It's never too far from the start of any of Lee Child's Jack Reacher
novels before Jack hears the inevitable "You're under arrest".
'Nothing to Lose' is no exception – in fact, the arrest may be
even faster than normal – as Reacher finds himself between Hope
and Despair…Colorado (yes, they're both actual Colorado towns),
arrested for ordering coffee in a diner where he's obviously not welcomed.
Despair, while aptly named, is an ugly company town, ruled by a wealthy,
evangelical tycoon named Thurman, and populated by compliant, violent,
blue collar worker-thugs. Reacher is tried, convicted of vagrancy and
run out of town within just hours of his arrival. And, as is to be expected,
that doesn't sit well with him.
'Nothing to Lose' is Child's twelfth Jack Reacher novel and it plays
true to form. Reacher is the classic iconoclastic loner, traveling from
place to place with the clothes on his back, a folding toothbrush and
an ATM card (a relatively new addition to his gear). He's an ex MP,
well-trained in the techniques of war, observant, smart, big, and most
often, bad, occasionally very, very bad. Jack pursues things he finds
amiss, sometimes a slave to his own finely honed personal code of justice
and fairness, other times just plain cynically curious. And once he
sets out on a quest, he simply won't stop until he's reached the end,
no matter how nasty that might be.
Each Reacher novel has a similar structure. Something piques Jack's
interest, an unsettling something that's not quite as it should be.
As he attempts to unravel the puzzle, various unfriendly folks try to
dissuade him and, failing that, to scare him, hurt him, or, if need
be, kill him. Jack will have none of that! In 'Nothing to Lose' the
super fight scene (and there's always at least one truly fabulous fight
that stands out from the others, which are merely good) pits Jack against
six hulking, newly deputized townies in a bar fight that's a thing of
beauty (to read, at least; perhaps not as a participatory event). Jack,
armed with only his size and smarts, completely wipes out all six –
even the one with the knives – unassisted. He doesn't kill them
mind you, just renders them emergency-room fodder.
There's usually a woman in each Reacher novel, often a female cop, who's
got a mysterious something that is appealing but distancing. Vaughan,
the female police officer from the town of Hope, is intriguing, helpful,
sexy, and ultimately, noble but sad. She and Reacher bond briefly, but
both are far too savvy to hold expectations beyond the short term.
In 'Nothing to Lose' Child focuses on the underside of the U.S. military,
Homeland Security, and religious fanaticism in a complicated, but ultimately
satisfying story of power abused, people betrayed and killed by ideological
zealots in pursuit of an imagined apocalypse. Thematically, Child's
narratives are always relevant, believable, and fast-paced, told in
spare, clean language that's eminently readable. Be it action, exposition,
observation or rumination, Child's prose is up to the task.
The Reacher novels have built a devoted following since 1997 when 'Killing
Floor', the first book, was published in the US. While the books are
similar enough that a reader will know what they're getting, they're
each different enough to be engaging and relevant. All in all, I'm one
of the many who've found it pretty much impossible to pass up these
novels, and fortunately for his fans, Child gives us a Reacher fix on
a regular basis.
12-17-12:Lee Child is 'A Wanted Man'
Strangers, Dangers and the Faces in the Crowd
In a grocery store, in a restaurant, on a mall, on the sidewalk, we're surrounded by people who, for the most part, seem to be upstanding good citizens, folks we don't know but might, and who, if we knew them, we might like. For all the "stranger danger" warnings that are pushed our way, we pretty much take people at face value. In 'A Wanted Man,' Lee Child's iconic Jack Reacher starts the book hitching a ride. He's picked up by a car with two men in the front and woman in the back seat. He joins them with only the intention of getting closer to Virginia. But he rapidly twigs to the fact that these people are not who they say they are.
The latest entry in the Jack Reacher series manages again to provide a thoroughly satisfying reading experience with Child's minimalist approach firmly in place. While we have a fairly limited cast, the scope is a bit wider than some of his other books. Reacher's ride proves increasingly problematic, and as the story opens up, Child alternates between different perspectives and different scenes to crank up the tension with a naturalistic ease. As Reacher tries to solve the problem from the white-hot center of action, his allies and enemies in the surrounding, open landscape are in pursuit. Child takes his readers through a long, hard journey fraught with peril, escapes, assaults on castles, so to speak and character arcs within the novel that are rich and satisfying.
Reacher's deductive side is particularly entertaining in 'A Wanted Man.' On the ride, in the car, Reacher uses his skills as an observer — and Child uses his skills as a writer — to de-construct the stories Reacher has been told and re-assemble them in what proves to be a more threatening plot. Child is a master at evoking low-key, believable suspense and terror, and, in the same passage, evoking a rather humorous joy as Reacher manages to suss just what is going on. It is easily read, engrossing as all get-out, but in analysis it is really quite sophisticated. Child is able to convey very complicated situations with a clarity and simplicity that effectively lulls the reader into a superb rhythm of suspense and release.
There are some great one-off characters to be found in 'A Wanted Man,' particularly Sheriff Goodman. Child is careful to shade his characters with flaws that they themselves become aware of as the narrative moves forward. He provides satisfaction to readers on a variety of levels. It is richly rewarding to see characters make mistakes, know that as a reader, and then have the character identify their own mistakes. We also get lots of satisfaction by virtue of knowing more than any one character because we can see things from more than one perspective. Child uses this with great success, particularly in the action scenes.
Readers can rest assured that there are many moments when Reacher clocks someone who needs it in a manner that will evoke laughter. Now, this is a rather odd aspect of the novels. Child never plays it for laughs, and even as we laugh, we know it's not exactly the right response. It's almost like a bark, an unformed and unformable verbal acknowledgement of the rightness of what just happened on the page. Reading these books lets us unleash our own inner deduction on those crowds of strangers, and bring back the delicate unease of "stranger danger." In the end, there's a rough poetry to 'A Wanted Man.' Reacher, who has certainly changed a number of lives in the preceding pages, is himself utterly unchanged. We have seen behind the faces in the crowd, but Reacher has just put one foot in front of the other.
New to the Agony Column
09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."
09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
