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.

political statement

I have read all Reacher novels and have liked all of them to date. I wait for a new novel to be published every year and could not wait until this one was available.

This book started off ok but jumped the shark when reacher threw his hand into the political arena. I feel Lee Child wrote this novel to take a shot at the military and administration. Seems like a lot of setup for a lackluster and frustrating ending.

Get off your soap box, Lee Child

Definitely the worst Jack Reacher saga and possibly the worst book ever. Its cardboard characters CRAWLED to the finishing line. First time that I've ever set the audible speed on my iPod to "Fast" (only because I'm one of those people who can't NOT finish a book, no matter how bad). And absolutely the most convoluted plot ever.

Once authors develop a following, why do some of them feel the need to start using their books as soap boxes? Get off your soap box, Lee Child, and go back to what you're great at doing: telling edge-of-your-seat stories through Jack "Dirty Harry" Reacher. PLEASE, turn off your inner Michael Moore. It just doesn't jive with Jack Reacher.

Least favorite of all the Reacher novels

I've listened to all 11 Reacher novels prior to this one and I think author Lee Child lost some of his magic with Nothing to Lose. After a typical strong beginning, Child has his listeners wandering aimlessly between Hope and Despair along with his protagonist. The sub-plot centering on the plight of other visitors to Despair did little more than give Child an opportunity to turn Reacher into someone who more convincingly resembled Jeanine Garofalo than he did Superman. Officer Vaughn was not a believable character, even for a Reacher novel. And the reception that Vaughn and Reacher received during one of their visits to Despair ruptured credulity. My biggest question during the listen was whether Child was going to let Reacher and the Giant finally get it on before the book ended. Luckily Child didn't disappoint me here. Even with its weaknesses, Nothing to Lose will keep Reacher fans entertained. I'm taking a Lee Child break before moving on to Gone Tomorrow. I remain hopeful that the Man of Steel returns for the 13th installment.

Nothing to lose is nothing worth reading.

Until listening to "Nothing to Lose" I was a loyal fan of Jack Reacher. He was a patriot and a man with a moral compass who believed in always doing the right thing. Suddenly he has morphed into a christian-hating, anti-war, cardboard superhero. Hollywood should love this one!
When did Lee Child decide this was the lecture that his (previously) loyal readers needed to hear?
Jack Reacher really does have "nothing to lose". He has already lost his soul.

Time for a new character

After reading all of Lee Child's books you feel like you know the lead character. In this book, Jack Reacher is not the same person. I do not feel he would support a wartime deserter or even be sympathetic towards them.
The plot is overly complex and borders on boring.
Lee Child has become too smart for his own good. I am not a fan of an author placing their political views in a fiction book, especially when it would contradict the main character's psyche.
It may be time to bury Reacher and work on a new character.

Big Lee Child Fan Disappointed

Lee Child is my favorite writer. But in this one, you feel like you are the one trudging back and forth from Hope to Despair, the two towns in the novel. Many parts are not believable but mostly it is just boring.

So much for this character

Very disappointing, to my mind Jack Reacher would never promote desertion and he would never dis the military. It was a slap in the face the men and woman serving. I really liked the character up until now. Time to drop this author.

Disappointing

I have thoroughly enjoyed all previous Reacher novels by Lee Child. This offering seems like a ghost written one by a different author, and was very disappointing for many reasons - plot, facts and most of all, for inserting a political agenda that seemed to negate all that Reacher stood for.

Reminds me of Bob McNamara's "awakening" a while ago - something is not right up there.

Reacher has reached the end

Our boy, Jack, wishes he had been brave enough to be a deserter?

Sorry, Lee. I'm done.

Jack Reacher, I am gonna miss you.........

I have always been a fan of Vince Flynn, Stephen Coonts and Lee Child, but after reading "Nothing to Lose", Lee Child has (and Jack Reacher) has been dropped from my list.

In all of the Reacher novels todate, I never figured him to be anti military, anti Christian, and even anti American. Even Childs research on his subject matter is so full of lies that would make any Veteran of either the Gulf War or Irag puke. For example, there has only been one instance of an M1A1 tank being defeated in any battle fount, Iraq not withstanding, and his description of description of depleted uranium is almost a joke. This stuff is not only used in tank armor, but also CAT Scanners and MRI units. It has less radioactivity than the average masonry home. Sorry Lee, I will miss the Jack Reacher character, but will never purchase another Jack Reacher novel.

Claude Allen
US Army 1966-68