Die trying to finish this book
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This is the second Jack Reacher book I've read, chosen after I found One Shot quite un-put-downable. It was a bit silly but enjoyable in a satisfying-action-movie kind of way, but if 'One Shot' is a slick Hollywood production, 'Die Trying' turns out to be straight-to-video poor-man's-Chuck-Norris dross.
It starts well enough with the punchy narrative setting up an intriguing mystery, and maintains some good pace until about half-way through the book where the plot just turns to mush, becoming a sequence of characters being captured, escaping, re-captured, re-escaping, being on the verge of execution, escaping, and so on and so on. It is filled with repetition and cliche and it builds to a feeble climax.
Writing this sort of escapism clearly takes talent, but that talent seems to have escaped Lee Child in this instance.
Another Jack Reacher novel might be worth trying, but not this one.
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good but not the best
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Good book but not Lee cHILDS BEST. On a Chicago street in bright sunshine, Jack Reacher, is strolling nowhere and sees an attractive young woman, struggling on crutches. Naturally, he stops to offer her a steadying arm. And then he turns around to see a handgun aimed straight at his stomach. Locked in a dark, stifling van racing across America, chained to the woman, Reacher needs to know why he's there. The kidnappers are saying nothing. The woman claims to be an FBI agent. She's tough enough to be one. But at their remote destination, will raw courage and cunning be enough to overcome the hopeless odds? Full of non-stop action and gritty suspense, "Die Trying" is a tightly plotted thriller starring one of the most exciting action heroes in today's fiction, the redoubtable, romantic, footloose former army cop, Jack Reacher.
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Jonestown Montana.........right?
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In expectation of an angry backlash from devoted Lee Child fans, I have to voice my own opinion that DIE TRYING is little more than comic-style pulp fiction for teenage boys, and for under-endowed men who are destined for a life of under-achievement. The hook on the back cover "Men want to be him, Women want to be with him" pretty much sums up the corniness of the story; it might have worked in the austere world of post-WW2 Britain before the Batman comics came out, but in the 21st century the theme seems laughably outdated and if, as some others here suggest, this is the best of the Jack Reacher series then I will avoid reading any of the others as I dread to think what they must be like.
First of all, there is next to no in-depth examination of the lead character himself, and absolutely no character development of anyone else at all. We simply have to accept that Reacher is who and what he is, such that there is an inevitability that against all the odds he will destroy all the baddies and walk off into the sunset with the beautiful woman (about whom this entire tale revolves) in his powerful arms. The story is a couple of hundred pages too long, as all coverage of the 'cavalry' and their attempt to rescue a kidnapped female FBI agent is utterly and relentlessly boring. At least Jack Reacher is vaguely interesting, even if he is absurdly devoid of credibility. What irritated me above all else though was the endless use of the word 'right?' at the end of a spoken statement, as in the example "I assume these terrorists don't have an air force, right?". It was a style of speech used by just about every character in the novel, including Reacher, and it nearly drove me round the twist.
The only high point throughout the story was Reacher's lowest, when he was seemingly stuck in a pitch-black tunnel, barely able to move. That scene was quite well drawn and was the one and only time that I felt any sense of danger; it was the only 'thrill' in what is being deceivingly promoted as a thriller. It's not a thriller, it's a man - Lee Child - living out his fantasies as the superhero he wished he could be, and astonishingly getting away with it commercially and financially. Well, good luck to him. It's never easy getting a book published and he should be congratulated for his achievements. As for me, I will be treating this as my one and only Child 'thriller' and sticking to more intelligent and more creative writers.
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Read it all in one go...
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Beginning with an unfortunate coincidence, Jack Reacher is accidentally kidnapped along with an injured (female) FBI agent... so of course he will forego escape until she can escape too. As the kidnapped pair are taken across America to be held hostage, the FBI are trying to get back their star agent, convinced that Reacher is one of the bad guys.
Really enjoyed this, the second in the series which I have read, found the details convincing and the plot clever and unpredictable.
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Die Writing!
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I have read about seven of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books now and must say that this one was quite dissappointing. Whilst it is fiction, reality has been bent too much. Some of Reacher's antics belong more to a comic than this type of book. It appeared that Child was running our of ideas on this one as he wrote of Reacher picking locks in seconds, being ethical when faced with attack dogs (that don't attack) and staring them down when they find him! The shooting scene with the Barrat 50's was unbeleivable and the blowing up of the truck at close range, in a helicopter, when Reacher was concerned for his safety blowing up the same amount of dynamite at 1200 yards, was stretching the imagination just a bit too far. A definate three stars, maybe even a two. That said, the rest of the book is OK and an average read. Definately not Lee Child's finest novel.
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