Tripwire

Rating:
Summary: Interesting thriller - hard to put down
Review: I have read all of Lee Child's thrillers featuring Jack Reacher and found this one to be very entertaining. While maybe not quite as good as "The Killing Floor," it nevertheless was very well done. The character of Reacher - loner, very tough, somewhat laconic - is a pretty stock one and his ability to escape tight situations stretches credulity. But Child knows how to pace a story and, within the limitations of the genre, he keeps the reader entertained. You could do far worse.

Rating:
Summary: A thriller with a hook!
Review: This is the first Jack Reacher novel I have read, but I plan on checking out the rest since he is an interesting character - loner, drifter, retired MP. In this novel he is drawn into a 30 year-old mystery by a former commanding officer. There is one especially nasty character who's disfigured by fire and has a hooked arm. He is running some scams for high dollars and does not want his real identity known. In the end he is foiled by Reacher.

Rating:
Summary: Former MP Reacher Searches for Truth About MIA Vietnam Vet
Review: After loving Lee Child's first two novels, I am very sorry to report my disappointment with this his third effort, "Tripwire." He took approximately 100 pages to set the scene, which I would forgive but once that was done I still was easily able to put down this book - quite a departure from his previous works. The hero, Reacher, seemed somehow more seedy and more of a loser than we want him to be. He lacked direction or dedication or something, which he previously had displayed with great enthusiasm. Jack Reacher just wandered through this 'mystery' and was more interested in realizing the love he had only dreamt about in his earlier years. That was a very nice aside, but I felt no sense of action or terror in the journey to complete the mission and find the murderer. The villian was evil enough, but more disgusting than frightening. Also, in a well written mystery I am seldom able to determine the 'answer' prior to the final accounting. I was ahead of the author this time, and just waited for Reacher to figure it out. Please, Lee Child, I know from your first two books you do have a gift for writing; do not rush to print to satisfy your publisher, agent or whoever dictates when your novel is ready. You can and have done much better.

Rating:
Summary: A DISAPPOINTING THRILLER
Review: Jack Reacher has settled in Key West, digging pools. One day Reacher is approached by a Private Investigator with alot of questions...within hours the Investigator is killed. Reacher wants to know who sent him and why, and who is behind his murder. The search for these answers will lead Reacher to New York, and there he will need the help of a woman from his past. As the two uncover the pieces of the puzzle they will come face to face with Hook Hobie, a disfigured, madman, who will stop at nothing to get rid of Reacher.

Lee Child is an expert at fast pacing and keeping the reader in suspense. "Tripwire" is a fast read, but a confusing read at the same time. I was a disappointed with this novel, the plot did not hold my interest, and the theme of Vietnam thrown into the mix was distracting. For a great read by Child, check out "The Killing Floor".

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: Reacher is my Hero
Review: I have read all of Lee Child's books (including The Visitor), in order. All are excellent. If there are four books you buy this summer make sure they all have Lee Child's name on the front. I guarantee you will enjoy them.

If you are a hardened Reacher fan, you will note how Jack's character and thinking are developing. The book sets the scenes in the first few chapters, and jumps around, but not confusingly. The story flows once the scene has been set.

This is another classic Reacher novel. You will love it. I defy you to put it down, in fact if you get more than half an hours sleep I will be surprised.

Enjoy. Make sure you order The Visitor (Running Blind in the USA) now, because I know the UK got it earlier.

Rating:
Summary: Great Once Again
Review: This is the third book I've read by Lee Child that features the ever-exciting Jack Reacher. Not only is the plot line excellent and impossible to predict, but seeing Reacher in his element made me happy to live vicariously through him. There's never a dull moment or a skimmed-over page.

Rating:
Summary: Another GREAT Jack Reacher Story!
Review: I am deeply, madly in love with Jack Reacher. Just this description alone on page 9 had my panties tingling:

"He was six feet tall, and he had weighed 220 when he left the Army. A month after joining the swimming pool gang, the work and the heat had burned him down to 210. Then the next two months he had built back to 250, all of it pure hard muscle. . . He was burned a deep brown by the sun and he was in the best shape of his life. Like a condom crammed with walnuts, is what some girl had said."

I enjoyed the plot twists which kept me guessing up until Jack took a bullet for his true love. . . Ah, fiction, where would us girls be without our big, bad-boy, macho IMAGINARY heros? Thanks, Lee Child, for another great Reacher thriller. Looking forward with much anticipation to your next one! ;-)

Rating:
Summary: A book to test the farthest limits of credibility.
Review: Visualize Jack Reacher as ole' Stoneface, for these books read as if they are custom written for films starring Arnie Swartzie himself -- if he would stoop to it. This book is particularly dreadful. The hero stops a .38 bullet coming at him from the other side of the room, with the thickness of his pectoral muscles? Come on, Lee Child! Even if it were possible, it is socially irresponsible to point it out. Too many kids think it is possible to get up after a hail of gunfire already; don't compound the situation.

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy for the middle aged executive
Review: I had avoided Lee Child before because I'd figured that his novels would be of the ultra-macho "Bravo Two Zero" school. The Anthony (I think) Award made me decide to give him a try (coupled with the money back offer here in his UK homeland). This is an airport novel designed for the folks in the cheap seats to fantasise about first class travel. It's also for the guy with a paunch who wishes he could stand up to his boss - preferably with some killer martial arts technique. He also dreams of protecting a gorgeous blonde from the bullets that fly off his manly chest. The bad guy reminds me of the problem I had with Mason Verger in "Hannibal", he seems like Mr Burns with a claw. The surprise about his character change isn't much of a shock. Plus points it's a quick and easy read but if you prefer crime to all-out action then think twice.

Rating:
Summary: There are heroes. And then there's Reacher.
Review: Reacher, the protagonist in "Tripwire" is a hero. A salt of the earth guy with solid morals and streetsmarts. He really doesn't want to get involved with anyone else's life - and doesn't want anyone involved with his. But once people lacking his decency force their way into his life . . . well, they get hurt. And you feel good because they do. Real good. Granted, there are few bumps in the plot, but they easily tossed aside because you want to move on to the next page and the one after that to learn what happens. Reacher is in one of those fallow periods every man would love to have . . . no fixed abode, no obligations, no responsibilities and no thought of tomorrow. He's digging swimming pools in Key West. Someone from up north is looking for him . . . and the regulated mayhem begins. Reacher is not all action. He thinks. He feels. And best of all, he's human. You can finish "Tripwire" and feel exhilarated because you've just spent some time in the company of a genuine hero. And in this day and age of Clinton morality, that's a real change. A welcome one.

Jerry