an interesting character. He's an ex-military policeman, wandering the country as a sort of modern-day knight errant, not really doing much of anything, when he stumbles into the kidnapping of a young female F.B.I. agent who has some interesting family connections. The kidnappers aren't very good at what they do, so we soon find out who they are, though their designs are somewhat obscure, mainly because they're crazy, and their plot doesn't make a lot of sense. Reacher is kidnapped too, and they're taken west into the heartland, journeying to who-knows-where, where the climax of the novel occurs. As I said, Reacher's an interesting character. He's in control of the situation almost the whole time, and very controlled himself. He's an excellent shot (and uses this a great deal in the latter part of the book) and a real tough guy. There are, however, some enigmatic parts to his character. He seems to wander the planet without rhyme or reason, just cause he feels like it. There's no hint why he left the army (he apparently was very good at what he did, and didn't stick around for his twenty, which guarantees a pension) or why he does what he does. There's almost a sense of apathy about him at times, which suddenly transforms into concern for the lives of people he doesn't even know. Frankly, this makes me want to read more in the series, to find out what's up. This is a hard book to review. It's a suspense story, but I didn't feel there was a lot of suspense. That didn't mean I didn't like it, though, mainly because I enjoyed the main character, Jack Reacher. I think I will look for other books in the series.
Rating:
Summary: The Master of Mayhem
Review: Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" novels have a refreshing purity about them: simply action, mayhem, and brutality wrapped around straight, unadorned plots. Testosterone runs high, larger-than-life bad guys take evil to new depths, cliffhangers that would embarrass Indiana Jones. And if there is such a thing as a literary equivalent of film's slow-motion action scenes, then Lee Child is the master. Guns don't simply shoot a bullet; Child talks muzzle velocities, projectile weights, gun barrel chemistry, and the physics of 0.5-inch diameter bullet fired from a Barrett sniper rifle passing through skull and brain. All very violent, and all very entertaining. "Die Trying" is Lee Child's second Jack Reacher novel, and there is no sophomore jinx. Reacher, ex-military cop and veritable walking encyclopedia of all armament, happens on the wrong place at the wrong time in downtown Chicago, finding himself unwittingly in the middle of a kidnapping. The victim: Holly Johnson, a beautiful and brainy FBI agent, but, as it turns out, much, much more. The perps: a band of neo-fascist wacko's - think Waco or Ruby Ridge - about to hatch a plot to declare independence and secede from the United States. Meanwhile, everybody from the FBI to the US Marines tries to find and free Holly, while Reacher works on the inside - as a co-hostage - fights to protect Holly's honor, chastity, and life. Child paints a wonderfully diabolically twisted Beau Borkin as the leader of the cult, and a rather fascinating picture of life inside an extreme right-wing conspiracy. Bottom line: not a novel you'll be retelling to the grandkids, and no literary milestone, but few can verbalize raw power better than Lee Child. A great page-turner, a great diversion, pure entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: The Master of Mayhem
Review: Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" novels have a refreshing purity about them: simply action, mayhem, and brutality wrapped around straight, unadorned plots. Testosterone runs high, larger-than-life bad guys take evil to new depths, cliffhangers that would embarrass Indiana Jones. And if there is such a thing as a literary equivalent of film's slow-motion action scenes, then Lee Child is the master. Guns don't simply shoot a bullet; Child talks muzzle velocities, projectile weights, gun barrel chemistry, and the physics of 0.5-inch diameter bullet fired from a Barrett sniper rifle passing through skull and brain. All very violent, and all very entertaining. "Die Trying" is Lee Child's second Jack Reacher novel, and there is no sophomore jinx. Reacher, ex-military cop and veritable walking encyclopedia of all armament, happens on the wrong place at the wrong time in downtown Chicago, finding himself unwittingly in the middle of a kidnapping. The victim: Holly Johnson, a beautiful and brainy FBI agent, but, as it turns out, much, much more. The perps: a band of neo-fascist wacko's - think Waco or Ruby Ridge - about to hatch a plot to declare independence and secede from the United States. Meanwhile, everybody from the FBI to the US Marines tries to find and free Holly, while Reacher works on the inside - as a co-hostage - fights to protect Holly's honor, chastity, and life. Child paints a wonderfully diabolically twisted Beau Borkin as the leader of the cult, and a rather fascinating picture of life inside an extreme right-wing conspiracy. Bottom line: not a novel you'll be retelling to the grandkids, and no literary milestone, but few can verbalize raw power better than Lee Child. A great page-turner, a great diversion, pure entertainment.
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