Running Blind (Jack Reacher, No. 4)
by Lee Child
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Book Reviews of Running Blind (Jack Reacher, No. 4)
Book Review: The only disappointing Jack Reacher novel
Summary: 2 Stars
I've loved all of the Jacker Reacher novels... until this one. Don't get me wrong, the story reads great, as always. However, the ending is completely disappointing. I don't want to give it away, but it's based on a stereotyped, way-overused, and completely false quasi-science that is impossible to happen the way it does in the book. When you see this plot in a TV show, you know that the writers are running out of ideas, as they always seem to eventually use this one. I expected better from Lee Child. Perhaps others can overlook that (or don't realize it's completely unreal), but it ruined the book for me.
So go ahead and read it if you can't stand the thought of missing a Jack Reacher novel, but if you're new to the series, please start with another one, like The Persuader or Without Fail, or at the beginning with The Killing Floor.
Book Review: Way beyond believable
Summary: 2 Stars
This is one of those mysteries where you keep reading to learn how the killer did it. You just know that knowing how and why will tie the whole story together. Unfortunately, Lee Child apparently didn't have a clue about how to pull everything together when he started this book. Child's explanation might make sense in some alternate universe, but certainly not here. The ending wouldn't have been any less believable if the crimes had been blamed on space aliens.
Others have already commented on Jack Reacher's poor hygiene. Instead of carrying just a folding toothbrush, couldn't the poor guy at least carry a duffel bag? That wouldn't tie him down too much ... and he could at least have a change of underwear and socks. This should have given me a clue to what was to come ... a stinky ending.
Book Review: Silly and Dumb
Summary: 1 Stars
Not much to say about this book. In a review of another Reacher book ("Echo Burning"), I said that these books were fun reads despite their many drawbacks as novels (careless and sloppy writing, no attention to factual accuracy, one dimensional characters, plots that rely on coincidence etc). This book is not fun, just stupid.
The plot is literally incredible in many respects. The mysterious villain is telegraphed. The facts are wrong (my favorite: Fort Dix as a Marine Corps base--at the time the novel was written, it was an Army and Guard/Reserve base as it had been for over 80 years). If you can even faintly buy the ending and explanation I've got a bridge in Brooklyn that I could sell to you. Don't read it. It will only encourage the author to do it again.
Book Review: Great beginning, but the story petered out
Summary: 3 Stars
I love the Jack Reacher stories. I've read six or eight so far, and I'll keep reading them, but this one just didn't do it for me. As some others have said, it stated unravelling at about the halfway mark. I stopped believing in the characters or even caring what happened to them. Child's writing is always good, but the structure, characterizations and some of the action scenes just failed to come together, and stretched believability. I'm probably wrong, but it felt as though Child made some assumptions about his readers' going anywhere he lead them, believing anything just because his fans are loyal and he's built such strong stories before...resting on his laurels, I guess is a way of saying it. He didn't seem to try that hard in the last half.Book Review: Unbelievably Unbelievable
Summary: 2 Stars
This novel had its elements, but the basic premise was so preposterous that it undid any good aspects. The "bad guy" all but acquired magic powers in order to carry out his crimes. (In the interest of not giving away the plot, there are some misleading terms in this review.) If this sort of thing was possible, people would be using it all the time in criminal activity, but they aren't -- because it's not possible.
In short, I didn't believe anything about this novel. The author must have been in a desperate mood during its composition -- even Reacher's breakup was abrupt and not well explained. I wanted to read the whole series, having started out with the first one. This one makes me want to abandon the project entirely.