Bad Luck and Trouble

Jack Reacher, Book 11

By: Lee Child

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

A decade postmilitary, Jack Reacher has an ATM card and the clothes on his back - no phone, no ties, and no address. But now a woman from his old unit has done the impossible. From Chicago, Frances Neagley finds Reacher using a signal only the eight members of their elite team of army investigators would know. She tells him a terrifying story about the brutal death of a man they both served with. Soon Reacher is reuniting with the survivors of his old team, scrambling to raise the living, bury the dead, and connect the dots in a mystery that is growing darker by the day.

In a world of bad luck and trouble, when someone targets Jack Reacher and his team, they'd better be ready for what comes right back at them.

©2007 Lee Child (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Winning." (Publishers Weekly) "Highly recommended." (Library Journal)
"The action is intense, the pace unrelenting, and the violence unforgiving. Child remains the reigning master at combining breakneck yet brilliantly constructed plotting with characters who continually surprise us with their depth." (Booklist)

Kept My Interest

This is an excellent book for this genre. It is well-written and the characters are well rounded and vivid. The plot is interesting and I didn't get bored at all - even the descriptive segments were interesting. A few spots got a bit predictable but if you don't mind that (which I don't), it holds enough plot twists and turns to keep your interest. The reader did a good job, however he needs to work on his female characters. This is right up there with the best of Michael Connelly, only maybe a bit edgier. His "Reacher" character is definitely out there and a force to be reconned with!

BLT

As I typed the title of my review, I was reminded of a line in the book: "I love BLT's..." I wasn't sure I would like this book after reading some of the reviews, but I did enjoy it. I had no problem with the narrator, I like his Jack Reacher voice, all gravelly and he didn't do too bad with the women either. I've heard worse narrators.

One of the best so far

I love Jack Reacher and this series. I love the predictability and unpredictability of each of these books. I don't give every one five stars, however, this one is especially good because it brings back people from Jack's past. You get to know him even more than usual.

Another Great Jack Reacher adventure

If you have listened or read to Lee Child's books, you wait impatiently for the next book to come out.

They are unpredictible, captivating and exciting. This one, "Bad Luck and Trouble" ranks right up there with his earlier book "Killing Floor".

I think you will like this one.

Val

I am a long time Lee Child/Jack Reacher reader/listener. I found this book a grabber from the first paragraph to the last. It is classic Reacher, hard, smart and engaging. Dick Hill was a wonderful narrator and made the characters come alive with his energy and talent. If you like mystery, suspense and action this is a must read/listen book for you.

Don't get Reacher mad

This is my 12th listen in the Reacher series and I think Reacher was more testy in this one than in all the previous installments. He took things very personally and, as usual, took no prisoners. I particularly enjoyed the characterization of the three colleagues that joined with him in this adventure. What can I say? Standard Reacher fare that will entertain his fans.

Reacher’s folding toothbrush is destroyed!

I am not listening to these in order, but this is my fourth adventure and it will not be the last.

For me, this was the most enjoyable Reacher so far. It is well written and has unique incidents. Our vagabond is doing his usual meandering, anonymous tour of the United States. By an unusual communication method, he is called to an emergency meet of his old Army team. Four show up and four are missing; only one body has been recovered and it has evidence of a violent death and disposal. Finding the bodies, untangling the mystery, and thwarting a plot to confiscate US military weapons are all mixed in with revenge and the usual mayhem.

There were many humorous bits thrown in that made me chuckle out loud. How dare the bad guys destroy his toothbrush?

Dick Hill is a master narrator for this genre. I always enjoy listening to him.

Bad Luck and Trouble

Bad Luck and Trouble sheds a lot of light on Reacher and what drives him. Sometimes he seems almost a two dimensional entity without any clear motivation other than violence, and then you see the almost Taoist clarity with which he sees the world. If there were a grim reaper, Reacher could be his avatar on earth. He takes the admonition "do the right thing" from his mother (Enemy), and does it. The eye for an eye nature of his balancing the books for his brutally murdered comrades is justice at it's simplist. If he were to have a tatoo, it would say "Let God sort it out later", to paraphrase R. Lee Ermey. Great Book!

I usually love Jack Reacher, but something is off.

This one sounds like it's going to be great. But Reacher comes across as kind of thuggish. Which he doesn't usually. That kind of ruined it for me. And the story isn't as tight, or creative or interesting as a lot of other Jack Reacher adventures. This series is one of my 'Go Tos' when I can't find anything to listen to, and I will Go To others. But this just isn't as good. The narrator gets Reacher wrong, and the women in it are just kind of rote. So, not the strongest. There are better Reachers.

Not my favorite Narration

I've listened to a lot of audio books and I've listened to this narrator before. This time was difficult. His alternate voices were smarmy and slurred and made me cringe.. The story was a 3 for me but that is mainly because it was painful to listen to at times.