2004

An excellent, suspenseful thriller that kept my interest from page one. The main character is named Jack Reacher, who gets off a bus just outside a small town. searching for the real story behind an old blues singer's death, only to find the little town of Margrave filled with corruption, counterfeit money, incredible coincidence.....and murder. This one was just right....not too light, not too heavy. A perfect mix of action, adventure and drama. I can't wait to read more by this author! Superb writing! ( )

An ex-soldier drifter walks into a small town and trouble with the cops.

Heard that one before, right?

Not quite what you are thinking, though, as rather than just being full of dumb macho idiots looking to get themselves a spectacular Darwin award, something is going on.

A rather hinky joint with some definite bad guys. Jack Reacher also has a brother who is a fed (and lacks any prisoner of war psychoses).

He's also a bit more subtle about things, even when given the option. He's more a bash their skulls in/shoot them/cut their throats from behind or ambush kind of guy, with the minimum artillery necessary. Or, the noble fair fight thing is for dead people.

Not that he can't blow stuff up real good if the occasion demands it.

A bit better than I thought it would be. The bad things include that it feels a bit stretched and slow at times for the style he was going for, and has some coincidences Edgar Rice Burroughs would have been happy with.

A little below a 4.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2009/11... ( )

Jack Reacher action book. Quick moving storyline that is a lighter read. ( )

It was written pretty well, very engaging at times & the characters were fairly well fleshed out, but there were huge plot holes, especially at the end. Logic was tossed to the winds for effect & it hurt the book irreparably.

The book relies heavily on coincidence. That was terrible, but it got stretched. About halfway through, the book should have been winding up, but instead it got padded out with too much bad plot. I felt the author was struggling for the word count.

Still, I didn't put it down, but I was disappointed. I don't think I'll get another of this, the Jack Reacher series, unless someone tells me they get better. I'd also be curious to know if any of the other books are better. ( )