Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, No. 12) [Mass Market Paperback]

Lee Child (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 24, 2009

Two small towns in the middle of nowhere: Hope and Despair. Between them, nothing but twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher can’t find a ride, so he walks. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets are four hostile locals, a vagrancy charge, and an order to move on. They’re picking on the wrong guy.

Reacher is a hard man. No job, no address, no baggage. Nothing at all, except hardheaded curiosity. What are the secrets that Despair seems so desperate to hide?

With just one ally—a mysterious woman cop from Hope—and many enemies, Reacher goes up against a whole town, hunting the rich man at its core, cracking open his terrifying agenda, asking the question: Who has the edge—a man with everything to gain, or a man with nothing to lose?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of bestseller Child's solid 12th Jack Reacher novel (after Bad Luck and Trouble), the ex-military policeman hitchhikes into Colorado, where he finds himself crossing the metaphorical and physical line that divides the small towns of Hope and Despair. Despair lives up to its name; all Reacher wants is a cup of coffee, but what he gets is attacked by four thugs and thrown in jail on a vagrancy charge. After he's kicked out of town, Reacher reacts in his usual manner—he goes back and whips everybody's butt and busts up the town's police force. In the process, he discovers, with the help of a good-looking lady cop from Hope, that a nearby metal processing plant is part of a plan that involves the war in Iraq and an apocalyptic sect bent on ushering in the end-time. With his powerful sense of justice, dogged determination and the physical and mental skills to overcome what to most would be overwhelming odds, Jack Reacher makes an irresistible modern knight-errant. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Jake Reacher only rents rooms one night at a time, confirming his “absolute freedom to move on.” About the only thing sure to convince Reacher to stick around is someone telling him he has to leave. That’s what happens when the former military policeman turned inveterate loner stops for a cup of coffee in an aptly named company town called Despair, Colorado. Strangers aren’t allowed in Despair, he’s told, and two cops arrive to drive him out to the city limits. You can run Reacher out of town, maybe, but you sure as hell can’t keep him out. Forming an unlikely alliance with a female cop in the neighboring town that’s called—you guessed it—Hope, Reacher sneaks back to Despair and finds all manner of strange goings-on: the creepy burg is run by a megalomaniac entrepreneur who is using his metal-salvage business for something definitely snarky. But what? Reacher finds the answers, of course, but to do so, he pretty much has to go up against the whole damn town. What is it that makes these action-fantasies so satisfying? Yes, there is something of the cartoon superhero in Reacher’s steel-trap mind and body, but the action is so grounded in everyday details that instead of laughing it all off as silly, we find ourselves responding on a deeply emotional, archetypal level. We all feel as if the whole town is against us sometimes; Reacher lets us experience what it would be like, just once, to slap every last one of the fools aligned against us upside the head and then, pausing only to pack our toothbrush, hit the highway. --Bill Ott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (March 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044024367X
• ISBN-13: 978-0440243670
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.3 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (624 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lee Child is the #1 internationally bestselling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers. His debut, Killing Floor, won both the Anthony and the Barry awards for Best First Mystery, and The Enemy won both the Barry and the Nero awards for Best Novel. "Jack Reacher", the film based on the 9th novel, One Shot, stars Tom Cruise, Robert Duvall, Rosamund Pike, Jai Courtney, and David Oyelowo and debuted in December 2012. Child, a native of England and a former television director, lives in New York City and the south of France with his wife and daughter. Find out more about Lee Child and the Reacher novels on his official website: LeeChild.com, on Facebook LeeChildOfficial, on Twitter #LeeChildReacher, and YouTube leechildjackreacher.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#10 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#3 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#3 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery

#4 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#5 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

#6 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#3 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#3 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery

#4 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#5 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

#6 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

345 of 388 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Rare miss for Child June 9, 2008

By JOHN ONEIL

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Disappointing. After reeling off 11 good to (often) great Reacher novels, Lee Child struck out with this one. It starts promising enough. Despair had all the makings of a great stage for Reacher to be Reacher, reminiscent of the Killing Floor. But the promise is never fulfilled. The meandering plot doesn't pull you in. Unlike previous stories, the villain is flat, two dimensional and far from frightening - a death sentence for any story of good vs. evil. The action is sparse.

