Nothing to Lose

Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels are like comfortable shoes these days. You know exactly what you are going to get from them and you don't mind at all. By this time, the Reacher plot is formulaic. Reacher hitchhikes to town, discovers something that aggravates his sense of the world, meets a girl, knocks some heads, fights out of a bad situation, defeats the bad guys, and walks away. And that is exactly how this book goes as well. Not that I minded because that is what Child's readers are looking for. Just as with Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt, I wanted a fun adventure without the need to plumb the language for hidden meaning.

My only complaint is that the UK cover is so much better than the US version. For once in a Reacher book, guns are almost never used. Thus the imagery (while keeping in line with the style started with Persuader) is completely wrong for the book. But then again, many series books keep the same look to maintain links through the series. But some do it better than others. The first half of the Grafton alphabet had nice paintings or images that dealt with the story. Now they have the same boring look with only the color on the fonts to really differentiate them. Childs' last few are all variations on the bulls eye with different colors and the occasional bullet hole. Rather dull if you ask me. At least the UK covers convey a sense of the action and the art looks nice.

Time to move on to another book.