• A Wanted Man

  • A Jack Reacher Novel
  • By: Lee Child
  • Narrated by: Dick Hill
  • Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (8,301 ratings)

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A Wanted Man  By  cover art

A Wanted Man

By: Lee Child
Narrated by: Dick Hill
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Publisher's summary

A masterpiece of suspense from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child

Four people in a car, hoping to make Chicago by morning. One man driving, eyes on the road. Another man next to him, telling stories that don’t add up. A woman in the back, silent and worried. And next to her, a huge man with a broken nose, hitching a ride east to Virginia.

An hour behind them, a man lies stabbed to death in an old pumping station. He was seen going in with two others, but he never came out. He has been executed, the knife work professional, the killers vanished. Within minutes, the police are notified. Within hours, the FBI descends, laying claim to the victim without ever saying who he was or why he was there.

All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. All he did was stick out his thumb. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride. He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat—to both sides at once.

In Lee Child’s white-hot thriller, nothing is what it seems, and nobody is telling the truth. As the tension rises, the twists come fast and furious, keeping readers guessing and gasping until the explosive finale.

Praise for #1 bestselling author Lee Child and his Reacher series

“Child is a superb craftsman of suspense.”—Entertainment Weekly

“The truth about Reacher gets better and better.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Implausible, irresistible Reacher remains just about the best butt-kicker in thriller-lit.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Like his hero Jack Reacher, Lee Child seems to make no wrong steps.”—Associated Press

“Lee Child [is] the current poster-boy of American crime fiction.”—Los Angeles Times

“Indisputably the best escape artist in this escapist genre.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times

“Jack Reacher is much more like the heir to the Op and Marlowe than Spenser ever was.”—Esquire

©2012 Lee Child (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Jack Reacher is much more like the heir to the Op and Marlowe than Spenser ever was." (Esquire)

"Indisputably the best escape artist in this escapist genre." (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times)

"Lee Child [is] the current poster-boy of American crime fiction." (Los Angeles Times)

What listeners say about A Wanted Man

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Dick Hill is brilliant

What did you like best about A Wanted Man? What did you like least?

I loved this performance. The story was so so. Dick Hill's interpretation of Reacher's broken nose speech was hilarious and made the book worth listening to. The story ending was not Lee Child's best nor did it showcase the many abilities of Reacher. On the other hand I can't wait for the next one!

Would you be willing to try another book from Lee Child? Why or why not?

yes, can't wait

Which scene was your favorite?

Pretty much any scene where Sorenson learns how to investigate from Reacher

Was A Wanted Man worth the listening time?

Absolutely

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Who knew the Midwest had so much going on?

A Wanted Man, Lee Child's 17th Jack Reacher novel is set in Jack's post-Army days. The story begins immediately following Worth Dying For (#15). Jack is hitching his way to Virginia and is picked up by a duo who carjacked and kidnapped a cocktail waitress and recently killed an unidentified individual that the State Department and CIA are tracking. Eventually, Jack is left for "dead" and then placed in protective custody by the FBI over an ongoing "national security" issue. With the help of two other involved FBI agents, Jack rescues a 3rd G-man before resuming his eastward passage.

This installment is a bit uneven in delivery as much of the first half has Reacher in a car with at most, eye blink exchanges with the other hostage. After the car ride, the pace slows even further as Reacher is shuffled off to a holding pen (for his own protection). Plot twists, red herrings, and undercover ringers are then liberally spread throughout the rest of the tale. Jack has little opportunity to display his "Sherlockian" sleuthing skills as well as few instances of his fisticuffs. Only near the end does he get a chance to mix it up with the real "bad" guys. Overall, the pacing and interspersion of action scenes and sleuthing, along with general plot progression is uneven and inhibits story flow.

Dick Hill does an admirable narration with the caveat that Reacher endures a broken nose (from #15) for the entire story forcing Hill to render a nasally Jack that sounds like one long cold and flu commercial. While the range of voices and the narration pace is excellent, the story does drag a bit, especially in the early going.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Why are the Women so Dumb?

I think I'm done with Lee Child. I love the Jack Reacher character, although it feels like he is coming to the end of the line, but I just can't stand the way Child writes the leading female roles. It is like they can't figure their way out of the problem 1+1=2. It is horrific. I am a woman and fed up with Lee Child's limited view of female intelligence.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

OK, We Get It. Broken Nose.

