Die Trying (Jack Reacher, Book 2)

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I did like this one a lot more than Killing Floor. It helped that Reacher is thrown into a scenario more fitting of an action hero rather than splitting time trying to play detective. Switching from the first person narrative to third person here is also a big improvement s because rather than the main character telling us how awesome he is we get to either see it or have it relayed from an outsider’s perspective. On the flip side, the behavior of some of the villains did not make any sense. They had planned such an elaborate conspiracy but acted like fools at times. My “no spoiler” policy forbids me from saying anything else. This time around Reacher is at the wrong place at the wrong time (and I’m guessing this will be a ubiquitous narrative device moving forward) and gets mixed up in some domestic terrorist assholery that also involves high levels of government. There’s plenty of fists and lead flying, blood and gore and big explosions.

I listened to this via audiobook. Jonathon McClain did the narration and he was excellent. He has many different voices and uses them all. It was completely enjoyable and I really liked listening and plan to do quite a few more from this series. Reacher is a likable character since he is so self-assured and intelligent. Reacher may be an exceptional soldier, but sweeping other people’s secrets under the carpet isn’t part of his skill set. As he races to discover the link between these victims, and who killed them, he must navigate around the ulterior motives of his new ‘partners’. And all while moving into the sight line of some of the most dangerous people he has ever encountered. Holly specializes in finance and has a resume to die for, but she feels like she is always walking in her father's shadow, a high ranking member at the white house and her Godfather is the president himself. So, Holly makes a very nice bargaining chip. So he died, because for a split second he got brave. But not then. He died much later, after the split second of bravery had faded into long hours of wretched gasping fear, and after the long hours of fear had exploded into long minutes of insane screaming panic.The world building was terrific. I like the way Lee Child includes all the details about things like weaponry, snipers, militia, getting out of certain situations and the physics behind certain acts. It all adds to story and the realism. The thing I love about Lee Child's writing is that it matches his protag to a tee. Short and snappy offerings, says what needs to be said without fanfare, and delivered with wit and a smoothness that only Mr Reacher can get away with. Smooth as a whistle. As cool as a cucumber. But he delivers cooler word usage than this, that's for sure.

On the other hand . . . the plot is bonkers. Really bonkers and if you put your plot hole pedant's hat on you will be like a pig in the proverbial rolling around for hours before you are finished. I can also well imagine some finding the narration a bit monotone even though I think it just fits perfectly. Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. Also, why answer the radio when it becomes clear the bad guy only wants to use it to make his demands? If he can't make them, he has no lever. The second installment in the series wasn't as strong as the first, but it was still worthy of a four star rating. Lee Child still hasn't gotten past all the shrugging and nodding and his writing style still slows me down a bit. I have no idea how many ladies read this series, but I would imagine Reacher has a larger male fan base. Thus, the author goes into a great deal of detail about weapons and the speed of bullets and so on, which is interesting to a degree, but normally goes over my head and I tend to tune out during those paragraphs. But, my husband loves all that stuff.

Books Like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher:

A series of books can be a daunting prospect. Do you have to begin at the beginning? Which book is the first one? Which book is the best one? Are there sub-plots or sub-series to tap into first? The questions are many and the answers are not always straightforward, but we’re here to help bring some clarity to this confusion. This was so bad. I started out really enjoying this series, but I'm losing interest. It's disappointing. It turns out to be a very long ride in an Econoline van, all the way from Chicago to northwestern Montana, where a nutty but well-armed militia group is preparing to declare its independence from the United States. The kidnapped woman, Holly Johnson, is critical to the militia leader's plans. b>The heroine(s): Holly - a young FBI agent from a well to do family. She works at the Chicago FBI Office doing forensic accounting. She is important to the people she works with because her efforts were putting away a lot of people that were previously hard to get. She recently hurt her knee playing soccer and walks with a crutch. I have also been following the “Women’s Murder Club” series by James Patterson and, fortunately, each story follows on from the previous one and it is fairly easy to keep up with the changes.

My issues mostly remain with the writing itself. I find it choppy and very basic in terms of skill and delivery. The dialogue, too, often bothers me, especially with all the constant "he said this/he said that" nonsense. It's repetitive and often annoying, reading the exact same lines over and over. Sort of reminded me of John D. MacDonald’s 1979 Travis McGee novel The Green Ripper, and there are similarities between Reacher and McGee, but obliquely and MacDonald is the more thoughtful writer. While Child has Reacher making some astute social and cultural observations, this is nowhere near the level of subtly intellectual commentary MacDonald was able to pull off. In fact coincidence is the key word in this novel, coincidence and cliché. Frankly there's way too much of them both throughout. The novel wavered between a 2-star and a 3-star for me. On the one hand the story was good and engaging. I wanted to keep reading to the end. On the other hand, some of the descriptive writing was so heavy handed it was laughable. I'm happy to put this down to second-novel nerves though. Just trying too hard to be better than the first success.

I thank you for your time in reading my comments – please feel free to publish them if you feel that this would be of some use to other readers – otherwise, this communication is for your eyes only so that you do not receive further criticism. How many girls will he meet over his lifetime, and he is already late thirties, so being the impatient person that I am, I am unable to stay in the moment and am fast forwarding quite rapidly. Reacher will always save the day, if he stuffs up he realises straight away and will always know how to right the wrong. The author knows a lot about weapons and military, I find this is interesting. I know nothing about this stuff but I feel I am in safe hands.