Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher Series, #12)
by Lee Child
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I'm done with Child after this latest installment. The last few Reacher novels have really dragged and I was hoping this one might revive the series. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Furthermore, the writer decides to jump on a soap box towards the end and throw in random anti-bush/anti-war diatribe. Obviously, this is his right as the creater of the novel but I found it completely ridiculous and hypocritical of his main character. It would be one thing if Child had done this in p...more
Furthermore, the writer decides to jump on a soap box towards the end and throw in random anti-bush/anti-war diatribe. Obviously, this is his right as the creater of the novel but I found it completely ridiculous and hypocritical of his main character. It would be one thing if Child had done this in p...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
almost no one
After reading about 8 of Child's Jack Reacher books, I finally found a dud. It started out thrilling, as expected, but quickly became almost boring. I can not believe I am typing those words.
Reacher's repeatedly doing the same thing, over and over (returning to a bad place) was tedious and so unlike our hero's usual behavior. The plot wandered all over the place and the book was too long.
I found it impossible to buy into the far-fetched "conspiracy theory" with its pathetic &...more
Reacher's repeatedly doing the same thing, over and over (returning to a bad place) was tedious and so unlike our hero's usual behavior. The plot wandered all over the place and the book was too long.
I found it impossible to buy into the far-fetched "conspiracy theory" with its pathetic &...more
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Read in June, 2008
Jack Reacher finds himself between Hope and Despair, actually two cities. Despair is a desolate place where everyone wants to see him out of town. Everything is owned by one man which immediately makes Reacher suspicious. He enlists the aid of a cop in Hope and having a knack for finding trouble, Reacher gets plenty of it. I have always liked Reacher but for some reason this year it seems as though publishers told their writers, "give me a plot involving trashing the government, the mil...more
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Read in June, 2008
Disappointing but effective installment in Child's Jack Reacher series. This but seemed long for a Reacher thriller and might have been strengthed by cutting one of the three main plot strands. I felt that Child made it more confusing than necessary and could have shored up the suspense with tipping his hand a little more. Starts off great, but we've seen some of the same elements in Killing Floor, Die Trying and Echo Burning. But still, nobody does hardcore, bad-ass loner fiction like Child...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Lee Child Fans, action fans, western fans, thriller fans
Not quite as kick-ass as BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE, but light years ahead of the competition. Lee Child has brought the "lone good guy rides into troubled town and sets things right" style of western novel into the modern age, and done so in a fashion that keeps you turning the pages obsessively. There are some surprising opinions from ex-military cop Reacher in this one.
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Read in September, 2008
This is the first book by Lee Child that has disappointed me. I know there are a lot of readers up in arms about this book, but I really didn't care about that. The truth is, aside from the controversy, this book is not on the same level as Child's other works. First Jack Reacher travels from a Colorado town called Hope to the next town, appropriately called Despair. In Despair Reacher is denied service at a diner and several deputized citizens tell him to leave town. Reacher throws the fir...more
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Read in May, 2008
Holy conspiracy theories, Batman! Did somebody take James Lee Burke and tuck his liberal rants between the covers of a Lee Child novel?
Don't get me wrong - Burke and Child are two of my favorite authors - but the venerable Burke started a fast descent when his politics began to irrationally overpower the gripping atmospheric prose of the Mississippi delta and Dave Robicheaux's hard-hitting tales of southern noir. But if one were to judge Child solely on the basis of "Nothing to Lose&qu...more
Don't get me wrong - Burke and Child are two of my favorite authors - but the venerable Burke started a fast descent when his politics began to irrationally overpower the gripping atmospheric prose of the Mississippi delta and Dave Robicheaux's hard-hitting tales of southern noir. But if one were to judge Child solely on the basis of "Nothing to Lose&qu...more
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The 12th of the Jack Reacher books, a series I have a real love/hate relationship with.
