The Hard Way

Jack Reacher 10

By: Lee Child

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Late at night in a New York café army-cop-turned-drifter Jack Reacher orders coffee in a cup made of foam, not china, so that he can move on at a moment’s notice.

He owns nothing, carries less, has never encountered a female colleague he can’t bed, or a case he can’t solve.

But now Reacher is confronted by a situation so disturbing and deceptive that the truth eludes him.

Has he painted targets on the good guys’ backs?

So Reacher starts over at square one. He sweats the details and works the clues. As they used to say back in the service, he’s doing it the hard way. Until what started on a busy New York street explodes three thousand miles away in the sleepy English countryside. With Reacher striding alone in the shadows. Armed and dangerous. Invincible.

©2006 Lee Child (P)2009 Random House Audiobooks

Excellent - couldn't put it 'down'.

I admit I am biased and am an admirer of Jeff Harding as a narrator; this is my fourth Jack Reacher novel and I loved loved loved it. I was subconsciously expecting many things as the story unfolded however Lee Child managed to put enough subtle twists and turns that created expectations that still turned out to be wrong (on my part!) Jeff Harding did an outstanding job with accents & voice inflections and female voices. I highly recommend this to any Lee Child fan as I couldn't put this down - I listened on the treadmill, in the car (stuck the Wiggles on so the children wouldn't talk to me) - even did my accounts with it on. Brilliant.

Jack is as usuall, not very bright

Very soon it was obvious what happen, but for Jack it took almost whole book to realize it.
Hes behavior is "one brain cell" kind, not asking any questions

This may seem petty........

This may seem petty, but there is nothing worse than listening to the narrators mouth noises.

Another Reacher Fix

If the series gets under your skin then this will not disappoint. If you are an addict, it will stop the cravings for a while. Predictable yes, JH is, now of course, Jack with his laconic delivery. Lots of 'I knew it' moments but that's fine for the genre.

listened in 1 sitting

Love Lee Childs! The twists are fabulous, the action was excellent and the story moved along in a way which was gripping, detailed with terror edged scenes which I can still visualize! !

Jeff Harding IS Reacher

I really enjoyed this Reacher story - I suspect in the past I may not have given Reacher the concentration he needs but this one was fun especially as it ended on my home turf and I could relate much better to what was going on. Jeff Harding nails Reacher for me - he does characters very well too and once you concentrate it is so easy to be swept into the narrative. Thanks to a son who keeps choosing Reacher books, I will go back and concentrate more on the other Reacher titles.

Awful narration spoiled a good book.

Lost all interest in this one when a female character called Palling was bewilderingly given an appalling voice by Mr Harding. I got into audiobooks listening to Jeff Harding reading the Jason Bourne books from Robert Ludlum and only had great memories of that experience. How can a professional actor and voice man possibly think that by merely whispering he is interpreting the character of this woman?
It really is such a stupid and silly voice he uses, it was just not possible to maintain the interest in this, otherwise entertaining story. Belief in the story is everything in an audiobook and this rediculous voice shattered any chance I had for taking it seriously.
His own normal straight male voice would have been so much more believable and easier to follow. Not only was his idea of a sexy female voice as daft as a brush, it was so quiet it was hard to understand at times. I'm surprised and disappointed in the narrator and will be careful not to make the mistake of buying any more of his work. No complaints about the story, author, or Jack Reacher though. I just hope future narrations will not be so ludicrously flippant and unbelievable.

Good beginning but implausible ending

I loved the first half but found the second part so implausible. Lee Child really needs to take into account that most people have cellphones. Jeff Harding is a great narrator, but I found this Jack Reacher story disappointing.

