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Jack Reacher, retired military man who now wanders the country, rescues a college student from a kidnapping. But Jack didn't just happen to be there in time, he's on the track of a sadistic killer, a former army intelligence officer, turned traitor, named Francis Xavier Quinn who Jack thought he had taken care of ten years before. To bring the dead man to justice, Jack gets involved with a rogue FBI team and takes on a dangerous undercover operation that includes the staged kidnapping. Jack talks himself into the prison-like home of the rescued boy and into the good graces of his crime boss father, Zachary Beck, who is now Quinn's partner. Once on the inside he still has to prove himself to Beck's murderous henchmen and each day brings on more tension as he does his best to fit in, while hiding his true target to everyone around him. Reacher's memories of what happened ten years before when he was investigating Quinn haunts him. When Quinn turned out to be even more resourceful and deadly than even Jack could imagine, the mission went bad - very bad. Jack stepped in to take care of Quinn himself, but apparently even Jack's extensive knowledge of the deadly arts isn't mistake-proof and upon seeing the man alive in the present, Jack knows he will do whatever it takes to bring Quinn down. When I started listening to this cassette audio version of PERSUADER, I already knew I'd have a good time, I've read the other six in the series of Reacher novels by author Lee Child. But I was surprised and delighted to be as entertained as I was. At the end of every cassette I actually groaned that it had so soon come to its end. It was as heart-pounding, suspenseful and filled with unforeseen twists as any listener could desire. PERSUADER takes the readers on an intelligent roller-coaster ride of danger and intrigue. Never once does writer Lee Child let his thinking readers down. Even when Jack manages to get into exceptionally difficult situations when you can't imagine a way out, he explains what the character does in detail, and then what happens makes good solid sense. The abridged four cassettes, six-hour edition of PERSUADER is read by Kerry Shale and on the whole he does a wonderful job. His voice for Jack Reacher is perfect, smooth and velvet with all the devilish overtones you'd want in a strong hero. I only wish that he didn't use a Mike Tyson sound-alike voice for the character of Paulie. It's true that Paulie is a bull of a man, built from steroids, but he's supposed to be tall and blonde, and that's not the image that arises when Mr. Shale does that voice. PERSUADER is a first-rate story for fans of action-filled, tough and intelligent mysteries. This is a great audio version of the book and I recommend it highly.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, September 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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