Worth Dying For: (Jack Reacher 15)

I have never owned a Jack Reacher book before but after seeing and enjoying the movies I thought I would give it a try. I should maybe have started with the first book but after seeing there were something like 20 odd books I wanted to get a later one so that the style of story telling was more concrete, if that makes sense.First off let me say this is a good book. The outlandish situations Reacher finds himself in and how he interacts with everyone and finds solutions to his problems are all very entertaining and, at least to my eye, seemed plausible enough. Just realistic enough to draw you in but with enough of the fantastic so you also believe the outcomes.*SPOILER*In this book Reacher accidentally stumbles across a human smuggling/peodophile ring while learning about the death/ disappearance of a young girl decades earlier. He then proceeds, with some grudging help from a few town members who are all under the thumb of the smugglers. Completely absurd how he almost single handedly discovers the truth, turns a few of the town to help him, and eventually kills everyone involved in the ring, at least in the town, as it’s all one family.Did I roll my eyes once or twice reading this ? Yes. Did it stop me enjoying the book? No. If you like Jack Reacher books you’ll already know what to expect and I’m sure this will deliver. If not it’s a good entry book to learn a bit about his methods etc. If you like your heroes to be a bit gritty and rough and tumble and not win every fight they get into (realism, thank you) this is the series/book for you.

Travelling across the wilds of Nebraska, Jack Reacher walks into a community where one family controls everything, and no-one dares step out of line. But discovering a twenty-five-year-old mystery involving the disappearance of a young girl, Reacher can’t resist sticking his nose in…This is book number 15 in the Jack Reacher series, and while the books can be read in any order, ‘Worth Dying For’ continues from the end of ‘61 Hours’. Although I enjoyed the last book, I was glad to find this one puts Reacher firmly back into his regular ass-kicking, bad-guy thumping ways. This one is a real page turner and I really couldn’t see how our hero was going to get himself out of it in one piece.A thrilling read that kept me on edge all the way through.

A good addition to the series with Reacher tackling especially unpleasant locals in rural America - I'm guessing the Nebraska Tourist Board won't be too happy. Wrongs are righted, coffee is drunk and everything described in excruciating needless detail. The plot has an elegant simplicity and the villains are dispatched with brutal non-judicial efficiency (this hardly counts as a spoiler). Ringing the police never seems like much of an option with Reacher, thankfully.All good, but what about the cliffhanger ending of "61 Hours" when it looked like our boy was a goner? The author must've painted himself into a corner here because there's sod all explanation of how our hero survived the humongous explosion. Oh yeah, he escaped and "strained every muscle in his body"...but still manages to spifflicate approximately 17 bad guys. Gripe over, next book please.

Reacher survives in this sequel to 61 Hours, though we don’t quickly discover how. In fact that never becomes very clear, only that he has injuries but not how he managed it. Never mind, the story gallops along as always and I soon forgot it was a sequel.It’s winter in a small town labouring under the tyranny of one powerful family. There’s a missing child, which he can’t ignore, obviously. And he becomes involved in a probably criminal, delayed shipment.As always, Reacher is fighting for the downtrodden, the people who have run out of fight, and is on the side of ‘good’.There’s action, thrills, mysteries and tension.

I enjoy these books (Lee Child). Comfort reading, I think it's called. When I haven't got one to read I miss it.If you read for fun (rather than for work) I would suggest that you try at least one Lee Child book. Obviously, you won't impress anyone, but you'll be left with a feeling that the good generally conquer the bad.A bit like The Lone Ranger or Bonanza one hundred years ago ... but definitely worth a read.