Nothing to Lose is described thusly:
Two small towns in the middle of nowhere Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, nothing but twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher can't find a ride, so he walks. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets are four hostile locals, a vagrancy charge and an order to move on.
They're picking on the wrong guy.
Reacher is a hard man. No job, no address, no baggage. Nothing at all, except hardheaded curiosity. What are the secrets that Despair seems so desperate to hide?
With just one ally—a mysterious woman cop from Hope—and many enemies, Reacher goes up against a whole town, hunting the rich man at its core, cracking open his terrifying agenda, asking the question: Who has the edge—a man with everything to gain, or a man with nothing to lose? ...more
Nothing to Lose is described thusly:
Two small towns in the middle of nowhere Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, nothing but twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher can't find a ride, so he walks. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets are four hostile locals, a vagrancy charge and an order to move on.
They're picking on the wrong guy.
Reacher is a hard man. No job, no address, no baggage. Nothing at all, except hardheaded curiosity. What are the secrets that Despair seems so desperate to hide?
With just one ally—a mysterious woman cop from Hope—and many enemies, Reacher goes up against a whole town, hunting the rich man at its core, cracking open his terrifying agenda, asking the question: Who has the edge—a man with everything to gain, or a man with nothing to lose? ...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone looking for a solid thriller
Lee Child books will never be mistaken for great literature, but they're solidly plotted thrillers with an intriguing main character, Jack Reacher. Since leaving the military a number of years before, Jack is a man without ties--he has no job, no permanent address, and with the exception of an ATM card, only the clothes on his back. As is typical in this series, trouble finds Reacher even though he is trying to mind his own business. Hitchhiking through Colorado, Reacher decides to stop at the...more
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I was so happy to get the latest from Lee. I gobbled it up in a day. The journey from Hope to Despair, two fictional towns in Colorado, to work out the intrigue of this book Jack Reacher traveled between them at least a dozen times. His brilliant deductive reasoning, amazing physical fighting skills, and perhaps to me most of all his trenchant stands for what he believes in, even though the people in front of whom he digs in are as likely to seem to have him beaten or murdered as listen to him. ...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
adventure or mystery fans, those w/ military connection or high plains folk
This book probably gets a 3+ because a.)it was so much more entertaining than the other two books I read before and after it, b.)it was set in one of my favorite places, Colorado, and c.) the characters well well drawn and likable in spite of their flaws.
Not knowing the author or what to expect, I had no sense of the protagonist and did not know going into the read that it was a series. But came to understand his character easily and could picture the scenes well as the author portrayed them...more
Not knowing the author or what to expect, I had no sense of the protagonist and did not know going into the read that it was a series. But came to understand his character easily and could picture the scenes well as the author portrayed them...more
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Read in June, 2008
Ex military policeman and full time drifter Jack Reacher hitchhikes into Despair, Colorado only to be arrested on a trumped up vagrancy charge, and then promptly kicked out of town. There's no way he's going to take that kind of behavior, so hooking up with a policewoman from the neighboring town of Hope, Reacher sets out to find out what the town fathers in Despair are hiding. This was a solid, if formulaic Reacher thriller following the standard plot: Jack drifts into town, gets caught up in s...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Jeffrey by:
New York Times, history of seriesrecommends it for: Lee Child fans who like the mystery aspect of the stories
This is more of a cerebral Reacher novel than some of the past novels that have a much higher body count, and to me, the absence of action takes away some of what I have come to expect from a Lee Child novel. Sure there are some fight sequences, but I never felt the main character was evenly remotely matched by the villains who opposed him.
Moreover, I cannot avoid another problem with the plot as to why Reacher actually get involved in this problem to begin with. Child makes a point of men...more
Moreover, I cannot avoid another problem with the plot as to why Reacher actually get involved in this problem to begin with. Child makes a point of men...more
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Read in June, 2008
This is a series of books that I read instantly, as soon as each is published. This is the twelfth.
