Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, No. 12)

The center of gravity for the reviews on this one - currently at 2.5 stars - is just off. I was shocked - shocked, I tell ya - to see the fairly low rating when I went to post this one.

As long as Jack Reacher doesn't jump the shark on us, it's at least three stars right out of the shoot and "Nothing to Lose" was fully entertaining as Reacher uncovers the layers of evil in Despair, Colorado. I will take a star off for sheer suspense being a bit watered-down. But that's only by comparison with others in this series. Other than that, a terrific thriller, tightly plotted.

Everything else is here. The girl. The impossible odds. The coffee. The mathematical analysis. The goon. The relentless mind. And no question about who will win. Reacher is a stretch. He's got one foot on solid ground and one in fantasyland. He's out-sized. He's too good, too smart, too sharp, too strong, too tough, too calculating, too moral, too loving, too scarred, too inscrutable and, on top of everything else, he's too good at absorbing caffeine. Who doesn't want to be with him? Who doesn't want to see what mountain is next to climb. I loved the way "Nothing to Lose" started out--simple, quiet and serene--and built into an almost James Bond finish in the rain and the mud and impossible hurdles to surmount. Once you grow used to Child's comma-loathing style of writing, you have to admire how the little bricks of prose add up to a solid and sometimes over-the-top lean style of descriptiveness. The pleasant little redundancies: "Nothing was missing. Everything was there." The fun, noir-ish moments: "It was the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere." The useful volumes of trivia about mechanisms or technology, in this case some interesting stuff about how cell phones relay and how many seconds the process takes.

Don't read too much about the plot in other reviews, just let it unfold straight from the page to you.

I love Jack Reacher novels and I am not someone who usually reads "man-fiction." However, Jack as a character is decent at heart and only whomps someone when they need it. I respect him even more for opposing the war in VietNam (Trip Wire) and I respect him for opposing the war in Iraq (this latest book). I don't care if he is religious or not.

The United States has hundreds of different ethnic groups, many different colors of people, and lots of different religions (which none of us has to belong to -- thank God we have the choice). Most of us are patriots but not all of us support every war or every president without question.

This is a good book and it doesn't deserve to be put down by those who don't think Jack Reacher should think for himself.

Jack Reacher was my favorite character... I was deeply disappointed to see Mr. Lee Child's personal views take over the storyline. Mr. Child is definitely not a fan of the Iraq war and it shows as a once pro-military Jack Reacher reverses his views. The other disappointing theme was Jack Reacher's lack of christian faith. Mr. Child uses a poor story line of a religious leader that is a fraud. I hope Mr. Child is a Christian, it is obvious that his lead character is not. I can't tell you how disappointed I was in this book. I have no reason to continue reading this series. It is kind of like learning about your favorite actor and finding out that he is a republican or democrat.

This is a standard Lee Child/Jack Reacher novel, and in that sense, it's pure action, suspense and thrills. I'm writing this review primarily to help counter the OBVIOUS attempts to sabotage the book by hard-right zealots who just can't believe an author has the gall to have his hero not support the phony war in Iraq. The people tossing down these one-star reviews not only need a reality check; they need to understand what books are for. Period. Go Lee!

Another triumph. Dark, gripping, sinister, nightmarish . . . . it reminds me of the best Michael Innes. The plot threads are complex and subtle -- you have no idea what's happening, and often, in otherwise excellent thrillers you guess what's going on. Here, I had no inkling. Oh, man, I wish I could write like that.