Without Fail

Not quite a review focused on this book, but on the series as a whole -

So for years I’ve heard about this series written by Lee Child (aka Jim Grant) about a guy named Jack Reacher. I heard he was one badass loner, but didn’t have time for another series so I didn’t look into it. You know how it is; too many books, too little time. Then I got an audible.com account and needed something to download. Yeah I’m weird…series I follow in print I generally don’t follow in audio. So there was a void so to speak and I downloaded the first Jack Reacher novel. Why had I been waiting so long??!! I should have known I’d like these for a couple of simple reasons; they’re guy books and reviews by most women decry them as violent, show more simplistic and macho. Ding, ding! We have a winner.

Ok, so these aren’t high art or “literature” in the snooty “I only read authors you’ve never heard of and who have been dead for 100 years” way. They’re pulp in the purest sense and I love them. They’re suspenseful not in the sense that will Reacher get out of whatever mess he’s gotten into, but how. It’s like watching MacGuyver; there’s no doubt he will survive to next week’s episode, but you watch to see what he’ll do, what crazy tricks he’ll employ and for comeuppance of the crooks. Those looking for strict plausibility need not apply.

And that’s what makes Reacher so much fun. Being 6’5” and 250lbs with a military police background, plus intelligent, crafty and compassionate in the mix, you never know what you’re going to get, but you can be sure it will kick some bad guy ass. I’m a little bit in love with Jack Reacher.

For such a larger than life character, Child has given Reacher amazing depth. The strong, silent type hasn’t been done so well since Chandler’s Marlowe. Reacher’s resemblance to Marlowe is pronounced in a few ways. They’re both lone operators. One has a definite fixed address and the other doesn’t, but neither have sidekicks or backup. They’re both men driven by conscience and will go a fair bit out of their way to right a wrong. They’re both smart, but don’t have to show it off all the time; men of quiet confidence are much more interesting than a tough blowhard. Neither is a patronizing, misogynistic asshole toward women. Reacher is perhaps more susceptible to them (or maybe he just gives in more), but both love women as people not as objects. Both kick ass when the chips are down. What’s not to love?

Another aspect that feeds the crush I have on Reacher is the fantasy of leaving our middle-class existence in our nice suburb and breaking out. Reacher travels with what he stands up in. He goes from place to place getting in adventures, like Cain on Kung Fu. No car. No credit cards. No cell phone. Complete autonomy and freedom. He rejects everything about the American norm and we love him for it.

Of course this is the very device that feeds the plots of the novels in the series. One has to just accept the huge coincidence triggering whatever situation Reacher gets involved in. If you can do that, you’ll enjoy these. If not, you’ll be picking apart every preposterous little detail that springs up. Not that there’s a ton of them, but it’s what keeps the action moving.

For the most part, Child gets a lot of the ordinance, strategy and tactical aspects correct (I check a lot of it with my former handgun instructor and all around gun-expert husband). Sure, there are a few gaffes like when Reacher put a Desert Eagle in his pocket and then moved about with ease and nonchalance. And the time he looked down into a box of cartridges and noted the firing pins. And every once in a while Reacher says or thinks something distinctly British despite being a hard-boiled American steeped in the US Military. That could be chalked up to Reacher’s well-traveled past during his military service if you wanted to excuse it. On the whole though, Child gets the American nuances right.

I recommend not only the series, but the audio versions as well. Dick Hill is Jack Reacher for me. Oh sure, he can characterize other folks in the books, but in general those voices are all the same ones, just applied to new characters. His women all sound the same as to his southerners or whatever. But he seems to get into Reacher and I think he enjoys his time in the booth. He probably has a tiny crush on him, too. show less

The 6th novel in the Jack Reacher series was published in early 2002, but had to have been completed before the events of 9/11 because there is no mention of any heightened security anywhere. That being stated, I was disappointed in one aspect of this novel; (SPOILER) Jack Reacher is recruited to work closely with the CIA's detail in charge of providing security for the Vice President-elect. But throughout the story, Reacher, who doesn't own anything but the clothes on his back (and even those are borrowed), is given carte blanche access to CIA offices and is taxied around in their vehicles but nobody thinks to give him or his other ex-military partner a radio, cell phone or even a pager to get in touch with them as they be-bop around show more the "secure" sites that are established surrounding the D.C. area. Everyone else is described as having a radio mike and earpiece because communication is key for this type of scenario, but not our hero. Aside from that obvious flaw, it's a good read, if only to get to the next Reacher novel. show less

PLEASE NOTE: THIS REVIEW RELATES TO AN ABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK - I DIDN'T KNOW THAT WHEN I LISTENED TO IT OR WROTE THIS REVIEW.

This is a bare-bones thriller, a puzzle played-out in blood and death, with almost no emotional involvement.

