Echo Burning by Lee Child

This is the fifth book in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I do like this author and this hero. As usual there is excellent detail that allows you to see the scene in your mind’s eye. You do feel that you are watching the story unfold. I enjoy that quality in writing and that I can use my imagination better as small details are filled in.

This time I felt that it is not immediately clear what the problem is. Yes, we do get to know right away that a young woman is trying to hire Reacher to kill her husband. She says, she has suffered regular domestic violence and is worried it will start again, when the husband comes out of prison. She is scared for herself and her daughter. But somehow there is this feeling created that this was not just the issue. There was something underlying and Reacher was not sure what it was.

However, he does agree to accompany her and do some causal labour to keep an eye on her and make sure she was ok. The family is strange, the mother in law and brother in law do not appear to like the woman and behave strangely. Indeed, the brother in law tries to get the ranch hands to chase Reacher away. But why is a group of people keeping a look out of the ranch and noting the comings and goings of everyone? There is a short scene fairly early on which describes a murder out on a lonely road. How does this link up with the main story? What or who are the assassins after?

Then the husband comes home and the same evening he is shot. The wife was found to be alone with him and it was of course her little gun that was the murder weapon. Reacher is not convinced that she has committed the murder, despite all evidence pointing towards her. He gets her a pro bono lawyer and tries to find the truth. Why does the woman suddenly change her story by admitting murder? The story gives a view into what life was like in these small places and about Mexican illegal immigrants. It is right towards the end that one gets an inkling of what is really happening. The end when it comes is pretty unexpected and fast.

I must say I dawdled over the book as the story was slow to develop or maybe it was my own lethargy but it is a good story. Maybe I had got used to having the main plot laid out early on and this influenced my slow read. But as usual this was a good novel and worth a read.

The Visitor (AKA Running Blind) by Lee Child

I know it seems I have read all these books today but the truth is I have been lazy in writing the review over the past few weeks and so am catching up this weekend. This one is next in line after the Tripwire. The romance between Jodie and Reacher is still going strong. Reacher is trying to lay down roots, by getting the house Leon has left him tidied and the garden beaten into submission. He is finding it hard to think of remaining in one place for a long time. He visits Jodie in the city and stays over often.

One evening Reacher is alone and stops at his favourite Italian restaurant for dinner. He observes that the owner appears to be threatened by a couple of young men. He thinks this is the start of harassment for the man to pay protection money. Reacher feels sorry of the man and asks him if he can help. The owner shrugs and says he does not think so; they were coming back in an hour and want a lot of money every week. There is only one other couple dining there. Reacher asks the owner about the nearest hardware shop and leaves. He comes back to catch the 2 enforcers before they can get into the restaurant. He beats them up and sends a message to the boss that they should not mess with this restaurant as it was their turf, making it sound like a message from a rival gang. Next thing Reacher finds himself being taken in by the FBI on suspicion of being a serial killer. There have been 2 women murdered and both are ex-army. However, the local FBI also want him for beating up the 2 gang men and wanting to know all about his dealing with the gang as they were observing the leader but could not find evidence to arrest him.

He finds that he has been under surveillance for the past week and they are pushing him to answer questions. Both teams of FBI want him but those from the Profiling department want him for 2 murders as he fits their profiling of the murderer. At that point they find out that there has been another murder and it cannot be Reacher as he had been under surveillance and so every move of his was accounted for. Now they twist his arm to get him to help them as they need someone with army links to find out more about what was the connection between the women and their killer.

The women are connected by the fact that they all had complained of sexual harassment and then left the services. There were over 100 women and were they all targets? Why was Reacher so against the lead profiler? She had a fear of flying and so she drove him all the way back to Quantico. The long drive does nothing to make them like each other. He is more or less kept locked up and has an agent with him when he is let out of the room, as they keep telling him he is helping them but he is still a suspect regarding the beating up of 2 gang members. 

So how will Reacher manage to nullify their threat that, if he does not co-operate the gang leader will be told about Jodie? This threat against Jodie was the FBI’s lever to get him to work for them as a liaison between the army and the FBI. He goes along with the current theory that this connection between the women must mean that a soldier could be the murderer. The murders were about 3 weeks apart and also were fairly far apart geographically. Reacher time and again asks the FBI to remove the lead profiler off the case only to be told that it would not happen and he should ease up on her as one of the women in the list was her sister.

