Rating: 
Summary: Bad Guys Almost Won
Review: This mystery is written with intelligence, knowledge and compassion. The bad guys have a reason to be bad. Of course they overdo it. And the good guys are very human, not robot or killing machines.At the center is Brook Armstrong, newly elected Vice President waiting for the inauguration. And then arrives a threatening letter, intercepted by the Secret Service. Stuyvesant, the leader for the job of finding those who keep threatening Armstrong, puts M. E. Froehlich in charge. At age 35, she is a seasoned investigator. But she does accept the help of former agent Jack Reacher and his helpmate Neagley; she is now a private detective. The human factor is Froehlich who used to be in love with Joe, Ranchers older brother. But Joe dumped her some years ago and is now dead. But his brother Jack looks and acts too much like Joe for Froehlich to ignore it. The threatening letter keep coming in. How are they delivered? Should they be taken seriously? Who on earth could have sent them? Slowly the mystery unravels while Armstrong gets ever closer to getting killed. It is a good book, not your usual sloppy potboiler. I recommend it for relaxation.
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Summary: Fine 6th Jack Reacher -- Secret Service thriller !!
Review: We have read the entire Lee Child / Jack Reacher series, so obviously we enjoy these action packed thrillers about nice guy, smart guy, ex-MP Reacher. "Without Fail" is no exception, and a fast start -- a near-miss assassination attempt on Vice President-elect Armstrong -- soon leads the Secret Service to haul in Jack to act as a consultant and help them try to penetrate their security surrounding the veep so that they can plug any loopholes. Using an old Army friend, tough gal Frances Neagley, and teaming up (after hours as well!) with M.E. Froelich, who heads the responsible SS security team, Reacher is soon puzzling over hand delivered messages and video tapes before the more proactive action gets things heated up. That Froelich is an ex-lover of Jack's now deceased brother Joe only adds to the intrigue and gets Jack more involved emotionally than usual. Before it's over, a wild movie-like SUV chase out in Montana snow country finally leads to the real perpetrators. And who will get who in the end?
The Reacher series is loaded with clever plots, non-stop action and thrills. Rarely a dull moment keeps paging turning quickly; and Child's satisfying endings, often involving vigilante justice on the part of our hero to set things straight, rarely fail to please. While the premise of this one seemed a little less plausible than his other novels, Child's inside look at the Secret Service served as a good foil for Reacher. We wouldn't mind seeing more of his sidekick Neagley in future books; and as usual, this story just leaves us anxious for the next Jack Reacher outing!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: We need more Jack Reacher types in this country since the younger generation turning out to be a bunch of sissies. After reading this book, Lee Childs became another one of my favorite writers. If you like suspense this is a must read
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Summary: THIS IS THE BEST IN THE "JACK REACHER" SERIES!!
Review: When Lee Child wrote the KILLING FLOOR several years ago, I new that his first novel was so well written that it was going to be a difficult book to surpass. Though I continued to buy his novels in hardcover whenever they came out, I found myself more disappointed than amazed at their quality. ECHO BURNING won me back over and made me eager for the next one in the series. I'm extremely happy to say that Mr. Child's newest novel, WITHOUT FAIL, is the best in the "Jack Reacher" series. Not only did the author manage to grab my attention in the first chapter, he kept me anxiously reading during a day-and-a-half period of time while I was at the bus stop, during my breaks at work, and into the wee hours of the morning at home as sleep beckoned me. I finished the book with a big, silly grin on my face, saying a silent "thank you" to Mr. Child for writing such an excellent novel and for providing so much fun. WITHOUT FAIL brings Jack Reacher back as a private consultant to the United States Secret Service. A serious threat has been made against the newly elected Vice President, and the head of his protection detail, M.E. Froelich, believes that there's a possibility the threat is coming from inside the Service. She uses her previous relationship with Jack's late brother, Joe, as a lure to get our ex-military policeman to help her investigate the threat and hopefully to prevent the Vice President from being assassinated. Jack, knowing that two heads are better than one, calls in his own Army friend, Frances Neagley, to assist him in tracking down the potential killers and to watch his back. Together, they quickly begin to find flaws in the protection detail around the Vice President and realize that there's no way they can actually stop someone from killing the government official. Their only course of action is to anticipate the moves of the would-be assassins and to attack first. What Jack doesn't anticipate, however, is that he will fall in love with his dead brother's former girlfriend, which only adds to the problems he has to solve before the bodies start piling up. Though WITHOUT FAIL is low on action, the story line more than makes up for it with its multi-layers of suspense that keeps the reader speculating as to whether or not the threat to the Vice President is coming from within or outside of the Secret Service. We also learn more about Jack's brother, Joe, and their relationship with each other. Jack comes alive in ways that make him seem more human and gives us a greater understanding of why he's such a loner. With an inside look at how difficult it is for the Secret Service to protect a politician, WITHOUT FAIL delivers in every way, leading us to an ending that will satisfy even the harshest of critics. If you enjoyed the other "Jack Reacher" novels, then you're going to love the newest edition to the series.
