Echo Burning (Jack Reacher, No. 5) by Lee Child
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Book Reviews of Echo Burning (Jack Reacher, No. 5)
Book Review: Some Mysterys Take Time to Unravel
Summary: 4 Stars
I believe I have now read all of the Jack Reacher series. I started with the most recent one and have been working my way back and forth ever since. I can't agree with those who didn't like this book. I noted the incorrect mention of a bullet containng a "firing pin" instead of a primer, but if I were to drop every book that has a factual mistake, I would have a very short reading list.
In this novel, Reacher is continuing his odyssey of travel around the United States after being discharged from the US Army Muilitary Police with the rank of major. He is doing it on his thumb which this time leads to his being picked up by a young woman while making his way through West Texas.
As the ride progresses he learns that his ability to get a ride so quickly was not happenstance, but planned by her as she is looking for a man to help her with a problem she has in her life.
She is married to a man who beats her. He is currently in jail for tax evasion, but it is expected that he will be released soon. Her request of Reacher is a simple one. She wants him to kill him.
At the same time, we learn there is a group of contract killers loose in the same area. Their purpose and who hired them seem vague for much of the story, but as usual in a Racher novel, the stories intersect.
Reacher declines the role of assassin, but does agree to go with Carmen to the family homestead and to help her and her child escape it if she will only cooperate. The place is located in Echo, Texas.
Her husband is not home from prison very long before he is murdered and Carmen is arrested and charged. Reacher is convinced of her innocense, but as the story progresses it look as though the lady has been hiding a lot from him, to the point where she eventually confesses to the murder.
Yet, it does not sit well with Reacher who sets about to unravel the story of what is really going on.
I found this to be an interesting mystery and the telling of it to be on a par with most of the books Child has written. If you are a fan of the author and the character, I suggest you buy the paperback and form your own opinion.
Book Review: Not the best Reacher novel, but Reacher consistently entertains.
Summary: 4 Stars
Reacher, once again foot loose and fancy free, is in the deep burning deserts of Texas when a damsel in distress picks him up while he is hitchhiking. He is on the road in the 100+ degree weather because he beat the bejimniny out of a cop the night before in a bar. The cop never showed up again, so I personally think this was a bit gratuitous, as in a deus ex machina to get him hitchhiking in the horrible heat, plus it did establish his creds as a bad a**. Anyway, the damsel tells Jack a long winding yarn about how her husband abuses her and would he pretty please kill the guy for her? Whether or not she is telling the truth will never actually be totally revealed.
At the same time, in what I have recognized as one of Childs' favorite plot devices (a parallel story of evil), three professional killers are methodically eliminating some people. The first elimination is connected to the abusive husband who is in prison for tax evasion but is scheduled to be released shortly, the impetus for the damsel's desire to have him offed. The killers will ultimately intersect with Reacher, as is to be expected. Reacher wins, which is also to be expected. I mean, duh. My favorite part is where Reacher is required to not only meet a horse up close and personal for the first time in his life but saddle it and is guided through the process by a six-year-old girl. Priceless. The final confrontation (the money shot in Reacher novels) is kind of unsatisfying. Childs (through Reacher) acknowledges that he wins by accident. Not what we expect from Jack Reacher!
Book Review: one of the best Reacher novels, intense climax
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been reading all tof the Reacher books in order, and after the first 5 I still think the first one, Killing Floor, is still the best. This is the second best so far. The intensity builds slowly, and the one sequence towards the end where Reacher is stalking/being stalked in the woods at night during a thunder and lightening storm was unbelievably intense and pulse pounding!
The scorching Texas landscape lent the book a vivid sense of place and there was more of a mystery element than the last few books. Highly recommended!
Book Review: Needs Deoderant
Summary: 3 Stars
Ok, I have been reading the Lee Child novels as fast as I could get them... started with Persuader because I got it in the airport. Thought it was a great airplane, vacation read. Found Killing Floor and The Enemy and devoured them in their chronological order and wished I'd read Enemy first. Then bought up to Echo Burning. Finished it today. No complaints other than I kept thinking how attractive can he be in that heat with NO DEODERANT!! PU. But couldn't put it down anyway. Still a great read and I am getting the rest of the books to go with my LEE Child set.Book Review: a slow burner
Summary: 2 Stars
This is my first Reacher and to be honest, it was a tough slog through this rambling story. The story never really built and seemed to go along at a snail's pace for me. I realize there are a whole series of Reacher novels, but there was no real character development in this book and no incentive for the reader to try and figure out the storyline - puzzling it out for ourselves that is. I'll probably try another of Child's novels because he seems recommended by a lot of people. But I prefer more thrilling thriller novels - Iles, Lincoln Child, Rollins and others.