Worth Dying For

By and large, the Jack Reacher series is just good clean movie fun except not on a screen. You've got a hero who never loses, is wilier than everyone around him, stronger, and always stands up for the right thing. There are appropriate action scenes, and the reader is definitely engaged all the way through.Things blow up and burn and get hit by trains, and it's all at just enough of a distance so as not to curdle one's stomach.

This installment really touched me, though, because it touched on deeper issues than the norm. It starts with Reacher objecting to shabby treatment of a woman, and ends the same way, with Reacher standing up not only for women specifically but for a whole community that has been bullied for years and no longer show more knows how to effectively object. I don't want to give any spoilers, but although all the clues were there I was surprised by the ending and very satisfied that the various crimes perpetrated on the bullies were excessively well deserved. Maybe it's just my female slant, but I thoroughly approved of this addition to the series...much more human and accessible than when it's all about the military or the government. Definitely rates the title. show less

Well, well – after the disappointment of the last book, this is Reacher at his destructive best.

At the end of the last book (‘61 Hours’), Reacher was caught in an explosion that could be seen from space – in fact, the US had to reassure the Russians that they were not launching missiles and vice versa. Snow melted for more than two miles around the site of the big bang. We were left hanging. Did he make it out?

Of course he did. Not only did he make it out alive, at the start of ‘Worth Dying For’ he is no more than ‘hurting’ – and has inexplicably travelled from the site of the explosion in South Dakota deep into Nebraska. Instead of playing the predictable sequel card, Childs just introduces us to another Jack Reacher show more adventure. There is no mention of how he escaped – in fact, the explanation as to what happened is buried almost in an aside about a quarter of the way into this new book.

Reacher turns up seemingly by accident in a small rural town in Nebraska. He's on his way to Virginia and only intends to stop for a night, when he is drawn into what initially looks like a domestic dispute but ends up being something much bigger. There are all sorts of odd things happening, and Reacher can’t help but hang around to work out what and why. Tied into all this somehow is the mystery of a local girl who disappeared 25 years ago and whose body has never been found.

The Duncans are an evil family of redneck smugglers who control a local farming community with extreme violence and a gang of retired football players (most of whom are named Brett). If that isn't slapstick enough for you, the Duncans answer to the Italians, who answer to some other bad guys, who answer to some Iranians, who answer to the Saudis - all of whom send a couple of guys to keep an eye on the others, resulting in a small town full of organized criminals who comically murder each other (or get their hearts punched out by Reacher).

I was concerned that Reacher might be losing his touch in the last book – only two corpses and an explosion – none of which were down to him. But he’s back to his old tricks – despite the aftermath of the explosion. There are corpses galore and lots of explosions and other fun and games. I was even taken by surprise by the outcome of the smuggling ring – no spoilers, but I didn’t see that coming.

All in all, Jack’s back – and I loved it. show less

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher thrillers are made for gulping. There’s no point in trying to savor the prose, which isn’t much made for savoring in any event. Child writes in such a manner that the story is essentially transmitted directly to your brain. The hours you spend reading Worth Dying For will simply rush by.

Reacher was in jeopardy at the end of Child’s last book, 61 Hours, published earlier this year, but Child spends fairly little time explaining how Reacher escaped from what seemed certain death. Oh, the explanation is there, all right, but it’s delivered with Reacher’s trademark laconicism. Reacher gets enmeshed in his new adventure too fast to make dwelling on the past, even the recent past of a day or two earlier, show more at all reasonable.

In this new thriller, Reacher is stranded in farm country in western Nebraska. It takes almost nothing for him to get involved in local problems; all he needs to do is drive a drunken physician to the aid of a woman who has been beaten by her husband. But there is so much subtext in the drinking, the physician’s reluctance to help the woman, and the woman’s beating that Child quickly has us hip-deep in the story of a local transportation company that hauls crops to market during the summer and fall, but carries more dangerous – and much more lucrative – cargo during the winter months. The men who own the company terrorize the town into silence, sure that something is going on but not knowing what, and completely unwilling to ask any awkward questions. And the nearest law of any significance is 60 miles away at the nearest state police outpost.

