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137 of 148 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Persuasive Persuader!, October 29, 2003
I read one of Lee Child's books and was so struck with his character, Jack Reacher, and the lean, elegant style of Child's writing that I read all seven novels nonstop. Since this is his newest novel, it might be the first one you find, but I believe you will enjoy the series more if you track down the first volume, "Killing Floor," and then read each of the seven in succession. In "Persuader," Jack Reacher has the jolting discovery of evil nemesis Ouinn's existence, whom Reacher thought he had eliminated a decade ago. To be ultimately rid of Quinn, Reacher faces a dual challenge -- penetrate an organized crime operation and aid the Federal government in the rescue of one of its agents. Reacher's engaging narration is a combination of strategic thinking and forceful explosion, which is a brilliant juxtaposition. Jack Reacher is a loner, without fear, and without surrender - and his intense drive will lead him to settle the score. Tension, mayhem, and action are propelled throughout Child's novels. This is definitely among the finest adventure fiction being written in America today.
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jack gets his teeth loosened, November 27, 2003
PERSUADER, the seventh installment of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, is perhaps the best so far. On a Boston sidewalk, Reacher almost collides with a man shot three times - including twice in the head - and pitched off a cliff into the Pacific ten years before. Having a former colleague in the Military Police put a trace on the man's license plate brings the Drug Enforcement Agency to Jack's door. And what might your interest be, sir? Reacher, is it? Jack, a former Army MP major that now wanders the United States as a near-vagrant always on the lookout for wrongs to rectify, finds himself aiding the Feds as he goes undercover to penetrate a fortified mansion on an isolated headland on Maine's wild coast. The DEA suspects that the mansion's owner, Zachary Beck, is using his importing business to bring in something other than Oriental floor coverings. And Beck apparently has a connection to Reacher's sidewalk ghost. Jack doesn't care about Beck or his rugs, but does have another old score to settle once and for all. And this time he going to get it right, or die trying. The plot of PERSUADER includes the first time I can recall Jack feeling fear. Well, not fear maybe, but at least apprehension. Beck's gatekeeper, Paulie, is six inches taller, ten inches wider across the shoulders, and two hundred pounds heavier than our hero. Paulie's arms are bigger than Jack's legs. And he's surprisingly quick. Both you and Reacher know that, at some point, he's going to have to fight this monster. From Jack's point of view, that's going to be the dodgy bit. The reader savors the expectation. Jack's my favorite Loner and Tough Guy in the Trashy Literature genre. But, his habitual physical impregnability becomes almost monotonous. So, the fact that Reacher's life comes within a gossamer thread of being extinguished more than once in this thriller is refreshing. Now that his vulnerability has been established, I look forward more than ever to Child's next volume. Part of Jack's allure is that there's a hint of dysfunctionality to his personality. In PERSUADER, the reader learns that during Reacher's time in the service as an Army officer, he owned no civilian clothes. In an earlier book, it's revealed that Jack doesn't even know how to iron a shirt. Child's hero has some serious issues, which I hope someday the author will explore.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Violence as an Art Form, May 2, 2004
Former Military Police officer Jack Reacher is back for a seventh time in "Persuader", the latest from talented thrill writer Lee Child. While walking down the streets of Boston, Reacher bumps into a "ghost" from his past - Quinn - a man who Reacher thought he had killed a decade prior. Through a license plate, Reacher traces Quinn to Zachary Beck, a suspected heavy in the drug trade. Reacher teams up with DEA agent Susan Duffy, who is heading an "off-the-books" sting of Beck in an attempt to free one of Duffy's agents who had infiltrated Beck's operation, but was found-out. In concert with the DEA, a kidnapping of Beck's college-student son Richard is staged. Reacher plays the "hero", rescuing Richard and, in the events that follow, gets inside the reclusive Beck's illicit business. Reacher gains Beck's trust and, through a couple of convenient "accidents", is given a security job to fill the unplanned vacancies. Woven through the story through a series of flashbacks is the tale of the sadistic Quinn, gradually unveiling the root of Reacher's vengeance. Child writes with razor sharp efficiency and clarity: a tight plot with no pretense of embellishment beyond the requisite violence and mayhem. Child's Reacher is the ultimate stoic loaner - Clint Eastwood's "man without a name" in a modern setting where the villains are meaner and the guns a lot bigger. Child writes with a clear and unambiguous sense of right and wrong, of good and evil. And while Reacher runs no risk on canonization, the bad guys are so devoid of any redeeming social value that the contrast is crystal clear. "Persuader" is high adrenalin fiction without excuse: blunt, brutal, and suspenseful: a true page-turner and the ultimate summer read.
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