Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "lee-child"

The Visitor by Lee Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jack Reacher becomes embroiled in the FBI's hunt for a serial killer in the fourth in Lee Child's series.

Following the events of 'Tripwire', Reacher is attempting to live a normal life, with a fixed address and in a steady relationship with Jodie, returning from the previous novel. But when Reacher sees injustice, he cannot resist righting the wrong in his own way. He soon finds himself arrested - but the FBI appear to suspect him of another crime. Two women are dead, both ex-Army, found immersed in baths of paint, causes of death unknown. The FBI's Behavioural Science Unit's profile indicates the perpetrator is someone a lot like Reacher.

Drawn deeper into the investigation against his will, Reacher initially resists cooperating, but soon becomes driven to find the killer responsible as the body count rises. But he also finds himself facing his own personal challenge - he misses his days of freedom, which he has turned his back on because of his feelings for Jodie.

With each development, the killer still seems to be far ahead - clever, resourceful and cunning - but Reacher strives on, fitting the pieces together. But will he be in time to save the next victim?

The third in the series, 'Tripwire', was brilliant, but 'The Visitor' may have even topped that. Intense and thrilling, the novel builds to a tense climax with a satisfying and perfectly illustrated twist. With action-packed scenes, psychological insights, gang wars and even a crime-busting partner for Reacher in the form of Harper, the FBI agent assigned to watch his every move, this is a mash-up of thriller sub-genres with Reacher as the (anti-) hero at its heart. His methods may at times be questionable, but he is always on the side of justice.

Reacher's personal struggles develop a greater emotional depth and give the reader further insight into the character we first met in 'Killing Floor' shortly after he left the Army. I will soon be diving eagerly into 'Echo Burning' to find out what's next.



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Echo Burning by Lee Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jack Reacher returns in another gripping thriller, the lawless drifter finding himself caught in a tangled web of prejudice, corruption and violence.

Under the heat of the Texas sun, a boy and two men watch a house, tracking and recording the movements of its occupants. Meanwhile, a team of professional assassins - a woman and two men – are beginning a mission. Alone and adrift, Jack Reacher chooses to avoid a confrontation with an angry Texas cop with whom he had an altercation in a bar the previous evening. Thumbing for a lift, he is surprised when a young woman pulls over. But Carmen Greer has an ulterior motive and Reacher is exactly the sort of person she’s been looking for. Her abusive husband is due to be released from prison. Terrified at the prospect of his release and desperate for a new life with their young daughter, she has a proposal – she wants Reacher to kill her husband.

But Reacher is not a cold-blooded assassin. Yet he is sympathetic to her plight and agrees to do what he can to help, claiming to her husband’s family that he is simply looking for work on the ranch. Only he soon realises that his agreement to warn off an abusive bully only scratches the surface of what lies rotten and decaying under the intense heat and the situation is about to become far more complicated.

Fast-paced and action-packed with a character-driven heart, ‘Echo Burning’ is a fantastic entry in the Reacher series, which goes from strength to strength. I particularly liked the relationship Reacher developed with Carmen’s young daughter, Ellie; while the determined and hard-working young lawyer, Alice, is a refreshing female character in a genre that is often male-dominated. In fact, the whole concept of ‘Echo Burning’ – exploring spousal abuse and racial prejudice, and featuring several strong female characters – makes the novel stand out from the crowd.

Aside from references to Reacher’s girlfriend Jodie (who featured in the two previous novels, ‘Tripwire’ and ‘The Visitor’), this is very much a standalone entry in the series and can easily be read independently or out-of-sequence. Jack Reacher is such a brilliant character to go on a journey with – a tough loner driven by a strong moral code, never afraid to question authority and the perceived ‘normal’ in the pursuit of justice. Reacher’s situation allows for different formulas to be explored in each novel – ‘Echo Burning’ is part action thriller, part domestic thriller, with a touch of social legal drama.

Building to a storming finale, ‘Echo Burning’ delivers another untangled mystery, merciless retribution and crumbling of injustice, with Reacher walking out into the heat once again adrift, doubtless on his way to get caught up in his next adventure.



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Without Fail by Lee Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jack Reacher receives a plea to thwart an assassination plot.

Reacher is approached by Secret Service team leader Froelich - her responsibility to protect the Vice President Elect - requesting he undertake an independent assessment of their procedures.

Reacher finds himself persuaded to help, but the situation is far more severe than he is initially led to believe - threats have been made against the incoming Vice President that the Service have reason to take seriously.

Becoming evermore embroiled in an increasingly dangerous situation, Reacher experiences lines blurring as the mission grows more complex. Perhaps, this time, the enemy may prove the victor.

'Without Fail' is Lee Child's sixth novel featuring ex-US Army Major Jack Reacher, now a wanderer with no fixed abode, journeying from place to place having left his life behind, often becoming embroiled in trouble along the way and attempting to right injustices. In this installment, we delve a little more into his past and his relationship with his brother, Joe, who died several years earlier.

With a high-octane plot and ever-increasing stakes, the novel presents as a political thriller entwined with a heavy dose of action, mystery and a touch of romance. We are plunged immediately into the unfolding drama, the Secret Service tracking Reacher down shortly after Election Day, disturbing his anonymity. From the corridors of power to unforgiving rural terrain, against the backdrop of harsh winter, we hurtle onwards to an intense climax, Lee Child once again delivering a gripping, suspenseful and action-packed adventure.

