Disappointed
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I always look forward to Lee Child's next book, but this was a great disappointment. The story did not hold my attention and I felt I was going up and down the road between the two towns, forever. The end of a weak plot let the book down. It's a great shame - I hope the next Jack Reacher lives up to all the earlier books which were such a good read.
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Childs just joined the one-star list
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Like many other reviewers, I was completely disappointed in the book. Right from the first few chapters when I read of towns called Hope and Despair and an old autocratic preacher, my heart sank, but I persevered hoping it would turn out to still be my fantasy guy, Reacher. Alas, no hero on a white horse, just a military man supporting deserters...if you believe that, I have beachfront property in the Great Smokie Mountains for sale.
By the way Mr. Childs, cheap political hits don't do much for your readers no matter what stripe they are. You misunderestimated your readers.
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Disappointing - the poorest of the series
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After the very entertaining "Bad Luck and Trouble" I hoped Lee Child would be on a role with this, the latest in his typically excellent Jack Reacher series.
Sadly "Nothing to Lose" is indeed a bit of a dud, soley due to the extremely weak plot. It meanders along to a very unsatisfying conclusion, and is not helped by an equally uninspired, and rather limp, sub-plot that doesn't really deliver much satisfaction either (I won't go into details, because whilst I don't recommend the book I don't want to give away any spoilers either).
Sadly, for every entertaining distraction (Reacher's numerous brawls with heavy handed locals, coupled with some killer Reacher put-downs) there were other annoying traits, such as Child's bizarre geographic obsession with using the words "west of.." and "east of..." throughout.
So, whilst it's a novel technically as well written as any other in the series, it's the dreary plot that drags "Nothing to Lose" down to the bottom of the pile. I'm confident though that next time Child will come up with a winner.
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ROUTINE REACHER
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I'm a big fan of Lee Child and his rogue, justice-dealing loner, Reacher. In "Nothing to Lose", Reacher must solve the mystery of a remote town, Despair, whose people seem unaccountably keen to see the back of him. This makes the plot reminiscent of the first Jack Reacher, "Killing Floor". Indeed, the whole plot is uncomfortably formulaic and reminiscent of earlier Lee Child thrillers, from Reacher shacking up with an interesting loner female to his final assault on a stronghold defended by some tough guys. I hoped desperately for some twists or intriguing characters, but in vain. Indeed, the plot conceit of having two neighbouring towns entitled "Hope" (decent place) and "Despair" (dump) was symptomatic of what feels like the author's need to let a second pair of eyes edit this down to something tighter and better (see eg "Tripwire" or "Echo Burning"). I'd have liked to another outing for Reacher's best female sidekick, the enigmatic Neagly, too (see "Without Fail" and "Bad Luck and Trouble"). And Reacher's terrific, ironic sense of humour, as seen in "The Enemy" seems to have deserted him.
So why 4 stars? Well, it's still a decent read, and moves along briskly enough. But c'mon Lee Child, you can do better than this!
For: an OK read. Against: slow-moving and formulaic in places.
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Not great
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When Lee Child writes thrillers well he's the best around, but 'Nothing to lose' is perhaps the worst Reacher novel I've read so far. The plot is slow, repetative and verges on the incredible. When it arrives, the climax of the story has Reacher doing something so irresponsible it beggars belief. You get the impression that Child realised the book was a dud after page 25 but plowed on to meet contractual obligations. Having said that, most Reacher fans will find something to enjoy here and I look forward to the next Reacher novel.
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