Nothing to Lose

Jack Reacher, Book 12

By: Lee Child

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, 12 miles of empty road. Jack Reacher never turns back. It's not in his nature. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble. So in Lee Child’s electrifying new novel, Reacher - a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose - goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead.

It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope, setting up a base of operations against Despair, where a huge, seething walled-off industrial site does something nobody is supposed to see...where a small plane takes off every night and returns seven hours later...where a garrison of well-trained and well-armed military cops - the kind of soldiers Reacher once commanded - waits and watches...where above all two young men have disappeared and two frightened young women wait and hope for their return.

Joining forces with a beautiful cop who runs Hope with a cool hand, Reacher goes up against Despair - against the deputies who try to break him and the rich man who tries to scare him - and starts to crack open the secrets, starts to expose the terrifying connection to a distant war that’s killing Americans by the thousand.

Now, between a town and the man who owns it, between Reacher and his conscience, something has to give. And Reacher never gives an inch.

©2008 Lee Child (P)2008 Random House, Inc.

Departure for Reacher

First off, on a very positive note, I absolutely love Dick Hill's narration. It is crisp, strong, and he does an excellent job of creating different voices for the various characters. Obviously, his Reacher interpretation is right on point. So much better than the miscast Tom Cruise in the feature films who could only reach 6 foot , 5 inches, 250 lbs in his dreams. But, I digress.

This outing has Reacher traveling through the city of Hope, Colorado and on to Disaster, Colorado where, as the name implies, all the hell breaks loose. Without giving too much away, I will say the story was very enjoyable for the first two-thirds of the novel. Then....it started getting very preachy. It turned into an anti-war statement that was more about the authors point of view than something Reacher would utter.

My biggest issue is when opinions are presented as facts without sharing a contrasting view. The story muddles into this sort of dialogue as Reacher makes the statement that the war in the middle east is nothing a but a political drama cooked up by Washington and the Pentagon resulting in our troops playing the part of pawns for their amusement. He goes so far as to call deserters heroes for fleeing to Canada. Try that statement on our battle hardened veterans who have given more than their full measure for our country to see how they would reply. This very black and white view as fighting continues in the middle east does nothing but feed to the hues and cries of the far left. As a veteran of the Vietnam war, I know full well what bad decisions are about. The Vietnam War in retrospect, was a huge disaster costing thousands of American lives and we should never have been there. On the other side of the coin, the Middle East is where we went in with honorable intentions, made mistakes nation building, and then made a bigger mistake in pulling out rather than leaving a peace-keeping force as we did in Germany after World War II. As a result, the situation is worse now than when we entered into the arena. Now, that is my opinion and not presented as fact as the author attempts to do blaming everything on politicians and the Pentagon.

With all of the above said, I will continue to be a Reacher fan and hoping the next novel will stick closer to the successful formula I relish. I really do not need someone's personal point of view pushed down my throat as fact.

The weakest entry so far

I’ve read them in order so far. All of them thus far have been good, and some of them have been really good, but this was the weakest so far. The plot meandered. Reacher’s motivations seemed pointless and the character seemed foolish and preachy. Hopefully the next will be better

This one was a little different but a still like it

I think the books are a little more complex when his son writes with him. Less simplistic and better writing with the regard to the women in the story. I don’t see his sons name in this one but I do see his touches. This one was less formulaic than others. I have enjoyed all of his books.

CK

Reacher seemed a bit boring and jumped to unrealistic conclusions. Seemed like a different character from previous books.

Slow

The story took too long to build and was rather anticlimactic. So far this has been my least favorite book in series.

A Bit Disappointing

Reacher gives full throated support to his brothers and sisters in the military, which I always like. But the story leans pretty hard left on the war in Iraq. And the villain in the story was very formulaic. The style was there, and the performance was good. It just seems like Lee Child was in a bit of a rut on this one. And just a little bit "up on a soapbox". After "Bad Luck and Trouble", I was disappointed.

"You're a one man crime wave" - Officer Vaughn

That line in the book made me laugh. I'm in love with Reacher and Dick Hill is great as always narrating. Thanks for another great adventure!

great book

I did not see the ending coming. fantastic book and would recommend to anyone that loves Reacher our new to the series.

Reacher the way you know and love him! A Badass!

Fast passed and kicking butt. Jumps right in and does not stop. Great listen... If you enjoy Mr. Reacher's wit and face pounding skills.

This is a great read and I couldn't put it down.

loved it. It is a great read with no wasted dialogue. I love the way Lee sucks you into the picture and allows you to see everything and not just read it.