by

Lee Child

 8 out of 10

Reacher the cop killer! This one stretches it too the limit. How long can you hold your breath! This is top notch Child - quickly in, feint and quickly out! Essential reading.

Reacher never forgets a face especially one he shot 10 years previously. Why is that face back to haunt him and why is it attached to a living body? Child has given us another rollercoaster of novel. Yes, there is the usual collection of deceased evil doers and some good ones as well. This time though he rocks our perceptions of Reacher as he kills in cold blood a cop, just for doing his job. Is this the downhill slide for Reacher?

We find out more of Reacher's past, his misgivings, poor decisions (maybe he is human) and we get an awesome insight into the chaos that is the USA enforcement services - subterfuge, role struggles and silos of ideology that leave the innocent in the grave.

Jack Reacher is a modern day Clint Eastwood character, cool, precise, expert and methodical - a killer of all that is evil.

Child writes with a crispness that drags the reader on, not letting him relax for a minute. He stays with the story and every offered item of text is directly related to the story. Even the side plots come to a fine, needle sharp point at the end.

Reacher lies somewhere between the likeable, though clearly fantasy world of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt and Tom Clancy's methodical and reluctant hero Jack Ryan. You owe it to yourself to read this guy if you like either. A must read adventure.

© David K. Evans (2004)

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