Customer Reviews

Hard Way (Jack Reacher, No. 10)

5 star:		(103)
4 star:		(57)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I'm a big Lee Child fan. As far as I'm concerned, the tight-lipped, human arsenal Jack Reacher is the most compelling figure in contemporary escapist thriller fiction. So when I tell you that "The Hard Way" is the best novel of its kind to hit the shelves in the last few years, I'll admit I'm biased.

This is the tenth in the Reacher series, and it may be the best. In "Hard Way", trouble finds Reacher innocently enough, sitting in a New York sidewalk caf sipping an espresso. Events unwind, and soon our hero is locked-and-loaded in solving a kidnapping, thick as thieves with a team of mercenary thugs, contemporary soldiers of fortune with shady backgrounds led by former Special Forces colonel Edward Lane. Lee Child is at his best when spinning a good mystery for Reacher to solve, and nagging incongruities surrounding the kidnapping of Lane's wife and daughter provide the perfect backdrop for Child to practice his craft. "The Hard Way's" Reacher is a bit wiser, more mature, using more brain and less brawn. More Sherlock Holmes and less Rambo this time around. In fact, more than 300 pages have turned before Reacher actually hurts someone, but the Child layers the tension and drops hints masterfully, leading up to a climax that will have you sweating right through your Barcalounger. The author's patented lean and no-nonsense prose is in top form, but what makes Child so readable are the obscure little bits of knowledge and factoids tucked away in cracks and corners of the plot, adding enough depth and authenticity to give the larger-than-life Reacher credibility that sets him apart from the just plain silly superheroes of so many "thrillers" of the day.

So to wrap it up, "The Hard Way" is about as good as it gets - intelligent, clever, a .50 caliber pressure tank tale that twists and turns and jumps from Greenwich Village to Africa's west coast - of bad guys doing bad things and paying the price to an avenging angel in the form Jack Reacher. One word of warning: don't start reading this unless you've got some free hours ahead, for once started, "The Hard Way" is likely to trash plans for the weekend or keep you up way past bedtime. But the again, I'm biased.

I have a dirty little secret: Every time a new Lee Child book comes out, I secretly hope it will be lousy. Most series that have lasted for ten or more books have a few clunkers in them. When I read those clunkers, I think to myself, "A-ha! I knew they were only human!" and spend a good week or two feeling smug and superior.

But so far, the only feeling the Reacher books have stirred in my cold heart is envy.

THE HARD WAY is no exception.

Once again, Child drops his loner hero into the middle of a very bad situation, and once again Reacher uses a combination of wits and violence to unravel an ever-twisting plot.

THE HARD WAY contains more than its fair share of action, suspense, surprises, and sex. It also contains some damn fine writing. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, and hated for it to end.

If you're a reader, you'll love it.

If you're a writer, it won't make you feel good about your own work. Not even a tiny bit.

I've been hooked on Jack Reacher and Lee Child's exceptional writing since I read the Persuader. Without Fail, Die Trying, Echo Burning, The Killing Floor, One Shot -- I can go on and on about these exceptionally entertaining, tightly written thrillers, and the unique,highly intelligent, explosive hottie Jack Reacher.

Despite some unfortunate quicks, I love the Reacher character. But it's the quirks and the plot holes that stood out for me this round.

4 days in the same clothes, with one of those nights spent staked out on a stoop? In New York? Oh please. A man who does not change his underwear for days and gets the girl -- that is so totally unbelievable and detracted away from the plot.

Reacher doesn't know about text messaging? Makes him a bit of a dinosaur.

All the cars that were central to the plot and not one of them had a tracking device? Oh please.

Reacher has no paperwork, but he just happens to have a passport? Oh please.

Reacher's sense of inner timing started making him sound like an obsessive-compulsive Big Ben. I waited and waited to find out why this was mentioned over and over and over again, why it was central to the plot -- to no avail.

Don't get me wrong. The beginning was pure Child genius, as was the end, especially the pacing at the climax. And the scene with the veteran amputee was exceptional. The theme of the loyalty and protection of women was very good. The rest was just filler and boring; and the mercenaries/bad guys were incompetent sticks.

I listened to the audio version ready by Dick Hill. He did a fantastic job, but I had a hard time understanding the amputee. I know the guy was supposed to be toothless but I couldn't hear the words. Also (this could may be an engineering issue) some of Hill's lows were too low to hear, even when I cranked up the volume.

The global problem is Reacher has not matured, not grown. He is ronin -- rootless, paperless, homeless, with no belongings. That box is becoming a prison not a plot-driver. In this go-round, he is a cardboard cut-out. I hope Lee Child does much better by this wonderful character next time.

As I am a `Virgin' as far as Lee Child's books are concerned, I was quite surprised to read on the fly leaf that the author is not American, particularly as the content of the book is pure American thriller. This type of book is not really my cup of tea and would certainly not have been the first book I would have picked off the shelf, but I get books sent to me both from publisher's author's and also my family use every occasion to buy me books as presents and this is where this one came from.

I have since learned that as far as thriller authors are concerned Lee Child is flavour of the month, so it was with some interest that I sat down to read the book. The book is well structured. It has a beginning a middle and an end (you would be surprised how many books don't). Well written by an author who has researched his subject thoroughly and in Jack Reacher the leading character in the book he has portrayed an endearing modern day hero, who grows on the reader as the book progresses. For anyone who loves thrillers particularly American based thrillers. This would be manna from heaven. For those who love the authors writing, I am preaching to the converted. For those who have not read his books, they are well worth reading. Try this one and perhaps then you will want to read his other books too.

