Worth Dying For

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

Well-deserving of its 5-star rating, Lee Child's "Worth Dying For" is an engaging tale of a town in distress that Jack Reacher gets pulled into helping. Jack Reacher's inability to "let things just be" shines in this story. In this tale, Reacher's road hopping brings him to a town nestled in a "forgotten" place of America...that is, forgotten by all except for the "bad seeds" using the town and its citizens for their own nefarious purposes. The characters were well-written and believable, making it easy for the reader to feel all of the right empathetic notes. For the good people caught between "a rock and a hard place", you will feel bad for them and pissed off about their circumstances. And for the bad ones, well, you rejoice when show more they get their "just dues" throughout the story. And, in believable fashion, Reacher does NOT come away from the experience without experiencing a healthy amount of injuries and nail-biting situations. With my own travels giving me memorable times spent as an "outsider" in American towns like the one described in this story, Lee Child once again displays his uncanny knowledge of America's byways and lesser-traveled roads. This one is highly recommended and, in my opinion, is 'Worth Reading For'. show less

Somewhere I read this was the best Reacher book and I hadn’t read it so here I went. In a nutshell this was very good and while I couldn’t say it was his best I’ve read, and I’ve read quite a few, it’s sure way up there.

All Reacher books draw their flavour and atmosphere from the locale and this is no exception - and cold and very bleak Nebraska desolate prairie not quite a town. Without giving anything away there’s a few really bad eggs there making it hell for the cowed locals. Until Jack gets there.

There’s always violence with Jack and there’s plenty in this book. Pretty well from the get-go and really the baddies are such low life scum one applauds! The eventual crime is a modern one and really doesn’t become show more evident until late in the book. There isn’t quite the amount of circumspection and inner thoughts in this one as I’m used to but this isn’t just action - indeed shared with all other Reachers.

If you like Lee Child’s Jack then this is a must read. show less

Nah... I don't feel ripped off at all... I don't care that Reacher had pseudo-injuries from 61 Hours (well, these injuries were mentioned a few times) because they didn't stop Reacher from handing out his justice. I thought 61 Hours was a great standalone book, and I think that Worth Dying For is also a great standalone book.

Do I think the circumstances wherein one family can control a whole county, even in Nebraska, is realistic? ... nope... but... if you accept this basic premise, the book is great. Reacher kicks butt: he shoots people, he beats people to a pulp, he even shows some mercy from time to time. He solves the mystery, saves the community, saves some innocents, and then he continues on his trip to Virginia. All in a day's show more work, ma'am.

What more are you looking for from this series? show less

Ooo, a very good Jack Reacher story. I've liked all of them, but some of them are certainly a little lazier than others. This one's not lazy at all, a pretty good story, great characters, and, well, the evil is indeed dealt with. And Jack is still on his way to Virginia. Not much to do at all with the cliffhanger ending of the previous novel, but a great explanation as to what happened. (And that is a very short scene in this book.)

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

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.