Never Go Back

Jack Reacher, Book 18

By: Lee Child

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • THE BLOCKBUSTER JACK REACHER SERIES THAT INSPIRED THE STREAMING SERIES REACHER

Never Go Back is a novel of action-charged suspense starring “one of the best thriller characters at work today” (Newsweek).

Former military cop Jack Reacher makes it all the way from snowbound South Dakota to his destination in northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. The old stone building is the closest thing to a home he ever had.

Reacher is there to meet—in person—the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, so far just a warm, intriguing voice on the phone.

But it isn’t Turner behind the CO’s desk. And Reacher is hit with two pieces of shocking news, one with serious criminal consequences, and one too personal to even think about.

When threatened, you can run or fight.

Reacher fights, aiming to find Turner and clear his name, barely a step ahead of the army, and the FBI, and the D.C. Metro police, and four unidentified thugs.

Combining an intricate puzzle of a plot and an exciting chase for truth and justice, Lee Child puts Reacher through his paces—and makes him question who he is, what he’s done, and the very future of his untethered life on the open road.

©2013 Lee Child (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Child is a superb craftsman of suspense." (Entertainment Weekly)

“A breathless cross-country spree . . . some of the best, wiliest writing [Lee] Child has ever done . . . Child’s bodacious action hero, Jack Reacher, has already tramped through 17 novels and three e-book singles. But his latest, Never Go Back, may be the best desert island reading in the series. It’s exceptionally well plotted. And full of wild surprises. And wise about Reacher’s peculiar nature. And positively Bunyanesque in its admiring contributions to Reacher lore.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“An adrenaline-charged, action-packed thriller . . . impossible to put down.” (Lansing State Journal)

dick hill

I mean this dude is so good. The different subtleties to each voice are actually insane.

My favorite Reacher story yet

I'm not a big review writer, but I'll say that this story is solid and captivating, like most of the Reacher series.

This my favorite in the series because the story itself was fascinating, one of the protagonists is a strong and intelligent woman (she's in it throughout the entire story), and there's not as much violence as there is in many of the books. The main female character held Reacher back a bit, like a woman would, which I personally liked. It gave the story more depth, in addition to the usual intrigue.

VERY enjoyable-one of the best Reacher novels ever

Not exactly a softer gentler Reacher, but this book does show some personal emotion when Reacher finally meets Susan Turner. And, perhaps, his 14 year old daughter?

I really enjoyed having some of his inner personality shown here-alont with the usual amount of blood and fights and running around. Some great descriptive chase scenes, some really unusual characters and a lot of "Reacher said nothing" as usual.

Honestly-I bought this last evening and listened much of the night and day to it..a real 'couldn't put it down.

I just wish Dick Hill wasn't so inept with his women's voices..it spoils some great dialogue with his blah, toneless interpretation of how women speak.

For Reacher fans, it's a must buy.

Lee Child is back

Any additional comments?

After that last plodding debacle featuring Jack Reacher that was nearly unfinishable, this is a much better story. The plot is a bit convoluted and elastic but the characterizations are very well done and the story moves along nicely. The characters have much more dimensionality since the last book which read like a contractual obligation instead of a novel. This is much more aligned with the novelist and his best known protagonist.

Pleasantly Surprised

Maybe I'm just easy, but I was impressed by Lee Child's ability to shake things up a little for Jack Reacher. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Reacher fans are never really surprised when they read a new Reacher book. It usually goes like this:

1.Reacher heads to a new destination.
2.Reacher gets drawn into some mysterious situation.
3.Reacher can't resist a good mystery so he sets out to solve it.
4.Along the way Reacher ends up defending some person who is being bullied in
some way and he usually meets a beautiful woman who is hot for him and totally willing
to be his part-time lover until he's ready to move on.
5.Reacher solves the mystery and has a big showdown with bad guys.
6.Reacher gets out of dodge.

And that's all fine; after 15 or more books, we're used to it. Which is why I like what Child did with this book. In Never Go Back the format is still the same, but the things that make Reacher who he is are challenged and that's what made this such an interesting read for me.

As far as the narration goes, Dick Hill does a great job. He always gives a pretty straight-forward narration; no bells and whistles. He's not great with female voices or accents, but you always know who's speaking in a scene. No big deal. The only problem I have with Dick Hill is that his narration doesn't always match the the mood of certain scenes. It's not a deal breaker though.

Happy Reading!

Reacher is the Man!!!

Another Reacher hit. I can see a follow-up here with two of the characters, hope so anyway! My only complaint (shared by someone else who listened to this) was that mid-way during the second download there were several characters introduced. We kept getting them mixed up and confused mainly due to there rather difficult names. Glad I stuck with it (I almost didn't) because things wrapped up nicely.

I could probably pick this book apart but am such a Lee Child/Dick Hill/Jack Reacher fan that I have a sort of unconditional love of the series. Give this one a go.

Jack Reacher is a bone crushing badass!

Continuous Action! Jack Reacher s man with a sharp mind in fantastic physical shape. Jack still has all the right moves!

Ties Everything Up

I've seen Reacher across the nation. He never settles down; he's made a few changes. I just keep listening. He doesn't own anything except a toothbrush and that house many books back he didn't say he disposed of. He's a bad driver, and he's taller than Tom Cruise!

Great Novel

What made the experience of listening to Never Go Back the most enjoyable?

Long trip to Block Island, round trip we will finish the novel

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

We arrive at the resort on Block Island, no one would get out of the auto until we hit a new chapter.

Reacher at his best

I have read all of the Jack Reacher books to date. In my view this is one of the top three in the series. If you like Jack Reacher you will really enjoy this book.