Previous Reacher novels were impossible to put down. You were torn between your desire to get to the end and your hope that the story would keep going. After all, it would be another year before you got the next one. Sadly, that was not true here. The ending seemed slapped on, left lots of loose ends untied and seemed very uncharacteristic for Reacher. But worst of all, it didn't come too soon. It could have come 100 pages sooner.

These were the big problems with the book. Reacher's detour into politics and criticism of the war did seem out of character but not because I had any assumptions about his politics. He always struck me as outside of politics - outside of almost everything for that matter.

Lee, everyone is entitled to a miss, especially after the roll you have been on. Here is hoping the next one is back to your old form

122 of 137 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Shockingly pedestrian June 28, 2008

By BeachReader

Format:Hardcover

After reading about 8 of Child's Jack Reacher books, I finally found a dud. It started out thrilling, as expected, but quickly become almost boring. I can not believe I am typing those words.

Reacher's repeatedly doing the same thing, over and over (returning to a bad place) was tedious and so unlike our hero's usual behavior. The plot wandered all over the place and the book was too long.

I found it impossible to buy into the far-fetched "conspiracy theory" with its pathetic "villains" and was surprised at Child's foray into political opinion (putting his opinions into Reacher's mouth -which completely changed Reacher's character). This was totally out of place, I thought, and awkward at best.

I just hope that Child has not run out of stories and that he will return Reacher to his previous inventive adventures.

I only read the Amazon reviews after finishing the book, and must say I am not surprised that there are 110 reviews and the average is an abyssmal 2.5 stars. Most of his other books have averaged 4 stars.

156 of 187 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars "Nothing to Lose" except time wasted reading this one. July 16, 2008

By PrakThomas

Format:Hardcover

Lee Child/Jack Reacher novels are "Gotta get the hardback today" books for me. His previous efforts range from very good to great. His plots/locales have varied, but his formula for a page-turning thriller has not. "Nothing to Lose" not only lacked the usual page-turner formula, but was actually a chore to finish. This novel has to be compared to Child's previous efforts to appreciate it's failings.
"The Hook"- Child can set the hook like no other author. The action starts hard and heavy, and is mysterious enough to keep the reader engaged. "Nothing to Lose" had no hook. By page 45, I was still waiting for the hook to get me interested. Never happened.
"The Bad Guys"- Child always has fascinating and diabolical bad guys, often with a clever plot twist to throw reader off of who's good-who's bad. But by the end of the novels, I can't wait for Jack to take care of these guys as he always does. The End Times preacher was a [yawn] low-grade baddie who [yawn] only truly gets defined as a baddie after he's been blown up [yawn].
"The Roller Coaster"- Every Reacher book to date has hit a point where I cannot put it down until it is finished. I call this the "top of the roller coaster"- usually about 100 pages from the end. 3 AM, have to be up at 7AM- too bad. Have to finish the Reacher book. In Nothing to Lose, 75 pages from the end, I just lost interest, and put it down for three days. I forced myself to finish it.
"Politics"- If Lee Child is actually interested in continued sales of his novels, he might be wise to realize several points. Jack Reacher probably doesn't have mass appeal for left-wingers, peaceniks, or academic liberals. Also, the Jack Reacher character is almost by definition apolitical.... "Nothing to Lose" is basically a platform for Child to espouse his anti-Iraq War, anti-administration views and twist them into a discoherent plot.
"Memorability"- Within one hour of finishing most Reacher novels, I could recite a fairly tight outline of the main story lines. It's now an hour since I finished Nothing to Lose, and realize I can't do it. Let me try. Jack wanders back and forth from Despair to Hope. Beats up some guys who weren't really bad, but pissed him off. Goes back and forth a few more times and occasionally beats up some more guys. Finds out the town is weird with something going on. Gov't/current administration coverup of gross failures in Iraq exposed. Pitiful brain injured Iraq vet demonstrated for all to see. Pipeline for military deserters desperate to escape duty in Iraq and head to Canada left unexposed. Gets the babe. Blows up the dirty bomb which really wasn't that dirty. The end. Hmmmm.
Technical Accuracy- OK. It's just a story. A few loose ends are inevitable and forgivable. Truth can be stretched for novels sake. Nothing to Lose took these liberties to the point of constant distraction. Acute radiation sickness from depleted uranium??? Come on. Massive Abrams battle tank losses covered up by the gov't??? Come on. His description of a chronic brain-injured patient was so off base it was distracting. (If Child would like an MD/surgeon to proof his next book, I volunteer).
In summary, No Hook, Bland Bad Guys, an 8 ft. roller coaster, politically polluted, unmemorable, and technically inaccurate. Worst Reacher book of all times. I think I'll wait for the paperback when "Gone Tomorrow" comes out. Read more ›