Reacher and his guard are sent out to talk to this sister and check if all is well. Profiler gives the excuse that she is unable to fly and so cannot do this herself. It is strange that they have made no progress at all and there is yet another murder, of the profiler’s sister. What has the unnamed colonel got to do with these murders as he seems to be keeping a list and crossing out as each woman dies? Reacher insists that they should abandon the profiling and look for clues. This murderer was particularly smart as they do not seem to be able to find even a single clue. Can they narrow down this list of potential victims? Pinpoint who would be next? Was there something that these ladies had seen during their time in service that made them a threat to someone? Reacher remembers that the guns he had taken off the gang members in New York were army issue guns and so is there a racket of selling army guns on the black market? 

While going back and forth the country Reacher also has to think about what he wants in life as Jodie is heading for a partnership in her law firm and he is increasingly dissatisfied with having to stay put in his new house. If he sells the house and the car, how will Jodie feel? Can their relationship last over the years if he keeps a nomadic life he seems to like? Their goals of what they want from life seem to be totally opposite.

Most of the books with Reacher are fairly straight forward plot where you do have a good idea of who the bad guys are and the whole story is about how Reacher plans and get things done for justice and stop the bad guys. Here, however, you are guessing as to who is the murderer right to the last chapter. The usual minutiae about places, buildings, weapons is very much same as in hi other books and to tell you the truth sometimes I so want to know what is next that I kind of skim over the details. A good thriller and murder mystery this book is a must read if you love these genre.

Tripwire by Lee Child

Lee Child writes wonderful thrillers and I find it very hard to put the book down once I start reading it. The story starts with Jack Reacher working in a small town building swimming pools. He has found his way all the way down the tip of Florida and is happy living the quiet life. He works out by doing manual labour of digging the pools and other construction jobs. He is relaxed and well-toned living day to day. The story begins when a man come looking for Jack. Out of curiosity Reacher pretends not to know who the man is looking for. A few hours later, there are 2 other men looking for Reacher. Now he is curious and follows them to find out what is the story. Next he finds that first man dead and a quick search through his pocket shows he is a private detective.

If the 2 men killed this private detective, then they were not going to be good for his health, Reacher concludes. He knows he has to get to New York if he is find out why this private detective was trying to find him. He finds the office of the detective and discovers that he had been hired by law firm. He follows the lead to find the named client. It turns out that this lady was the daughter of his old commanding officer from the Military Police. He finds her at her father’s memorial and stays after to talk about why she had sent a detective looking for him.

Why had old Leon asked his daughter to find Reacher? What was he investigating for someone he met at his hospital clinic? They were surprised to find Leon had made a trip to Hawaii in pursuit of some information. Reacher and Jodie try to retrace his steps to get to the bottom on this mystery. Especially since the detective was dead and his secretary was missing.

Somewhere in New York, there is a very rich and private man with a hook for a hand, who gets worried when he finds out someone was looking into an old case of a soldier’s death in Vietnam. In the past he had made sure that if enquires were made about this soldier’s death both in USA and in Vietnam, he was to be warned of it. This warning from the prearranged tripwire comes at the crucial time when he is running an operation to get even richer. He wants to complete this operation so that he can disappear and live a life of luxury with a new identity. This is pure greed as after all he is already a billionaire.  He will do anything to keep his identity a secret and complete his scam, including murder. 

Like Reacher, his men have found the name of Leon’s daughter as the detective’s client. Now they are after her to find out what she knows and to eliminate her. Finding Reacher with her is viewed as just an irritation. But when he finds out that both Reacher and Jodie have been to Hawaii to get more information about that dead solider, he knows that both have to be killed, to be kept from finding out the truth. In this story, Lee Child manages to show both sides of the story together to provide the reader with the perspective of the main players. It is like the picture is forming slowly as pieces of puzzle are put together. 

