Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, No. 12)
by Lee Child
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Book Reviews of Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, No. 12)
Book Review: try actually reading the books you review
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't believe most of the people who reviewed this book actually read it. it would be hard for me to do this book justice without spoiling it for the rest of you but I will say it is excellent and typical of Child and I stayed up til 2 A.M. as I could not put it down. Action is only part of what Child does well. One really needs to think about his main character and what forces shape him and how others react to him .Jack Reacher is more of a Rorshach test than a fictional character in some ways. People who don't like him are probably the same folks who don't like cats... I have no use whatsoever for folks who don't like cats or Lee Child. I think some people come on Amazon and bash books to satisfy a jealousy they have of best-sellong authors or merely to get attention. The Reacher character is a Jungian archtype ;i.e. the wandering knight, and Child does him justice and a mytho-poetic way that most authors have no hope of ever achieving. Failure to appreciate this book shows a shallowness that one should hesitate to exhibit in a public forum.Book Review: Unexpected disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm a 20-year naval veteran, and a Buddhist, who's enjoyed ALL of the Reacher books -- until this one, which I finished just moments ago. "Nothing to Lose" was overlong, bloated with unnecessary detail -- and unbelievably, unexpectedly tedious in its plot development. That, combined with the large type and line-spacing, means this book should've been a third of its sale-size. And, excuse me -- in a world where there are REAL religious terrorists blowing themselves and everyone around them up, every day of the week, Mr. Child couldn't think of a more menacing or believable enemy than America's Christian "religious right"? Hollywood has been on this kick for several years; it's a flavor that seeps into much of their network programming, and I'm sick of the stale, overworked taste of it. Even the most extremist Christian fringe errs on the side of insularity, and historically is much more inclined to snuff its own membership than anyone around them. Where next, Mr. Child -- evil CEOs daring to make a profit? A little originality, please!Book Review: Reacher does Children of the Corn
Summary: 1 Stars
Disappointment after reading the previous 11 books in the series: atheist Brit (not US, not Army, not Marine) outs himself. Reacher's bodily hygiene has bothered me from the first novel but in this book Childs displays mental hygiene even more lacking. Rather than a tight thriller, there is Reacher's shallow mocking of Child's cliche'd End Times Christians, in order to tell us "everybody's an atheist." Next come crazed townsfolk blocking the highway while shouting "Out! Out! Out!" and beating the pavement, conspiracies between the "lay preacher" and the US Army to endanger wounded vets, soldiers and citizens.
Child's medical information is often faulty - but as a doctor, I don't expect standard of care in works of fiction. Unfortunately, Child's "Traumatic Brain Injury" site is not only poor in terms of medical accuracy; he uses Mr. Vaughn in a political statement more than a plot detail.
Buy another (author) and throw this one in the trash.
Book Review: No sleepless nights....
Summary: 2 Stars
I really WANTED to love this book--I'm a huge Jack Reacher fan--but I just couldn't help feeling disappointed.
Books like "Persuader" and "The Killing Floor" were so raw and suspenseful, I literally lost sleep staying up and reading them. With "Nothing to Lose," I lost no sleep at all; in fact at times, I felt like yawning.
It's almost like Lee Child is doing a paint-by-numbers routine with this book: Reacher gets curious about something that seems a little off and that later turns into a big conspiracy; there's a love interest; something about patriotic duty; and some serious ass kicking. Granted those are typical elements in Reacher stories, but this time Child fails to infuse them with his usual energy and verve and they just seem tired.
If you are new to the series, don't start with this book or you might not go back to Child's excellent earlier efforts. If you are an old Reacher fan, don't worry about sleep deprivation with this one.
Book Review: Nothing to Lose: a left wing lecture, not a novel
Summary: 1 Stars
This awful book can be read as a murder mystery of sorts. The mystery is: why did Lee Child murder his character Jack Reacher? Reacher has died and been replaced by a lecturing liberal, anti-Christian conspiracy nut with a hatred of the military and, worse, a condescending attitude toward soldiers. Oh, and he's now a murdering thug as well who causes the irradiation of several square miles of Colorado.
The Christian preacher-villan is obviously modeled on a left wing perception of President G. W. Bush who plans a terror bombing clearly based on the inane 911 "inside job" conspiracy theories. Puh-leeze!
I had really enjoyed the Jack Reacher novels these past few years, but the character has now been so tainted I won't be able to read another. I guess Child has become so rich off his novels that he has "nothing to lose" by giving his readers and his adopted country the finger.