|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Lee Child
Publisher: Dell
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.03
You Save: $7.96 (100%)
New (55) Used (125) Collectible (1) from $0.03
Avg. Customer Rating:  172 reviews
Sales Rank: 3114
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0440243661
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780440243663
ASIN: 0440243661
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Superb, but conflicting, Jack Reacher in action! May 17, 2007
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
Jack Reacher is back, big and utterly fatihful to his team. There is a strange call, if you can call it that. A code in a deposit made to his bank account. You might not be able to contact Jack Reacher conventionally but if you know how you can reach him through military codes in money in his account.
His old team from the MP's is in danger, two of the original 8 are dead and one of them is trying to contact the rest of the team without luck. She calls on Reacher to help. Reacher responds and they meet in LA, trying to contact the rest once they are there. No one is responding still.
Its the start of a strange case where Reacher finds that he is being followed, but it turns out they may, or may not be the police. There is double cross, double dealing and it is all tied up in mathematical codes.
As with all Lee Child's Reacher books, Jack Reacher is a dependable hero, challenged but never threatened. He is solid and sure, and he will do his bit and is unfazed by threats, certain in his own abiliites. He is a great hero to follow. Lee Child does a fantastic job in spinning this tale. It gripped from the start and there were enough twists and turns and double crossing along the way to keep me guessing and reading along.
What I also really enjoyed in this book this time was the moral and ethical morass that Reacher dwells in outside his campaigning for the true and right causes he follows. In the past Reacher has been a builder and has alluded to other odd jobs, or made money from his work. In this he has taken to ripping off drug dealers. There is no moral reasoning either from Child (the author) or Reacher the character, like pretty much everything he does, Reacher is the strong silent type. Reacher simply rips them off. I was interested in this as a sub-plot. He is essentially stealing - I suppose in a Robin Hood way, but it does endanger the general public to do so. It is certainly a fitting form of income for Reacher, but it is done with such seeming casualness or internal dilemma I was surprised.
Anyway, I enjoyed this way more than most of the others (except perhaps One Shot which I think is the best REacher ever.) A gripping, thrilling page turner to match any that you will read.
Reacher reaches out May 16, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Jack Reacher, a indestructible giant of a man, doesn't forget his past nor his friends. Being the hardnose corrector of injustice that he is -- a virtual one man band of law enforcement -- one might be surprised to learn that he once led a special investigative team of army MP's before he retired into the aloof, semi-hidden loner we know him to be. But, as our past tends to catch up with us, Reacher is no exception. When a member of that long-ago band of perfect killers for the good side is thrown out of a helicopter after having been tortured, someone wants to contact Reacher... bad! And when he finds a deposit of $1030 in his banking account, the math genius part of his brain recognizes a coded call for urgent contact.
The depositor is ex-sergeant, now wealthy Frances Neagley, the first of the squad to learn of their comrade's murder and a fearsome killer in her own right as well as a fully qualified member of the "special investigators." It was Reacher who made them special, training his carefully chosen squad in deductive reasoning and ingenious strategizing. The deposit as means of communication is an example of the intellectual standard. The exact amount isn't only the 10 code for "crime in progress" but includes "officer needs help," and "danger/caution" as well. Coming from a team member he hasn't heard from in years, he takes it as urgent, indeed. And, the sum is the right amount to cover airfare for an L.A. rendezvous. Did she also know he was penniless?
In the ensuing exposure of a conspiracy that could wreak great havoc on America, who will be left standing at the end comes down to a small difference in determination.
enthralling thriller May 16, 2007
6 out of 26 found this review helpful
Ex-Army, ex-M.P Jack Reacher has a debit card, a bank account and very little else. He is a drifter who takes off on a whim but doesn't even own anything. When he checks the bank statement he finds a significant amount of money has been deposited in his account. This is a signal from Frances Neagley, one of nine in his army unit, so he calls her office and her assistant tells Jack she is in L.A. They meet at a Denny's where she tells him one of their own, Calvin Franz, was tortured, his legs broken and thrown out of a helicopter. She called all of the eight in their special unit and only Jack has answered so far.
