Die Trying (Jack Reacher, No. 2)
by Lee Child
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Book Reviews of Die Trying (Jack Reacher, No. 2)
Book Review: The fun of being in the wrong place at the wrong time
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the 3rd Jack Reacher novel I've read and am finding him one of contemporary thriller fiction's most engaging characters.He's an ex-MP who has chosen to become a drifter. So each novel has a different setting within the U.S. He's just short of being a super-hero...no paranormal powers. And he's not out to save the world although he continues to land in situations where he can foil ambitious villains. So yes, these books do require strong suspension of disbelief. But they are certainly fun.This is the only series I can immediately think of which has no continuing characters outside of the protagonist. And I rather like that as a change. Reaher isn't seeking adventure, but adventure or maybe more accurately misadventure finds him. He's not greatly concerned with saving the country from the bad guys. But he's ready to respnd to those who deliberately make him an enemy. So far in my reading his stories, there's always a lady friend around, bbut little regret on either side when they part ways at book's end. One point that quite impressed me in this book was the scene involving a couple of trained attack dogs. His philosophy concerning them, contrary to his reaction to human adversaries, quite touched me. Another point in this specific book which impressed was Lee Child's handling of the mystery subplot, the unknown bad guy. Child doesn't really try to conceal the unknown's identity. As soon as you know there's a hidden enemy in the story, he tosses out strong hints which the alert reader will immediately catch. One which especially made me laugh was a statement at the end of one chapter considering the unknowns and the first sentence in the next chapter which sort of "spills the beans".All in all, this is a book I recommend for pure escapist entertainment. Political conservatives might object to the nut fringe extremist villains, but hey, this is just a thriller, not a political commentery. There's even a subtle hint that Reacher isn't above voting Republican at times although one does wonder how the heck he can be a registered voter. LOLBook Review: Three and a half stars...(SPOILER)
Summary: 3 Stars
Die Trying by Lee Child is the second in his Jack Reacher series. While not quite as good as book number one, The Killing Floor, Die Trying was still an entertaining audiobook for a very long car-ride.
Jack Reacher is a former military policeman who finds himself roaming the country. Spending his childhood as a military brat, and most of his adult life in the Army, he has seen little of the US. He walks by a dry cleaners in Chicago and sees a young woman, Molly Johnson, struggling with a pile of laundry while using a crutch. The ever-chivalrous Reacher grabs her laundry and before he even knows what is happening, both of them are kidnapped. It turns out that not only is Johnson an FBI agent, but she has connections in high government circles. The kidnappers are a group of militia who plan on using her as leverage for a new, break-away country in Montana. Both of them are trying to keep themselves alive, while the FBI frantically searches the country for one of their own. And while FBI agents are loyal to a fault, at least one of them is giving information to the enemy. How Die Trying plays out will have you on the edge of your seat.
On the plus side, this book may have been published in 1998 but it couldn't be more timely in 2009. The news today is filled with many stories of Americans forming militias, stock-piling ammunition and talking about seceding from the US. Much of their hate-filled agenda is very frightening. On the negative side, there was way too much description! I got tired of hearing Child depict such information as every little step from a bullet being fired from a gun until it reaches its target. This type of filler took pages and pages (or minutes and minutes) and got boring after awhile.
But overall, my husband and I enjoyed Die Trying. We especially like the reader, award-winner Dick Hill. We have already ordered book three, Tripwire, for our next trip.
Book Review: Good, fun, action tale for some tough guy escapism reading
Summary: 5 Stars
"Die Trying" by Lee Child is his second Jack Reacher novel, and it's a fast paced, tough, entertaining story of the capable hero who just happens to be at the wrong place at the right time. Or maybe he was in the right place at the right time to become entangled in an adventure as he is kidnapped with an attractive female FBI agent.