What is it that the rich man wants to hide? The scam he is operating and kidnapping of another man and his wife to get his hands of that final piece of real estate as well as their money gives the reader an insight into the evil of the man with the hook. Why is it important for him to kill Jodie and Reacher? Will he manage to kidnap Jodie and lure Reacher into coming to him? For that is the only way he can get to Reacher in the limited time he has before the truth is out and he has to flee. 

A good Reacher thriller, that keeps the adrenalin racing throughout. Also there is a romance blossoming between Reacher and Jodie. What is Reacher going to do with the house Leon has left him and this love between him and Jodie? But all that comes only after he can get to the bottom of this mystery and stop them from getting killed.

The Enemy by Lee Child

I found this book online and since I have been reading some of the new books by Lee Child I was eager to read this one. There is an official website giving a synopsis and reviews of The Enemy. This is a story from earlier times when Jack Reacher the main character is still a major in the military police. The character of Reacher is much more on display and in this story we see his relationship with his family. His brother Joe is alive and working in New York. His mother is terminally ill and they visit her to spend some quality time with her. There is depth in the characters as relationships are explored, not just within Reacher’s family but also of others in the story.

The murders taking place and Reacher being pressured to cover up the murders with leverage of circumstantial evidence that could put him in the frame for these murders. There is a lot of upheavel as the Berlin Wall is coming down and all expect to see major changes in the armed forces which possible reduction of personnel. The senior officers appear to be working hard to keep their niche and corps safe from reductions in services. Reacher who I have come to like from the books I have read, shows his independent and tenacious attitude with a single minded approach to solving the murders mystery. He is stubborn and has little regard for his new boss who is hounding him to drop his inquiries.

It is interesting to see the army life and note that my brush with the army made it all seem familiar. It appears that life in armed forces is very much similar no matter which country they belong to. Reacher’s love to flaunt the authority and get to the truth no matter what, is setting the scene for the future stories. You can see the disillusionment from which he leaves the army beginning to show in this story. The detailed descriptions of the places and people in the book are as expected of Lee Child. The journey takes Reacher and his lieutenant partner across to Europe – Berlin and Paris. This book is part personal and part professional life of Reacher unlike the later books. The eventual working out of the murder puzzle is worked out to the reader as Reacher himself gets the facts sorted. However, I was disappointed that the end is even more abrupt than what I have come to expect from Lee Child’s books. The answer to the puzzle to some extent is evident and yet the pieces do not fall into place until the end. I just wish the end of the story was tidier as I was left with the feeling – is that it? Where is the getting of the baddies?

’61 Hours’ – Lee Child

I have come to read Lee Child’s books only recently. They are fascinating in the level of detail about everything. The latest one I read was ’61 Hours’. It is fascinating that the book is for all that happens in just 61 hours. I particularly like how each part of the story is embodied in every chapter as it moves though the countdown of 61 hours. The pace of the story is actually fast but the detailed description of everything makes it slow down a bit. I always feel I want to rush through the descriptions to get to the plot and get the story moving.

The hero Jack Reacher is just that a superman. He is ex military police and wanders through the US getting to know his country and helping to keep ordinary people safe. He gets inadvertently involved as per usual when the bus he is on crashes. There is a murder and a witness in need of protection that starts Jack’s involvement. The 61 hours are typical of details of the plot and the suspense builds as more are murdered. Who is the hitman? What I in the old stone building just outside the town? The plot keeps its grip on you right up to the last sentence. For the big suspense is what happened to Jack. This is the first book of Lee Child that leaves you wondering about Jack.

Lee Child’s style is definitely different as all his story lines are covering a short period of time. I think the longest one I have read is over a couple of weeks. There is also an obligatory female presence that is a help to or needs help from Jack. In this book it is the head of Jack’s old command. There is always this feeling of will they or won’t they? It book is about the triumph of good over evil but unlike many stories where everyone lives happily ever after, in this story the good pay a heavy price before it overcomes the evil. There is a lot of human psyche and emotions explored with a delving into what is in the mind of one who fights for justice and puts things right.

It is a good read for all those who like mystery, murder, crime genre. I shall put it away and in a few months of even a year go back and read it again. Strangely , having read it once and knowing the end of the plot does not make any difference to the enjoyment of books for me.