At Frances' office they figure out he had a post office box so when they open it there is a thumb drive in it. When they place it into a computer and get the password they find a spread sheet with numbers on it. It also has five names on it and they believe the person's real name is Azhari Mahmoud and the other four names are aliases. Two other team members arrive while three others are murdered but when they figure out what the numbers mean, they realize they are dealing with a danger international in scope and whoever is behind the murders must be stopped at all costs.
Jack Reacher is one of the most interesting anti-heroes in thrillerdom. He stays under the radar but is a believer in justice and that idealism makes him a warrior who fights when necessary. He is a survivor in a world that doesn't understand him yet he has friends that are totally loyal to him. There is adrenaline pumping action in this enthralling thriller but it is the unity of the group that that makes BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE a special reading experience.
Harriet Klausner
are you a Reacher creature? May 16, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Lee Child has created the ultimate anti-hero, Jack Reacher. In this, the 11th installment in the series, Reacher, the former special investigator for the Military Police shows us a different face; Reacher the team player.
One of his former colleagues in the MPs has been murdered. The surviving members of the team get together to solve the crime. Reacher has dropped off the radar as the book opens. He survives by his wits and his lethal reflexes as the team scours LA and Vegas for the culprits.
He solves crimes by breaking the law. There are shadowy terrorists, corruption, and split second, fast-paced, tautly plotted excitement.
It keeps getting better!
Urban cowboy and his posse seek justice. May 15, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
There are many reasons to admire Jack Reacher, the taciturn hero of Lee Child's "Bad Luck and Trouble." He is a low-maintenance individual who travels with just his passport, ATM card, and toothbrush. He is incredibly strong and an expert in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, and will go out of his way to protect the people he likes and respects. Reacher is also intelligent, intuitive, and creative; by thinking out of the box, he usually finds the answers to whatever questions are puzzling him.
In "Bad Luck and Trouble," Reacher has a reunion of sorts with three of his buddies from the army, Frances Neagley, Karla Dixon, and David O'Donnell. They reunite because of a tragic event: Calvin Franz, who worked with them years ago in the military police, was thrown out of a helicopter in the California desert after suffering unspeakable torture. The victim left behind a wife and little boy. Three other MPs from the same special investigations unit, Jorge Sanchez, Tony Swan, and Manuel Orozco, have disappeared, as well. Reacher and his remaining ex-colleagues band together to find out what happened to these men and why. He is also plotting revenge: "There are dead men walking, as of right now. You don't throw my friends out of helicopters and live to tell the tale." The slogan that Reacher and the others live by is: "You do not mess with the special investigators."
Lee Child's Reacher is a modern day cowboy, who generally travels alone from town to town, minding his own business. Yet, somehow, "bad luck and trouble" always manage to find him. This time, in a refreshing variation on Child's usual formula, Reacher takes his place as the commanding officer of a tightly knit and focused team, each member making his or her own invaluable contribution to the investigation. Neagley is smart and tough, and she has plenty of money to bankroll their operation. Dixon is a forensic accountant with a sharp mathematical mind, equal to Reacher's. O'Donnell is fast, powerful, and fearless. This formidable foursome is pitted against a group of ruthless adversaries who always seem to be one step ahead of them.
Child has created a cadre of well-drawn heroes, and the fast-paced action never flags. The terse, often dryly humorous dialogue is enormously entertaining. In addition, some nifty mental puzzles are thrown in to challenge the investigators' powers of deduction; brawn without brains just doesn't cut it in today's world. On the downside, the villains are one-dimensional and the finale is a bit too pat to be believed, even in a fantasy such as this. Still, this novel is great escapist fun; it will have wide audience appeal among long-time Reacher aficionados, and it will probably earn the author a host of new fans, as well.
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 - RailroadBookstore.com
| |
