Worth Dying For: A Jack Reacher Novel

In “Worth Dying For” Lee Child breaks things up a bit with his stoic, strolling hero by not having him buy cheap new clothes and discarding the ones he’s wearing immediately and by allowing an opponent to break JR’s nose for the first time in his life. Given the many brawls Reacher has already been in as chronicled in the previous 14 novels his shattered schnoz will surprise long time readers. The fun thing about this character is that he dishes out an amazing amount of pain and punishment and for the most part remains unscathed so his getting injured is something, maybe he’s getting old? Of course for fans of the Liam Neeson and Denzel Washington revenge flicks featuring 60 year olds Reacher’s got plenty of life left in him. The plot is similar in some respects to earlier books; a small rural town is held in the grip of a rich individual (or family) that has some sort of sinister plot going on terrorizing the locals. Murder follows and Reacher ends up neck deep in the situation and ultimately dispenses justice. In “Worth Dying For” Reacher’s in Nebraska and the Duncan family runs a trucking company that has a monopoly controlling the transport of all crop shipments in the area. If you displease the Duncan’s your crops rot in the field and you suffer financially. The family is involved in a smuggling operation of some sort and they also have a darker secret that is eventually revealed. It’s classic Jack Reacher taking on a criminal family and their many henchmen singlehandedly in satisfying style. For a change there’s no romantic liaison for JR in this tale and Child avoids making any of the military related gaffs that populate many of his novels. Overall a worthy adventure for fans of the series that will keep you coming back for more. As an aside, I saw an online interview with Lee Child that suggested a Jack Reacher television series with Netflix is in the works which could be interesting. The interviewer asked about casting and specifically if the lead role would be someone bigger than Tom Cruise (star of the two Reacher motion pictures) and Child emphatically confirmed it would be a ‘big guy’. Stay tuned!

Like all Lee Child's Reacher stories, this one is a page-turner picking up where 61 hours leaves off. After the events of 61 hours, Reacher finds himself further south in the middle of cornfield Nebraska dealing with a small community of people cowed by bullies. Like all other Reacher novels, each stands on its own. You don't have to read 61 Hours to enjoy this story.I've chosen to read all the Reacher books (sans short stories) in order of the fictional timeline beginning when he was in the Army. With the current pandemic, I've got plenty of time on my hands and these books are a great way to pass the time. Looking forward to the series coming out.

Huge Reacher fan (Reacher Creature). While in real life much of what Reacher does to get himself in and an out of a jam couldn't/wouldn't really fall neatly into place, he's a great guy to root for! He's not the underdog--he's way too bug for that. But he believes in justice and the American way and fairness. He believes that if you hurt the weak you should pay for that. And he'll see to it that that happens.Speaking of helping the weak, that's how we meet Reacher in this book. Helping people is like Reacher's spidey sense. When he overhears there might be a woman in need, Reacher rushes in to save the day. Nevermind the fact that he's sticking his nose in to someone else's business...Reacher can't NOT help.This story is part of a rare 4-part series, so you'll have a better context for some of the characters and Reacher's journey if you start with 61 Hours. (I've read that one twice.) Once you start reading you won't want to put the book down. Then you're hooked for life!

This Jack Reacher novel (and I think I have now read all of them) was really hard to put down. Jack comes upon a farming town in Nebraska with some really evil people controlling the residents. Their transgressions surpass greed and abuse—gradually we learn that there are other, darker forces at work. Jack is alone, on foot in territory where homes and buildings of any kind are miles apart—in dead winter. He has nearly 2 dozen people searching to find and kill him. How does this man do it? The author manages to inject some humor and irony into what is otherwise simply a cliff-hanger!

This book lacked the imagination Lee Child can usually be counted on in the Reacher series. It's still a good story. You know Reacher is going to win. Usually, it's with intellect, finesse and ultimately brute force. This book goes straight for brute force and stays there. I'm not knocking it, I'm simply unaccustomed to it in a Reacher novel. This is the second time I've read the story. Each time I was struck by the finesse Lee Child used in that the characters, the bad guys, were people that truly deserved brute force so Reacher's brute force was relevant and to the point. I recommend the book.

I have never owned a Jack Reacher book before but after seeing and enjoying the movies I thought I would give it a try. I should maybe have started with the first book but after seeing there were something like 20 odd books I wanted to get a later one so that the style of story telling was more concrete, if that makes sense.First off let me say this is a good book. The outlandish situations Reacher finds himself in and how he interacts with everyone and finds solutions to his problems are all very entertaining and, at least to my eye, seemed plausible enough. Just realistic enough to draw you in but with enough of the fantastic so you also believe the outcomes.*SPOILER*In this book Reacher accidentally stumbles across a human smuggling/peodophile ring while learning about the death/ disappearance of a young girl decades earlier. He then proceeds, with some grudging help from a few town members who are all under the thumb of the smugglers. Completely absurd how he almost single handedly discovers the truth, turns a few of the town to help him, and eventually kills everyone involved in the ring, at least in the town, as it’s all one family.Did I roll my eyes once or twice reading this ? Yes. Did it stop me enjoying the book? No. If you like Jack Reacher books you’ll already know what to expect and I’m sure this will deliver. If not it’s a good entry book to learn a bit about his methods etc. If you like your heroes to be a bit gritty and rough and tumble and not win every fight they get into (realism, thank you) this is the series/book for you.

Re-read this as I remember it as one of my favorites in the series. But how did it hold up this time around?As a thriller I think it's a superb story, and in that way alone make it one of the best Lee Child books. It starts off with such a simple enough premise that grows into something much bigger as the novel progresses. Also, the character of Jack Reacher remains injured from the previous book, and a vulnerable hero is more interesting than an invincible one.However, this time around I found the violence too extreme. While some people may argue it was justified, the way the character goes out of his way to cripple people from the start didn't work for me. By the end there was plenty of opportunity to see justice done, but instead there was too much cold-blooded mass murder.Because of that, I'd regard this as a five-star story but am removing a star as the violence can be unpalatable.

Reacher looked at the eight men in front of him. Which one would attack him first? Probably the big confident one with the tattoos, he could see it in his eyes. Reacher had been in the army (did I mention this before?) and a military policeman (I must have done, surely?) and so knew all about fighting. He was six foot tall and then some, and had been a fighter all his life, first of all against his brother and then against other assorted bad guys with no redeeming features. The big guy stepped forward and Reacher floored him with his elbow, breaking his windpipe with... Writes itself, doesn't it?

Today, I’m not sure I enjoy jack reacher books or not.The have a twisted tale to tell, the goodies are always slightly bad, the baddies do some good things... there is action, violence, death, destruction and a good end.This is all of the above and don’t get me wrong, it was a fun read.But, and it is getting to be a bigger but, with every book I read, they are all basically the same.

A good addition to the series with Reacher tackling especially unpleasant locals in rural America - I'm guessing the Nebraska Tourist Board won't be too happy. Wrongs are righted, coffee is drunk and everything described in excruciating needless detail. The plot has an elegant simplicity and the villains are dispatched with brutal non-judicial efficiency (this hardly counts as a spoiler). Ringing the police never seems like much of an option with Reacher, thankfully.All good, but what about the cliffhanger ending of "61 Hours" when it looked like our boy was a goner? The author must've painted himself into a corner here because there's sod all explanation of how our hero survived the humongous explosion. Oh yeah, he escaped and "strained every muscle in his body"...but still manages to spifflicate approximately 17 bad guys. Gripe over, next book please.