Lee Child - The Enemy (Reacher #8)

Publisher: Bantam

ISBN: 9780440423003

My rating: 3/5




You’re in the Army now, son…
New Year’s Day, 1990. The Berlin Wall is coming down. The Cold War is ending. Soon America won’t have any enemies left. The Army won’t have anybody to fight. Things are going to change. Jack Reacher is the Military Police duty officer on a base in North Carolina when he takes a call reporting a dead soldier in a hot-sheets motel. Reacher tells the local cops to handle it—heart attacks happen all the time.
But why is Reacher in North Carolina, instead of Panama, where the action is? Then the dead man turns out to have been a two-star general who should have been in Europe. And when Reacher goes to the general’s house to break the news, he finds another corpse: the general’s wife. What is he dealing with here? The last echoes of the old world… or the first shocks of the new?
Winner of 2005 Nero, Barry and (yes, this is not a typo) Jack Reacher awards. The Nero Award, for literary excellence in the mystery genre, is awarded by The Wolfe Pack. The Barry Award for Best Novel of the Year is awarded by Deadly Pleasures magazine. The Jack Reacher Award win was the first annual award presented by Crime Spree Magazine and it was for the very readable, appealing-to-every-age, Jack Reacher novels! (Lee Child.com)


My thoughts

Say what ?

I do love Reacher and have loved most of his stories, or should I say Lee Child? BTW,  I almost fell of the seat when I saw Lee's cameo in the movie. Too funny.

Anyway - this one wasn't for me. I couldn't follow. I felt lost most of the time and noticed myself putting the book aside more often than usual. I really liked the sub-plot of Reacher's "family affairs". But really, most of the details of the main plot were just beyond me, I'm afraid.

I got the gist of who killed who, but the "real" why is still a mystery.

Any verdicts, yet, on the movie from you? 

Lee Child - Persuader (Reacher #7)

Publisher: Bantam UK

ISBN: 9780553815856

My rating: 3/5


The ultimate loner. An elite ex-military cop who left the service years ago, he’s moved from place to place … without family … without possessions … without commitments. And without fear. Which is good, because trouble—big, violent, complicated trouble—finds Reacher wherever he goes. And when trouble finds him, Reacher does not quit, not once, not ever. But some unfinished business has now found Reacher. And Reacher is a man who hates unfinished business. Ten years ago, a key investigation went sour and Francis Xavier Quinn got away with murder. Now a chance encounter outside Boston’s Symphony Hall brings it all back. Now Reacher sees his one last shot. Some would call it vengeance. Some would call it redemption. Reacher would call it justice. (LeeChild.com)



My thoughts

I can without a doubt say that Lee Child is one of my favourite authors, and I look forward to yet another Reacher Novel. Yet, this one was a bit disappointing I have to admit.

First of all, it's written in the "first person" and that threw me a bit. Secondly, the book starts straight with the action of a shooting ... and it took me a while to understand the storyline.

Reacher goes undercover for the police to get to Francis Xavier Quinn - but it's more about revenge for him then helping out.

It was a rather confusing story and I had a hard time to follow, especially with the backstory in between. Love Reacher, but that wasn't one of my favourites.

Lee Child - Running Blind (Reacher #4)

Running Blind by Lee Child

Publisher: Jove

ISBN: 978-0515130973

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It's tough being a high-flying woman in the Army. Very tough. When Sergeant Amy Callan and Lieutenant Caroline Cook are found dead in their own homes—in baths filled with Army-issue camouflage paint, their bodies completely unmarked—Jack Reacher is under suspicion. He knew them both—and he knows that they both left the Army under dubious circumstances, both victims of sexual harassment. A former U.S. military policeman, a loner and a drifter, he matches the psychological profile prepared by the FBI, and is arrested by ambitious Special Agent, Julia Lamarr.

But when the body of another woman, Sergeant Lorraine Stanley, is discovered, killed with similar precision, Reacher is released. Everyone fears there is a serial killer on the loose. But the FBI have strong persuasive powers, and before long Reacher finds himself heavily involved in the murder investigation. What have these women got in common and why is someone out to do them harm?

In this magnificent and utterly ingenious thriller, Reacher once again saves the day, proving that he is a unique hero, capable of holding his own in any situation. Running Blind confirms that Lee Child is more than capable of challenging the established names currently writing in this genre.(leechild.com)

My thoughts

You either love or loathe the story, I guess. I haven't decided yet, so I settle in the middle.

Reading "Running Blind" was a bit like a emotional rollercoaster - interesting, pageturner, you're kiddin' right back to interesting.

The book starts with a bang and Reacher being picked up by the FBI as a "person of interest" in a serial murder case. Women are being killed and nobody can figure out how and why, but an FBI profile states it's someone like Reacher ... and he ends up working as a "consultant" for them.

Personally I think the plot is great, brilliant and well executed into a story, even though I had an inkling half way through about the killer.

