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NOTHING TO LOSE
by Lee Child
Delacorte, June 2008
416 pages
$27.00
ISBN: 0385340567


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Jack Reacher is a wanderer. A former military policeman, he now travels the USA helping people in trouble and righting what wrongs he comes across. This time he travels through Hope Colorado and continues to the tiny town next to it - Despair.

The moment he crosses the city's line he is made to feel unwelcome. The small café won't serve him and a group of men surround Jack and threaten him, telling him to get out of town - now. Reacher is not the kind of man who takes such talk well and he manages to wipe the floor with most of the group of fighters, but is taken into police custody by a cop with a gun. He's then taken to the city line and thrown out.

Now Reacher doesn't like be treated that way and wonders just what it is that the town of Despair is trying to hide. Reacher decides to investigate and enlists the help of the finest cop in Hope, a woman named Vaughan. As a cop, Vaughan senses that Despair is hiding something. But because her own department doesn't think it is important to look into its neighbor's business, she has never investigated what might be going on there. Only when Jack shows her that the secret just might be harming the people of Hope does Vaughan throw her weight onto Reacher's side to help investigate. She teams up with Reacher - but not whole-heartedly - to find out what she can about Despair.

I have read a few books by Lee Child, most with Jack Reacher as the leading character. Once you get comfortable with the idea that Jack is almost a super hero and also forget that no one could be as indestructible and well-built and educated as Jack, you can begin to appreciate the Reacher books and take some of the stories with a grain of salt.

You will do it because Reacher is just such a splendid sort of guy, a first-rate hero who doesn't do things for the honor or the reward, but because they need to be done so that decent people can live decently in this world. You can't help but cheer for Jack Reacher and the American way.

Because Lee Child lets Jack explain his thought processes behind every move he makes, the readers feel as if they too have thought through what needs to be done and will go along for the ride as Jack's backup. Most of the time the readers are in for an exciting, fast fight with entertaining locations and enough bits of information about the US military past that you feel as if you've really learned something important. Most of the books are so well written and fast- paced that you happily throw away all logic and go along for the hell of a ride that most of the series gives you.

Unfortunately, the pace of the story in NOTHING TO LOSE has slowed to a crawl. The readers are left staggering along with Reacher on that road between Hope and Despair far too many times as he goes back and forth over and over and over again.

The dialogue is as much fun as ever. Lee Child does his usual powerful job of letting us into Reacher's head as he works his way through his fights. We get to understand how such a man thinks and makes his moves against strong opponents. Since I don't ever get in fights myself, it's fascinating to see how someone plans his physical moves in order to outmaneuver his adversary.

We also get to hear how a man like Reacher, a true patriot, deals with the people in government and the military who don't do their jobs with the care and respect that he feels they ought to. We do get to see how Reacher deals with the uncaring staff of a veterans' hospital, and it warms the heart to see that decency wins out, at least if Reacher's around

If this is the first Reacher book you've picked up, I recommend that you save it until you've read earlier ones in the series. Though it is okay, it lacks the pace and excitement of previous Reacher books.

NOTHING TO LOSE isn't one of the best of this series, but in as much as they get to spend more time with Reacher, long-time fans will still appreciate this book. First time readers might wonder what the fuss has been about and should read earlier books in the series to find out.

Reviewed by A.L. Katz, July 2008

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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