Jack Reacher stands at the centre, almost more puzzling than the mystery he is trying to solve. He has insights that stretch credibility, based on a hyper-aware level of observation, remarkable recall and a willingness to run with intuition when logic can't get him there. Yet, the man who sees everything, seems to have no desire to engage with the world unless it is to exact revenge. He likes strong, beautiful women, but not enough to stick around with any of them. He has no home, no luggage, no particular aim show more in life other than to roam around the US, acting as a lightning rod for storms of violence.

In "Without Fail" Reacher is helping the American Secret Service to protect the life of the Vicepresident elect. Yeah, right. He even has a partner, a slightly shorter, female version of himself: fit, good-looking, no social skills and absolutely deadly.

The love interest is a paint-by-numbers set-up, designed to give Jack something to lose and someone to revenge.

There's some fun procedural stuff, giving an insider's view of the Secret Service and some deductive reasoning that makes Reacher into a fierce, combat-seasoned, sniper-trained version of Sherlock Holmes.

When Reacher finally works out the puzzle that has defeated the Secret Service and the FBI, the rationale for the hell that has been let loose is so unlikely that, at first, I thought it was a red herring.

The book ends rather suddenly. It felt like Child lost interest once the puzzle was solved but felt obliged to have Reacher show his predator side and tidy away all the loose ends at the same time.

It's not a bad book. It passes the time. It has some good twists. It has guns with all the technical specs explained and many of the sentences are short. Very short.

This one is for the Jack Reacher fans. I wrote this review as soon as I finished the book because, a week from now, I'm sure most of it will have slipped from my memory and all that will be left is a silhouette of Jack Reacher with the words "No one messes with me or mine" written underneath. show less

The novel gets Reacher back to D. C. - although just as with the previous installment, the novel opens with him being asked to kill someone - another plea to help. Although this time it could not have been different - the offer comes from the Secret Service - they need Reacher to do an audit and find out if the Vice President can be killed. Which he discovers really quickly - and the news are not good at all - and it looks like there may be someone internal working with the people who had sent some treats.

So Reacher and his ex-Army coworker Frances Neagley are hired to try to get to the bottom of the story - which turns out to be a lot more complicated and a lot more dangerous than anyone expected.

One of the things I like about this show more series is that Reacher does not just get everything immediately - he makes mistakes (some pretty visible, some not) and he works his way into finding them and figuring out not only why they were mistakes but also why he made them. Sometimes they cost lives. Sometimes they don't.

The novel is set in the world of politics but it is not a political thriller - even if politics play a role, the story revolves around people and their secrets - which is true for all the Reacher novels. Being written in 2002 makes this a different novel from what it would have been even an year earlier - the shadows of 9/11 are starting to show up and considering what Reacher is, I expect that to happen a lot more in the next books.

By the end of the novel Reacher had lost yet another woman and is ready to hit the road again. Which seems to be the way a lot of his novels finish. But then this is how he chooses to live his life. show less

What's this? A Jack Reacher book not based on a wild sequence of coincidences?
Of course the plot doesn't really hold up under close scrutiny if you think too much about it, so yeah don't do that. But why would you even want to?
Reacher is in fine form, cocksure and taking no shit from nobody, rebelling against the rules even as he battles his own demons. The final showdown isn't as dramatic as the one in the previous book, but in most ways this one is much better, the best in the series so far.

I always forget how much i enjoy the Jack reacher books until I read the next one. The Reacher books read like an above average movie thriller. There are a few moments where you have to wonder, really they would do it like that, but that the roller coaster ride continues.

Make sure you read the Reacher books in order. You have to have already bought into the concept of Reacher as a character to make this book work.

This book is about an assassination attempt on the Vice President. Reacher finds himself tangled up in it when someone from his brothers past comes seeking his help. I already own the next book in the series and will read it sometime this summer.

Without Fail (2002) (Reacher #6) by Lee Child. I just happened to pick up this old Jack Reacher outing and, after only a few pages, was once again captivated by the characters and the story. The story is timely. It is set in the lame duck period of a presidency. Only this concerns the in-coming vice president. There has been a serious threat made against him (18 years ago the VP could only have been male. I suppose third time is a charm.) by persons unknown. The newly appointed head of his Secret Service security detail needs to make certain the Veep is covered against attack.
In a neat bit of wrangling she manages to track down Jack Reacher within a day and enlists him as a security specialist. His mission is to try and infiltrate the show more protection cordon and make a pretend attack on the Veep.
Within three days he has demonstrated several ways inside the protection. At this point the real reason for hiring him is revealed and the hunt is on for the phantom would-be assassins. The chase runs into blank walls but finally points to within the Secret Service itself.
There is a lot of Reacher’s background brought out in this novel. Joe Reacher’s ghost returns to shadow the entire story. The relationships Reacher has with two women is expounded upon, but this is a rock solid thriller that will have you staying up late, more so as we are currently in a time of White House transition.
When I first read this book I felt that this would be a stable transition period in our Federal leadership that would hold true for the rest of our days. The reality is that the “truth” we are currently living through is far stranger than what some writer could come up with. Only pray that we can become a United States once again. show less