Rating: 
Summary: Let the action begin
Review: Lee Childs can write on violence like no other. Lee Childs can discribe a fired bullet with a mathematicians wisdom. Above all Lee Childs writes a story that will cause you to delay interest in anything until consuming it to the last page quickly as possible. I have now read three of his offerings and will continue. His action and near fact fiction fill me with wonder and a grand appreciation for a eloquent writer.
Rating: 
Summary: Action from the Start
Review: The action literally starts on the first page of this book when the super-hero Jack Reacher is abducted with a woman who had just dropped her dry cleaning. The woman is an FBI agent and, of course, something more. Reacher and she are taken to the outpost of a militia intent on declaring its independence from the USA and doing other unmentionable (here) malicious things.
As usual, Reacher is up to the task - and more. Using his inhuman ability to analyze every problem and shoot every gun known he once again prevails. Like all the Reacher novels, this is action-packed with some good twists and turns in the plot. The super bad guy was a bit over the top, but part of enjoying these books is suspending belief for a time.
A good, fun action-packed read for a period of escapism. Great beach reading.
Rating:
Summary: great--could not put it down
Review: the title says it all. Anyone will like this book
Rating:
Summary: This author just gained a new fan!
Review: This is the first Lee Child book I've read, and it grabbed my attention from the very start. It has an evolving plot that keeps you wondering what the next page will bring. The involvement of the FBI and the Miltary shouldn't be looked at too critically or unrealistically as some readers may tend to do. This story, having as it's plot,a militia, lead by a charismatic,dangerous wacko who wants to form his own separate world in the wilds of Montana. When he instigates the kidnapping of an FBI agent,he unknowingly involves an innocent bystander who turns out to be Jack Reacher, a very skilled and highly decorated former member of the Military. This spells trouble for the militia's plans involving the agent and their sinister plans for their celebration of Independence Day. I look forward to catching up with past Reacher books,as I really enjoyed this one.
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!
|