Good Story, Excellent Narration

I've nothing much to add about the plot or character, and if you like Lee Child in general then this one won't disappoint. But I think this is the first Lee Child book I've listened to when I realised just how talented a narrator Jeff Harding is. His voice is quite distinctive and in earlier narrations I didn't warm to it 100%, but now that I am more accustomed to it I am starting to appreciate his abilities. He does an excellent job of the various accents required by this book, to the extent of providing credible regionally distinct British English accents as well as the more common (in Child) American accents. Unlike rather many others, Harding doesn't sound like an American doing a fake British accent, and I wanted to hug him for it. The hardest requirement for a male narrator in this book is a husky voiced female, and even that one wasn't bad. So I'd say that Harding brought this from a 4 to a 5 star book for me.

Gripping -One of his best

Any additional comments?

Quite gritty and gruesome in parts.
Lee Child in his previous books was starting to get a bit stale,
however in this book he seems to have got his inspiration from Martina Cole rather than Sandra Brown.About time.
Well worth using a credit.

Classic Reacher

I came across this series a while ago and have spent a fortune buying all the unabridged titles. This one is a good as the rest and although I guessed the central premise early on, that didn't make it less enjoyable.

The Reacher books are basically adventure mysteries with ex American military policeman, Jack Reacher, at their core. He is big and hard and very violent but always with right on his side. Jeff Harding as narrator is by far the best.

Well worth a listen.

Still my favorite Jack Reacher book

I've read all of the Jack Reacher books and this is still my favorite. If your thinking of reading one of Lee Childs Jack Reacher books then you couldn't pick a better first read than this one!

In amongst the big boys

Having read a review saying this book is predictable and 'clunking' I have to say it is just that and that is its charm. You know you're going to get Reacher at his uncompromising unforgiving best. Jeff Harding's delivery has been compared with John Wayne without his charm now exchange that for Bogart's Sam Spade's drawl, menacing no nonsense voice over and you have a triumph of character formation over anything as trite as the rambling 'Duke'. The Hard Way is where Reacher mingles with other special forces personale but second leaguer and those with fists but no brains. It's a good yarn and one with twists in unexpected directions.

The Hard Way

Brilliant! Love Reacher - the narrator Jeff Harding is excellent. A real story intricate and exciting runs and runs couldn't stop listening.

Not the usual Jack Reacher tale

This was different to the other JR stories I've listened to. I got a bit bored mid way, but wanted to know the ending so carried on. The action of other books was missing from this story, but I still enjoyed it.

A tale too true

There are still wars around, there are still arms dealers - legal or clandestine - therefore there are still mercenaries.
These are credible characters, likeable characters, truly hateful and despicable characters, all in a tale that rings too true to be just writer's imagination!
And if it's not read by Jeff Harding, it's not Reacher!!

'Breathtaking!'

Breathtaking from one page to the next!

I got the hardback copy of this book from

my local library and was following the great

narration by Jeff Harding with the book. I travel

on public transport to and from work, and have

missed my stop quite a few times as I've been so

engrossed in the book! Absolutely Fantastic, I need more

Jack Reacher, and I'm gonna get it!

Grating and repetitive

This was my first Jack Reacher listen, and was on recommendation, but sadly will also be my last. The narration was grating - the characterisation reminded me of an old John Wayne movie, but without the charm. I realise that Jack Reacher isn't meant to be charming, but it also lacked the charisma that is intended in the character. The female characterisations were weak and sounded on the verge of lisping, with little emotional contrast to the main character.
Aside from a predictable story line, the constant repetition of cheesy catch phrases through the novel, "Jack Reacher. In the dark. Armed and dangerous", not to mention the "mirror on a stick" which is even more frequently used, become more than irksome when they completely destroy any tension that might have built in the story by being clunky and ineffective - it was more like a really poor attempt at NLP by constant repetition of key phrases.
Very disappointing!

totally spellbinding

a really first class story, fast paced , consistent and really believable. it was impossible to leave alone and I have never walked my dog so much!
Jeff Harding did a superlative job. Each voice was very distinctive and the accents incredible. he is definitely the best reader I have come across.

Good book

Good book and I normally like the narrator but seriously what is he eating and why can I hear it, so annoying and rude!!