Like many action thriller series, there is something oddly comforting about the Reacher novels, despite its violence, imposing threat and military themes. Partly formulaic, while also exploring different sub-genres in a different setting in each novel, you have confidence that Reacher will always successfully stop the villains in their tracks, by whatever means necessary. He works outside the law, outside society, to his own moral code, an antihero not averse to a touch of vigilantism or all-out vengeance if the need arises.

Engrossing and fast-paced, 'Without Fail' is another solid chapter in the Reacher series, leaving you anticipating where the next step in his journey will take him.



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Persuader by Lee Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A ghost from the past returns to haunt Jack Reacher.

Thwarting a kidnap attempt brings Reacher into the inner sanctum of the Beck family and husband and father Zachary’s criminal enterprise.

But all is not as it first appears: Zachary Beck may be little more than a puppet on a string, he and his family held to ransom by a bigger and more ruthless villain.

Reacher is on a personal mission, a vendetta to right wrongs of the past and finish something he started many years ago.

‘Persuader’ is the seventh novel in Lee Child’s series featuring Jack Reacher, once again approached from a slightly different perspective to previous entries. As we dive into the action in the opening chapter's attempted kidnap scene, we are left wondering what has happened to the Reacher we've got to know in the previous six novels. As we discover what led Reacher to where we meet him again, it becomes clear that he has unfinished business and is entirely driven to correct this error.

In a rapidly evolving plot, multiple layers are at play as Reacher delves deeper into the circumstances surrounding what may be one of his most personal missions explored in the series so far. Flashbacks to Reacher's army days also feature throughout the narrative, the first time in the series we've delved into his history in this depth. One of his subordinates, Dominique Kohl, was probably one of my favourite characters in this installment, both her character and story vividly realised in her relatively few scenes.

I particularly enjoyed both the gothic elements woven into the plot - the secluded house, the long shadows of the past haunting the present, the family secrets and strife; and the isolated coastal setting, the cold ferocity of the ocean its own force beside the machinations of the criminals and those fighting against them. Once again, Lee Child delivers a gripping novel that explores a deeper layer to Reacher’s vigilante justice and never-ending habit of being drawn into wrongs that need righting in his vagabond’s journey across America. As always, we are left eagerly awaiting his next adventure.

Brutal and tragic, ‘Persuader’ is another action-packed thriller that delivers justice in Reacher’s own personal style.



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The Enemy by Lee Child

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A gripping military crime thriller.

On New Year's Day, just after midnight, Jack Reacher receives a call advising a general has been found dead in a motel.

Though apparently the result of natural causes, the general's death triggers a chain of events that results in multiple homicides.

Fighting a system intent on a cover-up, Reacher pursues the trail across the US and Europe, uncovering a conspiracy that reaches the upper echelons of the military.

'The Enemy' is the eighth novel in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child, and prequel to the previous seven books. Taking us back to 1990 and the beginning of a new year and new decade, we meet a younger Reacher, not yet thirty, still a Military Police Major in the US Army, over seven years before we first met him in 'Killing Floor' as the drifter with no fixed abode. An action-packed, thrilling mystery; this is the beginning of Reacher’s journey to becoming a ghost.

With a complex plot involving multiple deaths miles apart and a missing agenda claimed never to have existed, we follow Reacher’s determined efforts to uncover the truth, despite resistance by his colleagues and superiors, as it becomes apparent a military conspiracy is in play, someone manoeuvring key military personnel for motives unknown in response to events on the world stage – the Soviet Union is crumbling, thus change is expected to follow in the US military. Beneath the honour, the patriotism, the comradery and loyalty, there is a dark and sinister underbelly, somewhere Reacher has all too often had to wade in his role as a military police officer. The novel also touches upon the institutional prejudice within the military – homophobia, racism and sexism seemingly hardwired, sowing unease into the lives of those suffering this discrimination.

With heightened emotional stakes, we learn a little more about Reacher's relationship with his brother Joe as they journey to France to visit their mother, whom they discover to be gravely ill. This is a poignant and often moving chapter in the saga; already we can feel the sense of Reacher’s detachment, dislocation and loneliness that comes with being posted at various bases in the US and Europe, while the bond he develops with Lieutenant Summer adds another emotional layer, something quite affecting about a genuine connection that circumstances dictate to be so fleeting.

At this stage of his life, Reacher still believes in the Army and the system; it has been his life, having grown up with his father in the military, and he has remained loyal and dedicated, but he discovers, as if often the case with institutions and those that wield its power, there is no loyalty in return. It's tragic to witness the disintegration of this faith and his growing disillusionment, this investigation setting him on the path to how he will ultimately come to walk away from his life several years later.

Lee Child delivers another gripping and entertaining novel, once again approaching from a different angle, this time going back in time – it’s always fascinating to explore events that led to a future we’ve already explored. There are already several more prequels dotted throughout the series, set between 'The Enemy' and 'Killing Floor', and I look forward to delving further into Reacher's past as the series progresses.



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