This is one of those books that I found way too long, over 400 pages. Lee Child has always gone in for lots of detail, and this time, for me at least, it almost overwhelms the story. Or maybe it's just that I found the story too slight to support the detail.Jack Reacher finds himself crossing the thin line (well, okay, not so thin except in the big scheme of things) between Hope and Despair (two towns in Colorado). If you think that's a little heavy-handed, join the club. The two towns live up to their names, all right. Bad things happen in Despair, and the cops there make the blunder of messing with Reacher for no apparent reason. They should have known better because they set in motion the events that bring about a lot of changes in Despair.
Reacher beats people up (five or six at a time), proves he's still irresistible to women, and reaches a lot of conclusions that I wouldn't have been able to. I guess it all makes sense, but I didn't care all that much by the time I finally got to the end. You may find you love it, but I don't think it'll make my Top Ten for the year.
3 comments:
I agree totally, Bill. I'm a big Child/Reacher fan but this was far from his best.
Jeff
This is the first Reacher novel where Child just seems to be going through the motions. Especially disappointing coming, as it does, after the best book in the series, "Bad Luck and Trouble". But this has been such a good series let's just chalk this one up to the publish-every-year requirement and hope for the best next time.
I've only read the last 4 or so Reacher novels, but so far this was my favorite. I know, I know, it has to be me.
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