Parts I wasn't really convinced about were: the FBI characters were lousy. For me as a non-US citizen sometimes to the point that it was unbelievable. Perhaps naive thinking on my behalf, maybe not. Also, the relationship with with Jodie made me grinch. She came across very selfish and even though Reacher hadn't been a "good boy" himself, he, IMHO, deserved better.

Lastly - I didn't like was Reacher's openness to violence. Though I "know" he's no angel, I didn't like his (as it seemed to me) more aggressive nature in this story.

All in all, I wasn't really convinced, but I loved the Reacher in this one as well. Lee Child has created such a great character smooth and edgy. Can't get enough of him!

Reacher #5 next !! :-)
















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Lee Child - Die Trying (Reacher #2)

Publisher: Bantam

ISBN  9780515142242

My rating: 3/5


A Chicago street in bright sunshine. Jack Reacher, strolling nowhere, meets an attractive young woman, limping, struggling with her crutches, alone. Naturally he stops to offer her a steadying arm and then they turn together—to face twin handguns held level and motionless and aimed straight at their stomachs.

Chained to the woman, locked in a dark, stifling van racing 2,000 miles across America, Reacher needs to know who he's dealing with. The kidnappers are saying nothing and his companion claims to be Holly Johnson, FBI agent. She's fierce enough and tough enough, but he knows there must be more to her than that. And at their remote, hostile destination, they will need to act as a team and trust each other, pitting raw courage and cunning against insane violence and seemingly hopeless odds, with their own lives and hundreds more at stake. (leechild.com)


My rating

Eerie comes to mind! Yet not as good as the first one. Unfortunately not.

So, there's Jack Reacher, he's at the wrong place, wrong time - kidnapped with the handicapped woman (Holly) he helped carrying dry cleaned clothes. By some militia group as it turns out and they take them to some remote spot in the Montana forests. And then ... it gets complicated and weird and Child lost me.

Still interesting, but I had to put the book aside waaay to often, because it was too detailed ? boring ? complicated ? I don't know. It just didn't grip me like the first book.

The story in itself would have been much better if it had been edited down to a few pages less. Reacher still a kick-ass hero you'd like to have at your side when in trouble or not. (PS - I did like the scene when we find out about his weakness - nice touch indeed!) Holly's character a bit "underdeveloped". I would have liked to have more of her. The whole bunch of FBI agents and other agents way to confusing. The leak / mole obvious half way through the book.

Worth a read - betcha it is. It's a Lee Child book. Haven't read any of his yet? Don't start with this one!

Now, let me go and find Reacher #3 :-)

Lee Child - Killing Floor (Reacher #1)

Publisher: Bantam Books

ISBN: 9780553505405

My rating: 5/5

Welcome to Margrave, Georgia—but don't get too attached to the townsfolk, who are either in on a giant conspiracy, or hurtling toward violent deaths, or both.

There's not much of a welcome for Jack Reacher, a casualty of the Army's peace dividend who's drifted into town idly looking for traces of a long dead black jazzman. Not only do the local cops arrest him for murder, but the chief of police turns eyewitness to place him on the scene, even though Reacher was getting on a bus in Tampa at the time. Two surprises follow: The murdered man wasn't the only victim, and he was Reacher's brother whom he hadn't seen in seven years. So Reacher, who so far hasn't had anything personal against the crooks who set him up for a weekend in the state pen at Warburton, clicks into overdrive.

Banking on the help of the only two people in Margrave he can trust—a Harvard-educated chief of detectives who hasn't been on the job long enough to be on the take, and a smart, scrappy officer who's taken him to her bed— he sets out methodically in his brother's footsteps, trying to figure out why his cellmate in Warburton, a panicky banker whose cell-phone number turned up in Joe's shoe, confessed to a murder he obviously didn't commit; trying to figure out why all the out-of-towners on Joe's list of recent contacts were as dead as he was; and trying to stop the local carnage or at least direct it in more positive ways. Though the testosterone flows as freely as printer's ink, Reacher is an unobtrusively sharp detective in his quieter moments—not that there are many of them to judge by.

Despite the crude, tough-naïf narration, debut novelist Child serves up a big, rangy plot, menace as palpable as a ticking bomb, and enough battered corpses to make an undertaker grin. (leechild.com)

 My thoughts

An "OMG" wouldn't even be near how I like to express what I think of this book. A page turner? Definitely! Gripping? You bet! A must read? OH YES!

So I accidentally stumbled over this book. The cover was .... nahhhh .... the blurb was ..... nahhhh, but I wanted to read something different than the usual romance, a little break so to speak! And boy oh boy did I get a break.

So there's this guy Reacher who one day ends up in this little town called Margrave in Georgia. Out of the blue, really, because his older brother once mentioned that a famous guitarist, Blind Blake, died at that place. But there's a lot more he finds out and gets himself into in quite some trouble.

I honestly loved it. I found myself sneaking into a corner of the house at any given moment just to read another two or even five pages. The characters are interesting and well developed. The story was different to what I had read before (which doesn't mean too much due to my love for romance), but well explained and believable. Jack's great and in his own way very likable from page one onwards.

Verdict: hooked to the Reacher series and want more.

PS - Nice touch with the old lady at the end!

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