The main character, Jack Reacher, starts the series as an MP in the army. He investigates and solves mysteries. However, 3 or 4 books ago, he left the military. He chooses total, unstructured freedom. He just travels around the country. He rides the bus, hitchhikes, and walks. He owns nothing but a toothbrush. He carries not ID and checks into motels using fictitious names. He gets money from a...more
The main character, Jack Reacher, starts the series as an MP in the army. He investigates and solves mysteries. However, 3 or 4 books ago, he left the military. He chooses total, unstructured freedom. He just travels around the country. He rides the bus, hitchhikes, and walks. He owns nothing but a toothbrush. He carries not ID and checks into motels using fictitious names. He gets money from a...more
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So far, I've liked all the Jack Reacher books. Reacher is a loner, smart and strong. He's that lone ghost who comes in and saves the day then disappears.
Nothing to Lose wasn't my favorite, though. In this book, he seemed to come into the town, decide something was wrong and, uninvited, create havoc. In the end, of course, it turned out to be something big that needed stopping. But he seemed to come in like a bulldozer and run over everyone.
He always leaves in the end. It's his signature. T...more
Nothing to Lose wasn't my favorite, though. In this book, he seemed to come into the town, decide something was wrong and, uninvited, create havoc. In the end, of course, it turned out to be something big that needed stopping. But he seemed to come in like a bulldozer and run over everyone.
He always leaves in the end. It's his signature. T...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
thriller fans
I was stuck in Paris without a book (my e-reader had died) and the local international bookstore didn't have anything that appealed. Lee Child's books always show up on my Amazon "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" so I took the shot and almost immediately regretted it. Jack Reacher is an ex-Army human superman loner who always takes on hundreds of goons and wins. After I'd finished all 11 of the series, I had to admit the guy knew how to right a thriller.
The Amazon revie...more
The Amazon revie...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
no one
From the heights to the depths, how the mighty have fallen. This book is just not worth the effort. I was afraid that Child was no longer interested in the series after the last book. Now I am sure of it.
To avoid spoilage I will say only that this book is all about "mine is bigger than yours" and that gets boring in a hurry. I liked Reacher initially because he wasn't that way. He was one hero who reacted based on need, not emotion. Now he's a formula tough guy who thinks with...more
To avoid spoilage I will say only that this book is all about "mine is bigger than yours" and that gets boring in a hurry. I liked Reacher initially because he wasn't that way. He was one hero who reacted based on need, not emotion. Now he's a formula tough guy who thinks with...more
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Read in June, 2008
Well Jack Reacher is back to his solving crimes. This time he is between the towns of Hope and Despair. I found this a little too cutsey for Jack. He's trying to get to San Diego but when he stops in Despair the arrest him for vagrancy, and let him know strangers aren't welcome. The Despair PD returns him to the Hope's borderline. Jack is a true contrarian, and decides he has to find out Despairs secrets. Lee Child's plots are always over the top, pure escapism, rock'em sock'em fun. The...more
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Read in November, 2008
I didn't enjoy this as much as other Jack Reacher novels. Reacher was more of a jerk than usual, just looking for a fight at every turn, and his reasoning wasn't very clear. Also, the author got off on an anti-war tangent, basically saying that there hadn't been a war worth fighting since 1945. This leads me to believe that Lee Child doesn't really know his history. In 1939-44, WWII was no more popular than the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or the Iraqi War. The only reasons we look back on it f...more
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If you gave up Lee Child after the lousy "Bad Luck and Trouble" (as I was tempted to do!), come on back! This newest novel is much better, and true to the "real" stories about Jack Reacher we have come to know and love. Lots of driving, and lots of getting into and out of tight situations, Jack is frequently outnumbered but never outwitted, and oh, there's a girl with an available automobile for our guy, too, of course!
I've read all the Jack Reacher novels, and except for...more
I've read all the Jack Reacher novels, and except for...more
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