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Summary: Another awesome adventure by Child
Review: When the newly elected Vice President's life is threatened, the Secret Service runs to nomadic soldier-of-fortune Jack Reacher (Echo Burning, 2001, etc.) in this razor-sharp update of The Day of the Jackal and In the Line of Fire that's begging to be filmed. Why Reacher? Because M.E. Froelich, head of the VP's protection team, was once a colleague and lover of his late brother Joe, who'd impressed her with tales of Jack's derring-do as an Army MP. Now Froelich and her Brooks Brothers-tailored boss Stuyvesant have been receiving a series of anonymous messages threatening the life of North Dakota Senator/Vice President-elect Brook Armstrong. Since the threats may be coming from within the Secret Service's own ranks-if they aren't, it's hard to see how they've been getting delivered-they can't afford an internal investigation. Hence the call to Reacher, who wastes no time in hooking up with his old friend Frances Neagley, another Army vet turned private eye, first to see whether he can figure out a way to assassinate Armstrong, then to head off whoever else is trying. It's Reacher's matter-of-fact gift to think of everything, from the most likely position a sniper would assume at Armstrong's Thanksgiving visit to a homeless shelter to the telltale punctuation of one of the threats, and to pluck helpers from the tiny cast who can fill the remaining gaps because they aren't idiots or stooges. And it's Child's gift to keep tightening the screws, even when nothing's happening except the arrival of a series of unsigned letters, and to convey a sense of the blank impossibility of guarding any public figure from danger day after highly exposed day, and the dedication and heroism of the agents who take on this daunting job. Relentlessly suspenseful and unexpectedly timely: just the thing for Dick Cheney's bedside reading wherever he's keeping himself these days. Book-of-the-Month Club/Literary Guild/Mystery Guild selection; author tour
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Summary: The Day of Jack Reacher
Review: While Frederick Forsyth's "The Day of the Jackal" is the classic assassination thriller, Lee Child hits another home run with "Without Fail", a page turner with all the technical accuracy of `Jackal" and the extra dose of adrenaline one would expect from Lee Child. Child's hulking loner Jack Reacher certainly has the mind of an assassin, and in "Without Fail", he is contracted by Secret Service agent M.E. Froelich to audit the security for the Vice President of the United States, the target of a threatened assassination. Froelich happens to be the former lover of Reacher's older brother, Joe, the former Treasury Department agent killed in action years before. What follows is an extremely credible portrayal of the US Secret Service and the challenges they face in protecting the holders of our highest public offices. As with all Child/Reacher novels, this one is well researched rich in detail. But just as the detail begins to hint at tedium, Child metes out another measure of plot twist, keeping the reader anxiously waiting for the next installment. Lee Child is a true student of pace, understanding the fine balance between plot development and action. Reacher's no-nonsense perspective on justice, crime and punishment is faithfully intact, but in "Without Fail", we meet Reacher's female equivalent, the formidable and lethal Frances Neagley, an ex-Army buddy of Reacher's. Like Child's hero, this is an austere, blunt, and powerful novel, ultimately predictable but never disappointing along the way. Entertainment in print simply does not get much better than this.
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Summary: Jack is back!
Review: With each Jack Reacher adventure, Lee Child allows us to learn a little more about this elusive all-American hero, filling in the details of man of few words, unselfconscious competence & a contentment wherein he finds himself, wherever that may be. In this genre, happy heroes are far & few between. Don't get me wrong, Jack Reacher is no comedian nor a fatuous fellow! It's just that the things that bother everyone else don't bother him...no baggage, no guilt, no regrets. Perfect spook material. In WITHOUT FAIL, Jack joins the team protecting the Vice President-elect, ostensibly as an advisor. Except he's recruited to do something quite different. He calls on his old military co-worker, the beautiful & deadly Frances Neagley, to cover his back. When Jack learns about the threatening letters, everything changes. Not soon enough, he sees how the security tapes are lying, & that likely suspects are totally innocent. Too soon two men, resembling the Veep in remarkable details, are killed & a compelling chase from the Beltway into the Wild West, ricochets like a bullet from a silenced rifle. Top notch reading with a little love, lots of insights, & loads of action.
Rating: 
Summary: Wihtout Fail , but not without fizzle.
Review: With the latest published work of Lee Child, I was mightily disappointed. 'Without Fail' is nowhere near as exciting, or as well-written, as 'Die Trying' and 'Tripwire'. I was slightly bored by his 'Echo Burning', but this last one had me yawning. It was reminiscent of 'In The Line of Fire', but at the same time it didn't measure up to that plot, either in content, excitement, or suspense. The only saving grace in this book, was the demise of a thoroughly unlikeable, and unbelievable female character. Froelich had a personality profile that would either preclude her from being an Agent, or cause her to be re-evaluated and made redundant.
Also, why not spice up the plot by going for the Top Man himself? Did Mr. Child really want to be different, or did he lack the nerve to write convincingly about an attempted, Presidential assassination? As for Reacher's motives for taking on the job, well... rational and logical, but to take us into a clothes shop for a moment's respite was boring in the extreme. The biggest drawback to the plot however, is the motivation for the attempt on the Vice-President. Surely, an author of Mr. Child's stature, could have come up with a much more convincing motive to assassinate a politician, of whatever standing. Or was Mr. Child merely being different again? I am afraid, this book fizzled out for me and I hope the next offering, gives us back the real Jack Reacher. I shall give it a chance, but I am not optiimistic, as I believe it is going to be a 'prequel'. To my mind, that's another way of spelling disaster. Come on Mr. Child, you can do better.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Without Fail is the best Reacher novel yet! If you haven't read any of the Reacher series, START now!! Awesome! If I could give it 6 stars I would!
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