Lee Child's plot is as inventive, well-thought-out, and twisted as ever in this thriller (which lives up to its name!) Unfortunately, Reacher's nose was broken in the last book, and the narrator read every.single.line of Reacher's with a stuffed up nose. It was awful and distracting and horribly frustrating to listen to. Had I realized this was the case, I would have read this one in print rather than suffering through hours of Jack Reacher's broken nose.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good, but some disappointing elements

Lee Child's Reacher series started off with decent writing, improbable coincidences, and unpredictable stories that pulled the reader along. Over the series, the writing has improved steadily, the improbably coincidences have gotten more probable, and the stories have generally stayed unpredictable, with the resolution just out of reach of the reader until the end.

This book is no exception to the above summary. The writing is downright superb for serial thrillers. The probability factor is extremely low here at the beginning, but once over the central coincidence, the story flows smoothly. And the story for most of it drags the reader along on the edge of understanding but not quite getting it. Child has become very good at having Reacher get some of it right and some wrong from the beginning, and showing him work it out as the story moves. He's also good at revealing just enough of the bad guy's perspective to build tension without giving it away.

My only complaint is that the endings are becoming trite and cartoonish. Reacher has become invincible, the enemies have become mindless and faceless, and the heroic deeds have become simplistic and repetitive, and plain old violent. The ending seemed, basically, lazy, like a writer filling out a formula.

The reading was exceptional, as always when Dick Hill reads Lee Child. Early on in the series, Hill's reading of female dialogue was annoying, but he has gotten better. Child writes strong female characters, mostly, and Hill has gotten better at reading them.

I liked the book. The ending got monotonous and troubling, but the rest of the story was good. I hope Child gets away from his current ending formula, though.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Js
  • 10-02-12

I still like Child

I love Lee Child's writing, and his observations and asides still enchant. I almost never give a pass to unrealistic situations but somehow when Reacher uncovers byzantine conspiracies and ends up out of touch and out of reach in a Corner of Nowhere despite this being an extremely connected society... I go along. I don't know why I cut Child so much slack. Perhaps it is because I love the "Stranger comes to Town" trope.
I just the author would get back to more grounded situations. The villains were faceless. We never get to know them. That can work, but here it just makes the conflict oddly bloodless despite all the blood.

Oddly David Baldacci's "Zero Day" has been called a Jack Reacher homage, and I find "A Wanted Man" to be weirdly evocative of "Zero Day", and I know that is either a strange coincidence... or a conspriacy!

One final note on action and violence: way way to little. Reacher never even punches someone in the stomach till near the end of the book. I appreciate that he is a detective unraveling a mystery, but he is a very large, very strong detective who knows how to fight dirty. The best fight is the one you walk away from--- unless you're a thriller writer.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • E
  • 09-24-12

Did Lee Child really write this one?

I too am a Lee Child/Reacher fan, but this one is way off the mark. Entirely too much detail that adds no value to the story line. No one wants to hear about every blade of grass in a 10-mile drive, or spend 20 minutes listening to the description of a key with scratches on the end of it, or why those scratches might be there. I was constantly rewinding because the story is hard to follow amid the humdrum. This entire book could easily be consolidated into a two-hour short story. Avoid this one and hope the next work is better.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not Jack at his best

My usual guilty pleasure was just a little ordinary this time.

I waited so long and wanted so much for this latest installment, maybe too much?

Maybe anything following "Worth Dying For" was going to be a let down. Don't get me wrong, it was decent if a little slow to simmer. It just wasn't as full of Reacher's usual take charge, action packed personality.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

CAN YOU PLEASE CHANGE THE READER

CAN YOU JUST TRY A NEW READER SO I CAN BUY LEE CHILD AGAIN

Time for a change Dick Hill is the same in every book they all sound the same

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not sure why there is so much hate for the book

Overall this was a great jack reacher story that was different from the others. Here Jack has a broken noise and is wanted by the law due to accepting the wrong car to ride in. There were lots of twists and turns as usual but there were a lot of differences. Reacher actually talked to people rather than remain silent, was a few steps behind the bad guys until he caught up, didn't sleep with anyone, and the final scene was suspenseful and fun. Jack had to rely on others to get out of certain situations, had to deal with an obnoxious hotel clerk, a FBI agent who reputation and life was on the line and many others to get the job done. It had me at the edge of my seat wanting to know where it was going to go and how it was going to end. Dick Hill portrayed a broken noised Reacher well. It sounded like he had a nasal issue when he talked as reacher and normal when he was others. At first it was a bit annoying but then by the end I enjoyed his performance a lot. It became believable. Not the best reacher book in the series but quality story with a enjoyable ending. Plus there were lots of parts that were lots of interesting characters and it was a well placed story.

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