The tale has enough twists and turns along with good action sequences to keep you entertained and engaged throughout the book. Former Army MP, Jack Reacher, is definitely a tough guy, and he definitely has a knack for getting involved when he senses something isn't right. Fortunately, he has the strength, brains, and skills to make things right - his way. A way that often leaves bodies laying cold on the ground. Naturally the kidnapping is much more than a simple kidnap for ransom demand. The plot twists around to a much larger conspiracy.
Coming from Montana, I enjoyed some of the local references, just as I enjoyed the entire book. I like Child's writing and the Jack Reacher series is a fun action filled escapism type of read. I don't analyze each and every tactic, nor do I look for inaccuracies and so forth. I read Child's Jack Reacher books for one reason, and that's because they are fun tough guy stories. Reacher is tough and his adventures are entertaining. I liked this one a bit more than the first, probably because of the Montana setting and the use of the sniper rifles. Good, fun, action tale for some tough guy escapism reading.
Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks and the dvds: Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series and articles including a regular column on negotiation for The Montana Lawyer. Alain Also wrote a series of articles called Lessons From The Apprentice.
Book Review: Jack Reacher -- 6'5", 220 lbs...beach/pool read at best
Summary: 3 Stars
Oh, where to start? I'll simply say that if you want to pass the time and choose reading as your medium, then this is a book that will do just that -- pass the time. This book's title might just be your experience while trying to finish it.
Lee Child creates the ultimate cut and paste "man from nowhere/wanderer" character and hamstrings him with the inconvenience of a contrived story to reveal just how awesome Jack Reacher really is. He has the mental power of a Jedi (gets numerous humans and beasts to do his bidding many times by simply asking nicely), the sexual magnetism of the typical '80's muscle man (think Arnold or Sly here) and whether or not he wins the day isn't really ever in question. All the villains he's up against are idiots (yet they are smart enough to heist 20 million in bonds, abduct a FBI agent that has contrived relations to the US president, and carve out a niche of territory in Montana). The ultimate cut and paste hero v. not even decent cut and paste enemies. No worries, Jack's going to save the day with little more than a torn shirt, a couple of scratches that will not hamper his dramatic "left alongside the highway to drift into the sunset amongst the revenge he has just wrought" ending. A good read for pubescent males or women in need of their white knight fantasy fulfillment, but for the rest of us schmucks that take our lumps day to day in the real world...Jack is just too much (and I thought Dirk was bad enough). I do respect Jim Grant (Lee Child) though, he admits that all he set out to do was create a fictional character that would sell to the masses in order to make his next house payment due to being terminated. Now, if we could just get an American with the same profile and a decent publicist to do this, then the money we spent on this books might at least go back into the economy here in the U.S.
Book Review: Are there no editors at Jove Books?
Summary: 1 Stars
One overly generous star because that's the least I'm allowed to assign this awful novel. I read "Killing Floor" and, because it was his first novel, I excused the errors and cliches and detailed ad nauseum descriptions of bullet weights, velocities and trajectories. I gave Mr. Child a second chance and began reading his "Die Trying". Bad decision. Errors galore in "Die Trying". I still have another 30 pages to read and I am trying, trying hard, to finish them. Hate to quit a book once I begin and I've never given up this late in a novel.
Mr. Child has a favorite line that begins, "Some kind of . . .". He fills the pages with this expression. Super hero Reacher spots an armored vehicle moving thru Montana's mountainous forest (quite a trick, actually) and he says, "Some kind of Personnel Carrier". Heroine Holly has a glowing character, so Child writes, "Some kind of radiant energy". Some kind of this and some kind of that. He uses that line on page after page.
Errors are rampant. An M16A2 rifle, Mr. Child writes, fires three-round bursts, each round taking one fifth of a second. So he explains that the entire three-round sequence takes one point five seconds. Okay, he's a novelist and not a mathemetician but someone at Jove Books ought to be able to multiply one fifth of a second times three and come up with an answer somewhere below a second and a half.
Some kind of a terrible book.