Nothing to Lose

Another good one! Reacher continues to be a fascinating character, larger than life but far from perfect. He's exploitative, selfish, pathologically single-minded, and so sure that he's right that he doesn't stop to think of alternatives until he's been proven wrong. His superhero credentials are also marred by his poor driving skills and inability to run fast or for very long. And now that he's been out of the army for 10 years, he has no contacts to bail him out when he gets in trouble.

The story is of course a bit far-fetched, but just plausible enough to make for exciting high-stakes fiction. The villain is fantastic, the henchmen henchy, and the exuberant violence is tempered with subplots about the hidden costs of the war in Iraq.

Non c’è niente da fare, qualsiasi storia che vedesse anche solo la partecipazione di Jack Recher (anche minuscola) non la perderei per nessuna ragione perché avrei comunque la certezza di leggere qualcosa di veramente bello e avvincente.
Amo Reacher e le sue storie, amo il modo in cui sono raccontate, amo questo personaggio e le sue particolarità che lo rendono unico.
Un’altra storia imperdibile a tutti gli effetti.

Ex-military MP, Jack Reacher decides to live his life encumbered by belongings. He doesn't want to live in one place, doesn't want to own anything but the clothes on his back and travels whereever he pleases, stays a long as he wants and moves on. Or so he thought when he decided one day to walk across the country from Maine to California. With just his passport, his ATM card and some cash in his pocket, he passes through the town of Hope and crosses into the town of Despair. The name of the town itself should have given him pause for thought but then Jack doesn't like turning back, so he walks on ... and finds himself in a strange and hostile town that doesn't welcome strangers. In a span of minutes, he manages to punch a deputy show more sheriff, gets himself arrested for vagrancy, jailed for the night, appears before a judge and is unceremoniously informed he is not welcome in the town of Despair and is driven back to Hope with firm instructions not to return.....ever!

Now if ever there was a challenge, that's one for Jack. He needs to know what the town of Despair is hiding that they need to keep throwing people out of their town. With the reluctant help of a Hope policewoman, Jack starts to discover some very strange goings-on indeed in Despair, after he stumbles over a dead body in the dark, and a plane that flies in and out of a metal plant every night.

In typical Jack Reacher fashion, his tenaciousness uncovers military secrets, bullies he gets to beat up, people he tries to help and odd mysteries to solve. show less

I found this very formulaic: Reacher wanders into town, finds something fishy, beats up bullies, gets involved with a woman, solves mystery, wanders off. I still couldn't put it down, though. A good read, just I was hoping for better from Child.
I also thought that Reacher's sudden vehement political views were both out-of-character, and unlikely for someone with his background. Apparently, Child had to vent his own views through his character. Next time, Lee, invent a character who could realistically be expected to have your views, instead of putting them in Reacher's mouth.

Nothing to Lose is another good Jack Reacher novel. Lee Childs gets extra points for some exceptional writing. While the story was a bit far-fetched, enough fell together to make it thoroughly enjoyable.

The setting is essentially the same as Lee Child's debut Killing Floor; a small Nowheresville where one man owns every nail and bricks and every single person in the town. Whatever, but I'll play along. Okay, we've got the requisite 350-pound giant, check. Then all the elements in the story fit perfectly into Reacher’s entire background / knowledge base / skill set which allows him to operate and prognosticate the various events swirling around in the background. Not to mention at one point landing hundreds of miles, and hours away, show more from where he wanted to be... and then luckily being picked up by a guy too drunk to drive (hence needing a "passenger" to take the wheel), his vehicle blowing up, and then being picked up a second time by another guy who was able to fill in some of the blanks. Yes, Reacher is a lucky man for sure.

That said, totally worthwhile read with the occasional outstanding parts. show less

The previous two books in the Reacher series (THE HARD WAY and BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE) weren’t /quite/ as much fun as the others, imho. I’m therefore all the more delighted to tell you that NOTHING TO LOSE is /terrific/ - right up there with my personal favourites, PERSUADER, ECHO BURNING and ONE SHOT. The way Reacher mows into town like a man-sized Godzilla is, as always, intensely satisfying. But seeing, in this one, some nutcase End Times fans meet an early personal apocalypse just gave me a special warm glow. You don’t need to read the series in order, so if you haven’t met Jack Reacher or Lee Child before, here is a grand place to start. If you like fast, thrilling storytelling you’ll be glad you did.

This was an OK book. The characters were well written, but a little cliched - the drifter who used to be a cop blowing into town just in time to save the world and emotionally rescue the small-town female cop with a tragedy in her past. I also found parts of this book a bit MacGyver-ish for my taste. After all, who repeatedly bats heads with fanatical terrorists bent on kick-starting Armageddon and still comes out on top? The other thing that annoyed me about this book was the strong political message contained within. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with books that have a moral to the story - but could we be a little more subtle about it?

If you can look past the faults, this is an enjoyable story. However, it is not one I'll be show more reading twice. show less