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.

Jack Reacher - Got to Love Him

Lee Child does a great job. I love all of his books. This is another great one.

not the best...

it was a struggle to listen let alone follow the storyline. I do love the narrator though!

Reacher is a jerk in this

Dick Hill is an awesome narrator, but that's all the positives I can really give in this novel. The villain is boring and feels like a stab at Christians. The plot is fairly slow and is average at best. Oh yeah, and as the title indicates - Reacher is a jerk in this! There are far better Jack Reacher novels than this. I'm going to list reasons why I didn't like this book and they will contain spoilers:

WARNING SPOILERS:


1. Jack Reacher knowingly sleeps with a comatose veteran's wife, tells her to get over it, essentially forces her to keep doing it when she expressed regret for it, telling her that her husband is pretty much dead, and than having the audacity to claim later that her husband is a "brother" to him because all soldiers are his brothers. NOT cool Reacher.

2. Jack Reacher heavily implies he is an atheist and constantly belittles the villain for his Christian faith. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if it didn't feel like the whole thing is a stab a Christians in general. Also despite most likely being atheist Reacher somehow has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible and it's verses yet doesn't understand what religions believe. To be fair Reacher doesn't actually claim to be atheist in this, nor does he condemn religion in general but it is so close to the precipice of doing so that I found it to be in bad taste.

3. Reacher knowingly detonates a dirty bomb on US soil in a small community just to kill the villain and his cronies. Seriously?

4. Reacher steals a guy's cellphone and car registration after leaving him stranded on the side of the road in a disabled vehicle - after the guy offered Reacher to drive his vehicle to wherever he needed so the guy could sleep off his drunken state. (Also, it's possible Reacher is the reason the car died in the first place because he could have put the wrong fuel in it.) Reacher does have Vaughn mail the guy his cellphone and registration back in the end (AFTER the guy's phone was used to detonate said dirty bomb esrlier) but still he left the poor guy stranded in the middle of nowhere with a disabled vehicle, no cellphone and a not so friendly note.

5. It really feels like the author doesn't care for conservative politics in the year this book was written. It may not bother you if you don't like conservative politics to begin with but it is bothersome.

6. Did Reacher ever pay Vaughn back for her broken windows he caused? He said he would but it's never mentioned if he did. This always irked me.

7. Lucy was a real bitch for a minor character. I hope her and her boyfriend end up getting killed by wild Yetis in Canada. On the other hand poor Maria got the shaft. This is just my personal opinion here, but I figured I'd list it.

So yeah Reacher is a major asshole in this book and not in his usual good way, and the plot is one giant stab at the Iraq war era. (Which is real original...)

Decent story, easy to follow

What made the experience of listening to Nothing to Lose the most enjoyable?

This is a very detailed story, minus the fluffy filler that normally finds its way into every other book you'll read.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Reacher

very good book

I can visualize Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher playing this in a movie that I would definitely watch

A Star is Born

This book would make a great movie. Easy to boo the self-righteous villian. I can picture Alan Ritchson as the new (and much bigger) Jack Reacher

Control Freaks

Dick Hill's narration is always great!! Lee Child's inimitable style of concise yet minute details in on full display. Reacher goes into a diner for a cup of coffee, just a simple cup of coffee, and is not only refused but also ejected from a town desperate to hide it's secrets. Unfortunately there really are people who think they need to "help" YHWH or Satan, depending on viewpoint, with getting their plans into working order....an order that these individuals actually think they can somehow control. That said, the apparent disregard for the Bible got this book a 4 instead of a 5. Enough said!!

Jack Reacher as Bully

Any additional comments?

I've read all of the Jack Reacher books in order up to this one. This is the first book where I didn't really like him. He acts like a bully throughout the entire story, and the ending (albeit dramatic) is not very satisfying.

I like Jack Reacher...but not a fan of this one.

What did you like best about Nothing to Lose? What did you like least?

The plot. It was like searching for something to write about. It was not anywhere close to Lee Child's best work.

If you like Reacher novels, SKIP THIS ONE!!!

What did you like best about Nothing to Lose? What did you like least?

Jack Reacher supporting military deserters? I'm very disappointed Lee Child.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I don't know if I want to buy any more Lee Child products...

Have you listened to any of Dick Hill’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Dick Hill does a great job reading Reacher novels, I don't blame him for having to read "michael moore-esk" left-wing BS.

Do you think Nothing to Lose needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, it took a long time before I could stand finishing this BS

Any additional comments?

If this was the first Reacher novel I'd heard I would never buy another one. This novel might have ruined Jack Reacher novels for me. Not only was the story slow to develop but Lee Child made Reacher come across like a stubborn ass instead of a loner with strong sense of fair play like in all the novels before this one.