Al

I loved the earlier Reacher novels and hope for the experience of reading a Reacher novel as good as The Killing Floor once again. It's not going to happen though, that's clear. Child seems to be getting sloppier and lazier with the plot elements with each passing book. In this book, our hero Reacher is a total stumblebum. He ponders inconsequentials (such as the derivation of several idiomatic expressions) and yet fails when he is needed (defending an elderly librarian!). The conclusion leaves us hanging...did Reacher miraculously survive a disaster that would stretch the credulity of a 5-year to believe he could be alive, or did he perish. For everyone's sake, let's hope it's the latter and that Child focuses his energy on a new hero. Maybe then, we'll get another Killing Floor.

Don't get me wrong, this book is fun for the action. There's not much to the plot, but sometimes that's just what you want in an action book. Unfortunately, the cliched writing detracts from it all. Sometimes I just wish that bullets would be fired from a gun instead of the gun "belching hot lead," and so on.

As others have mentioned, the Gray Man has gotten a bit stupid and drug-addled. Perhaps it's intended to give the character some humanity, but it doesn't quite work. Perhaps if he met a woman, even for a 10-minute drink.