The critically acclaimed Lee Child has already firmly established his credentials as a maven in the creation of the action thriller. His latest offering, "The Hard Way" featuring his magnetic protagonist Jack Reacher, only further enhances his reputation. This gripping novel immediately captures your attention and leads you through a thoroughly engrossing plot.

As is usual Reacher is minding his own business sipping an expresso at a sidewalk Greenwich Village cafe, when he inavertantly observes a man get into a car and drive away. What he had actually seen was the pick up of a ransom. The moralistic Reacher is a powerful, supremely confident and resourceful nomadic individual, figuratively a man's man. He would be a valuable ally but rue the person that would be considered his enemy.

Uncharacteristically, Reacher the next day visited the same cafe where a waiter pointed him out to an inquisitive man. The man named Gregory was a former Special Forces soldier now employed by a wealthy ex-Delta Force colonel Edward Lane. Lane was the head of a small army of blacklisted former Special Forces operatives now employed as mercenaries. Being beckoned and chauffered to the Dakota apartments by Gregory, Reacher was informed that Lane's stunning wife Kate and her 8 year old daughter from a previous marriage, Jade, had been kidnapped. Lane who had procured a small fortune as a result of his participation in a civil war in the African country of Burkina Faso, could well afford the exorbitant ransom demands. Reacher also learned that Lane's first wife Anne had also been kidnapped but unfortunately killed during a bungled FBI investigation.

Reacher soon made Lane aware of his finely honed investigative skills courtesy of a long stint as an Army M.P.. The merciless and psychotically regimented Lane offered Reacher a fee of one million dollars for the recovery of his wife and the identification of the kidnappers.

Commencing his investigation, Reacher soon bumped into Patti Joseph the younger sister of Lane's first wife Anne. She had been observing the comings and goings of Lane and his six man A team of covert operatives for a long while, setting up surveillance from her nearby apartment. She introduced Reacher to Lauren Pauling, an attractive middle aged private investigator and former FBI agent. The guilt riddled Pauling was the agent in charge of Anne Lane's abduction. Together the women filled Reacher in on the details of Lane and his exploits.

Reacher and Pauling would team up to investigate the latest kidnapping. The unearthing of some surprising clues, stoked up feelings of hatred for his boss, Lane. Reacher now had a cause to fight for, the well being of Kate Lane and her daughter Jade.

The dogged Reacher would eventually solve the mystery, mete out his own righteous and draconian form of justice and then as always fade back into the woodwork.

I eagerly await Childs' next Reacher adventure "Bad Luck and Trouble".

I read this because it was recommended to me by Amazon after I bought a book by Michael Connelly. This was better. The two have very similar styles. Both have very plot driven, very economical writing styles. Child's is even smoother and you find yourself frequently marvelling at little gems of description of people or things that are concise and yet perfectly capture the person or object in question. Also, Child seems to have just a little more aphoristic sort of content than Connelly. Anyway, this was a very quick read. I think I guessed part of the main twist of the story but not all. The story struck the right balance between the extremes of thrillers, too simple and impossibly byzantine.

It is very refreshing to read a mystery book that is well written and well thought-out and not just a generic toughguy slapped onto a page and published. Lee Child's Reacher is an ex-military police officer and he uses his training to solve mysteries and help people in his civilian life. This is a great concept and doesn't delve into the oft-used "special forces" soldier concept.

This book finds Reacher looking for a mercenary's kidnapped wife. Since the merc is not being as helpful as possible, Jack has to do things "The Hard Way".

Like the previous Reacher novel I have read, the plot in this one is a bit slow-paced, but so well constructed that you hardly even notice it.

The characters are all well drawn and seem to develop nicely over the course of the novel.

If you are looking for a nice detective novel, with a helping of danger, this will definatly fit the bill.

Like most of the "kick butt and take names" heroes of books and movies, Jack Reacher, protagonist in The Hard Way, is representative of the typical masculine fantasy (think Mark Wahlberg in Shooter.....or maybe Bruce Willis on steroids). That is not to say that Reacher would not be a welcome visitor to some women's fantasies, because I'm sure he would.

An ex-military MP, with powers of observation few mortals possess, Reacher is a "will-o-the-wisp" with no particular place he calls home. In this episode, his temporary "home" is New York City, and Lee Child does an outstanding job of capturing the atmosphere of the city as well as the character of the man.

Reacher is a man who seems to "fall" into situations by chance rather than by design. This particular fall has him embroiled in the search and rescue of two kidnapping victims. Watching his thought processes as he come to wrong conclusions, retraces his steps and adjusts his conclusions is fascinating. Some of his solutions are downright brutal, but then again justice must be served and he is ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done....even if it means doing it "The Hard Way".

This is my first Jack Reacher novel. It won't be the last. A tight and shifting story line. Excellent dialogue. Well drawn characters. A page turning ending.

Reacher has been hired to help in recovering the wife and step-child of a multi-millionaire mercenary who have been kidnapped. His reward for success - a million dollars. If he crosses the man - "I will put your eyes out." he is promised.

What seems like a straightforward matter gets very complicated and the best way to find out the complications is to get the book and start reading. You will hate to put it down.

There are NO better books than the Reacher series. I have read mysteries/thrillers/police procedurals most of my life, and I am now 70 years old. I never think about dying except in terms of Lee Child. How many more of his books will be published before I'm gone. My idea of hell is missing the Reachers that come too late.
HOW does he continue to write so beautifully??? As a previous Amazon reviewer commented, most series begin to collapse after the first three or four books. Not the Reacher series - Lee Childs is a national treasure!