Reviews

61 Hours: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

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jimbowen0306's review against another edition

3.0

Hmmm, I've read a number of books about Jack Reacher over the years and always felt they stretched credibility a little bit. The issue I have with them is that Reacher's a guy who's gone all David Carradine (you know, from the television show Kung Fu), and decided to "walk the Earth" (or in this case the US) after spending time as a military policeman in the US Army.

The problem I have is that he ride's his luck. Sure he's a bit of a man mountain (6'5, 250lbs). Sure he's bright. Sure he's a good shot, but to have had as many close calls as Reacher has, means you ride your luck. And in this one he really rides his luck.

This book sees Reacher planted in South Dakota. In one of those typical "back a** end of nowhere" places where the local plod can call on Reacher for help. Which is what they do of course (it'd be a whole different book if he was told "move on, nothing to see here"). This time he's roped in to help defend an old age pensioner who stumbled upon a murder-cum-drug deal between a Mexican cartel, and a biker gang (because hell, it's South Dakota, they ride bikes up there don't they?). In the process many shenanigans happen. People die. Baddies get identified, and Reacher does his Reacher thing.

So in short, it's your typical Reacher fayre. If you like what's gone before, you'll like this. If you didn't, maybe you won't. I will say one thing though. I did buy the next book in the series (which means it can't be an entirely bad read), though in my defense, I'm genuinely how the author explains what happens in the end of this book, which is a typical exemplar of "Oh come on really?" luck riding, to my mind at least.

hollidayreadswithme's review against another edition

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2.0

It was like Fargo mixed with Mission Impossible.

I’m not sure if it was good or just long enough for me to forget that I really didn’t care about this book.

I cared about two of the characters and I think I was really shocked by certain actions by other characters because I had never read a Jack Reacher novel, but I had a couple of issues with it that have to be addressed.

1. He calls this woman in Virginia who is the commander of his old army division and just flirts with her, while basically ordering her to give him classified information. It wasn’t even good flirting. He kept asking her if she was married. I was so close to just DNFing this.

2. We are reminded every five pages that Reacher was part of the military. Like, yeah we get it. You’re the military cop. But you are an EX military cop, right?

3. He’s doing this countdown 61 hours, right? But we don’t even know what his mission is or why he’s counting down.

4. Also if the bus breaking down on the way to the Grand Canyon was an accident, how on Earth is this deviation from his trip plans a part of his countdown?

5. What is he counting down to? I think this is the most infuriating part, especially considering, I’ve read the book and still don’t understand how that was supposed to work.

6. Also, the ending

Spoiler

was wrapped up so perfectly that it was almost like the whole book was a waste.

Okay, maybe I had more than a couple of things….

But at the end of the day, this fulfilled a prompt on my challenge and I got to listen to it for two work days which was actually pretty cool. Okay, it kept my attention and I had a couple of “oh my god” moments, and I wouldn’t say it was fun, but I listened to the whole thing, so It’s fine.

I guess.

Not for me. I wouldn’t recommend it. But if you like action thrillers that are the pace of molasses for the first 11 hours and then from 0 to 100 in 30 minutes, then go ahead.

So 2 stars, because I didn’t like it but it’s not the worst.

Audiobook comments: Maybe just read the book and not listen to it. The accents are awful and Mexican and Russian apparently sound the same to this guy.

2019 ATY Challenge - A book with a number in the title or on the cover

hayamaakito's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

kathydavie's review against another edition

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3.0

Fourteenth in the Jack Reacher suspense series. This one takes place in South Dakota.

My Take
I was disappointed in this one, partially because Reacher is definitely slowing down mentally. I knew who the bad guy was halfway through...and I am usually slow at picking it up! And, yeah, I missed all those action sequences that have been in the previous stories. Although, Reacher is getting older, maybe he's slowing down. Dang it. The countdown that kept cropping up in the story drove me nuts as well. It was an artificial bit of tension that didn't really create any.

I did love watching Reacher do his magic, telling them: how to find where the biker got killed, where the army captain is, how to break him, the whereabouts of the non-escapee,

Too funny: Marines do their winter training in San Diego.

Wow. Just reading his file...it's mindblowing. Really makes ya wish there were more Jack Reachers in the military. For real. Yeah, that description of him as "beyond outstanding in hand-to-hand combat", that it's "like having a running chainsaw thrown at you", yeah, that sounds like Reacher in a fight. Interesting info on that seventy-third citation for a six-year-old Reacher. It would have made more sense if it had been for the events in Second Son.

It's a little scary, even if it does make sense, that the military routinely handed out drugs to the soldiers. One of those ideas that sound good, like using heroin to help with pain control during the Civil War.

Five minutes. All Reacher asked for was five frickin' minutes...

The Story
Pure chance. Just the luck of the draw that Reacher happened to be on this bus. That a blizzard came up. That the lawyer skidded. That Reacher ended up stranded in Bolton, South Dakota. A small town with a big "corporate" presence and a rare witness willing to testify.

A witness they want silenced. The kicker is the deal the town made with the primary employer in town. If the siren goes off, the entire police force responds, leaving Janet Salter completely unprotected.

Peterson recognizes Reacher's type. He wants to use him; Holland thinks he's psychotic.

Peterson wants her safe. Plato wants her dead.

The Characters
Jack Reacher is an ex-M.P. who has been roaming the country for the past ten years or so. No job, no fixed abode. Carrying nothing but his ID, ATM card, a toothbrush, and a strong sense of justice. And an uncanny ability to get inside anyone's head.

Chief Tom Holland and Andrew Peterson, his second-in-command of the Bolton PD, have a problem. The chief's wife died and he has a daughter. Peterson's wife is Kim and they have sons.

Janet Salter is a retired, seventy-year-old librarian, who wants to do the right thing. A professor of Library Science at Oxford University where she used to help run the Bodleian. Then she came back to the States. To run Yale's library.

Major Susan Turner now commands the MP Corps 110th Special Unit. The one founded by Jack Reacher.

Plato is a really, really short crime boss who lives in Mexico. He wants the chain broken. Nothing to point back to him. And he revels in hurting people. Directly or through their families. The slightest hint of insult will be avenged.

There's a biker gang that lives on abandoned military property a few miles outside of Bolton. The cops just can't get the proof that they're cooking and dealing meth.

The Cover
The cover is chilling in its blue and white with the time counting down and a snowy landscape of a rutted road and bare trees and bushes.

The title is all they've got. They just don't know it's a countdown from 61 Hours to death.