Reacher is the same man we’ve met before: nothing stops him; he is nearly superhuman. And he is never caught by surprise, no matter what the circumstances. It’s getting to be so extreme that you think Reacher is going to start wearing brightly colored tights and a cape. And Reacher seems to have less and less trouble killing or maiming, to the point where I became distinctly uncomfortable reading some portions of this book. I can’t quite understand why Reacher isn’t in prison. Even though he does always fight on the side of the angels, murder is murder.

But perhaps I think too much. You’re clearly not supposed to do too much thinking as you read this book. Child takes no real trouble to hide the big secret in this story, that is, what the dangerous cargo is. The identity of the bad guys is never in doubt for a second. The only real mystery is how exactly Reacher is going to defeat the evil running the town without getting any of the good guys killed; no whys, no maybes, not buts, just a how. Still, the “how” is the fun of reading a Child thriller, and this book is, ultimately, great fun. show less

This is more than just another thriller. "Worth Dying For," is, in a sense, a morality tale withe a good person against a despicable evil.

The premise of Jack Reacher arriving in a small Nebraska town to help the defenseless residents was alluring.

Reacher is pitted against the Duncan family who have strong--armed the local population into submission. The town sank into its cesspool of lethargy and neglect so slowly that they didn't realize it had happened before it was too late to stop. There are no police in the town. The county police are sixty miles away and try to avoid this area.

As the story evolves, I began to feel that there was almost a Biblical component to Reacher. He becomes Sampson, using his towering strength to battle the show more Duncans, who represent the Phillistines. The Duncans utilize a powerful group of armed enforcers to guarantee that their word is obeyed. Reacher must overcome the Duncan's who have caused such unhappiness in the community.

Further layers are revealed. The Duncans are awaiting a shipment of a commodity that is unknown to the reader but in great demand by the Duncans and those to whom the Duncans supply. Members of the supply group attempt to gain an upper hand and contribute to Reacher's capture and elimination.

The novel moves swiftly as Reacher attempts to have a small group of residents, who have some backbone, stand up against their persecutors.

The scenario is well described and tension grows as the shipment gets closer. During this time, the evil forces band together against Reacher.

This is a well done novel that adds to Reacher's legend. show less

What "Moby Dick" did for whaling, this book does for rental cars. There are entire chapters dedicated to the minutiae and history of rental cars. The author clearly did extensive research and likely traveled to many rental car agencies, speaking to many crusty veteran rental agents. Some would say to "just get on with the plot," but like in the other great American novel, the extensive trade details are necessary. Rather than learning about the various types of harpoons, we learn about the keychains that different rental agencies use.

We already know I love me some Jack Reacher. Hate that I read this one and a few others out of order, but the good thing about the series is that you can, and for the most part, you don't miss anything. A little out of character for Reacher here in parts, but it made for some interesting plot movements. Lee Child is a hell of a writer, but when you are in double digits of a series, you know that already, or else you stopped reading the series a long time ago. I press on!

The Jack Reacher series is so intensively readable and enjoyable that it is like literary candy. However, this last work is troubling. After the prior book got some reviews questioning a lack of violence, this work is soaked in blood. The sadism of the Reacher character becomes palpable as he crushes opponent after opponent with all of the remorse of another person killing an insect. Also, in past works, for the most part he disbles; here, he kills. The good characters are all whipped and beaten, and the bad characters are so unremittingly inept and evil that, even though it is still readable and enjoyable, this work is somewhat of a carricature of a novel. It has all of the bodies Hamlet does without any of the inner turmoil. It's also show more fascist; there's one scene in which disposable body guards, with all the character substance of wet wipes, prepare to use their six foot seven, 300 pound stature against Reacher, and the narrator chants "College vs. Army? College vs. Army," as if the deadly skills Reacher acquired as an MP far surpass any intellectual gain his opponents, these "Cornhuskers" (after the Nebraska football team) could have picked up while on campus. If this is the direction of the next few Reacher books, I'll pass. show less