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Wait for it in paperback. June 6, 2008

By Gary Seiser

Format:Hardcover

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series is one of the few I purchase in hard cover as soon as they come out. I buy them, I read them, I keep them, and then I read them over again, sometimes several times over the space of a couple of years. This one, though, I wish I'd waited for the paperback. I may keep it, but I doubt I will reread it. For the first time I actually found times when I didn't like Jack Reacher, when he acted out of character in a way that lost my favor. I won't say how or why, since you may also be a Reacher fan, and I want you to read this. Just wait for the paperback.

121 of 146 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Everything to Lose, Lee June 7, 2008

By Gary Griffiths TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Holy conspiracy theories, Batman! Did somebody take James Lee Burke and tuck his liberal rants between the covers of a Lee Child novel?

Don't get me wrong - Burke and Child are two of my favorite authors - but the venerable Burke started a fast descent when his politics began to irrationally overpower the gripping atmospheric prose of the Mississippi delta and Dave Robicheaux's hard-hitting tales of southern noir. But if one were to judge Child solely on the basis of "Nothing to Lose", they might conclude that that he is already well down that slippery slope. Which would be a true disservice to the author and his readers.

So this starts out as the vintage Lee Child/Jack Reacher thrill fest, with the stoic loaner Reacher alone on a desolate highway separating the fictitious and allegorically named Colorado towns of Hope and Despair. Borrowing heavily from Stallone's "First Blood" - and even a bit from Stephen King's eerie "Desperation" - Reacher wants nothing more than a cup of coffee while passing through Despair. Instead, he finds himself first ignored and then in jail for vagrancy. With a provocative and mysterious prologue, and Reacher's first fist fight by page fifteen, all the pieces were quickly falling into place for a classic Child/Reacher escape to fast action and delicious revenge. The mystery of the Despair deepened, a company town supported by a massive metal recycling plant and controlled Waco-like by the omnipresent "Mr. Thurman". And keeping with his trusted and successful formula, Child provides Reacher's love interest in the form of "Vaughan", a patrolman of neighboring Hope.

But a promising start begins to fray around the edges a hundred-or-so pages in, and, by halfway through, has literally lost all "Hope".... Repeated encounters between Reacher and Thurman and his thugs become tedious - even boring, unheard of in Child's pages - as the plot meanders and stumbles through incongruities and inconsistencies alien to Child's usually credible plot lines and meticulous research. But in this installment, while Child can still add depth and interest to a story with minutia ranging from the perfect cup of coffee to the physics of a cell phone call, he is inexcusably sloppy in tying together his central theme. Unlike the smart, lean, and unencumbered prose we've been conditioned to expect, "Nothing to Lose" reads with all the clarity and efficiency you'd expect in a "Code Pink" manifesto.

It's a shame, really. Lee Child is arguably the standard in contemporary thriller/action fiction, and Jack Reacher is, as so well said by the Chicago Sun-Times, "...the perfect hero, loved by women, feared by men, respected by all." But not this time. Let's just hope that this episode's muddled and confused Reacher is an aberration, and that next year's entry will return to the straightforward thrills of "Persuader", "Tripwire", or "Killing Floor", rather than following James Lee Burke down a path that will not only cost him a loyal fan base, but also tarnish the great writing that justifiably has earned their fealty. Read more ›