Not the best Reacher novel, but Reacher consistently entertains.

books:


	• Echo Burning (Jack Reacher Novels) Lee Child Berkley Trade, 2005 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 99 reviews view larger image
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Weakest Reacher So Far

I'm willing to overlook quite a bit in a Jack Reacher novel, because the guy himself is so engaging and the plots are usually fairly intriguing, if verging on fantasy and with awfully black and white characters. But this one really went over the top with the stereotypes and implausibility. (And I'm not just talking about how many women find Reacher appealing even though he doesn't carry deoderant or even toothpaste to go with his folding toothbrush - never mind clean underwear!) That he gives Carmen even five minutes makes you think that the nail that pierced his forehead a couple of books back did worse damage to his brain than the doctor discovered.... The woman starts out as a stereotype of the "hot" Hispanic, but nothing rings true. She is supposedly college-educated, and with a wealthy, aristocratic background, someone who might have an ounce of self-possession, yet she falls back on tears, pleading and acting stupid and pathetic to lure him to helping her. Which he falls for - and normally Reacher is someone who treats men and women with equal respect/contempt, and ought to be immune to her manipulations. He says he's watched the same film noir that motivates her... but still acts like an idiot. Lets himself be driven a hundred miles from nowhere, in 110 degree heat (without even a bottle of water) by a woman whose response to a dozen sensible suggestions from him is just to whimper more.... According to her story, she doesn't want to be a fugitive, doesn't want to stay in Texas, but doesn't have a problem with trying to find a stranger to murder her husband! And we're supposed to want him to help her? I don't think so. Reacher is supposed to be better than this. He's smart enough to realize she hasn't been hit any time recently; but dumb enough (or the author is) to think that five years of daily or even weakly beatings could leave her still supple, graceful and physically flawless, without so much as a scar on her face (and with the nearest hospital hours away!). Anyway, I could hardly stand it. The best scene is Reacher learning to saddle and bridle a horse. I've done enough to know that here, at least, Child got the details right. I never thought I'd say it, because I discovered the series not that long ago and have been blazing through them much too fast ever since, but I'm almost glad I just have a few more to go, because I'm not sure I can stand beating my head against the wall much at Reacher's increasing lack of sense.... On the other hand, once the action really gets going, it's up to standard. But for heaven's sake, Reacher, buy a small toiletry kit, some fresh underwear and a backpack!

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one of the best Reacher novels, intense climax

I have been reading all tof the Reacher books in order, and after the first 5 I still think the first one, Killing Floor, is still the best. This is the second best so far. The intensity builds slowly, and the one sequence towards the end where Reacher is stalking/being stalked in the woods at night during a thunder and lightening storm was unbelievably intense and pulse pounding!

The scorching Texas landscape lent the book a vivid sense of place and there was more of a mystery element than the last few books. Highly recommended!

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Another Reacher classic by the master

Brilliant as usual, if you like reacher books as much as I do try Soft Target by Conrad Jones its same genre but twice the bang for your buck. Real gripping stuff, he could be the next Lee Child !!! More of both please guys !!

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Not the best Reacher novel, but Reacher consistently entertains.

Reacher, once again foot loose and fancy free, is in the deep burning deserts of Texas when a damsel in distress picks him up while he is hitchhiking. He is on the road in the 100+ degree weather because he beat the bejimniny out of a cop the night before in a bar. The cop never showed up again, so I personally think this was a bit gratuitous, as in a deus ex machina to get him hitchhiking in the horrible heat, plus it did establish his creds as a bad a**. Anyway, the damsel tells Jack a long winding yarn about how her husband abuses her and would he pretty please kill the guy for her? Whether or not she is telling the truth will never actually be totally revealed.

At the same time, in what I have recognized as one of Childs' favorite plot devices (a parallel story of evil), three professional killers are methodically eliminating some people. The first elimination is connected to the abusive husband who is in prison for tax evasion but is scheduled to be released shortly, the impetus for the damsel's desire to have him offed. The killers will ultimately intersect with Reacher, as is to be expected. Reacher wins, which is also to be expected. I mean, duh. My favorite part is where Reacher is required to not only meet a horse up close and personal for the first time in his life but saddle it and is guided through the process by a six-year-old girl. Priceless. The final confrontation (the money shot in Reacher novels) is kind of unsatisfying. Childs (through Reacher) acknowledges that he wins by accident. Not what we expect from Jack Reacher!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Thumbing across the west Texas desert, Jack Reacher has nowhere to go. Cruising the same stretch of blacktop is Carmen Greer. But the lift comes with a hitch. She's got a wild story to tell--about her husband, her family secrets, and a hometown that's pure Gothic.