Worth Dying For by Lee Child
Astounding, brilliant, magnificent and dynamic – just some of the superlatives that best describe Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. His latest offering “Worth Dying For”, out at the end of September incidentally, is another jaw dropping sure fire hit and one you’ll fail to put down. Available in the United States 19th Oct.
The 15th Jack Reacher novel moves on from the explosive end in “61 Hours”, leaving South Dakota our maverick hitches south making his way to the wilds of Nebraska.
Nebraska is flat and cold – it’s winter time!
Jack Reacher has a knack for finding trouble. He doesn’t go looking for it, trouble finds him – it’s that simple. A nomad and a drifter, Reacher is high on moralistic values and tries to do the right thing no matter what the cost. It’s these principles that continually land him in high adventure and low company.
The Duncans rule the town, slowly but surely they’ve sucked the heart and soul out of the farming community – they own the trucking services, the harvesting and the suppliers. If the town had police, they’d own them too, the clan is powerful and dangerous.
The local farmers are stuck, lifeless and without a say in how things are run – the Duncans rule everything. De-spirited over time, the farmers are frightened and with nowhere to run, fight eludes them; they’ve given in, bowing to each and every whim the Duncans desire.
Reacher arrives at a desolate crossroads and makes his way to the only motel in town, Hotel Apollo has seen better days; so has the owner. After checking in he makes his way to the bar and drinks stewed coffee; not the best he’s had but it’s hot. The only other person drinking is the local doctor, an alcoholic set on a collision course for self-destruction.
A phone call changes everything. Eleanor Duncan has a nosebleed; the doctor in no fit state to drive dismisses the injury. However, Reacher smells domestic abuse and drives the doctor to the house, a decision that will change the community forever and not before time.
One thing leads to another and Reacher is a wanted man. The Duncans want him dead and when Reacher is blamed for a delayed shipment, the net widens and the hunters are out in force.
“Worth Dying For” is one of the fastest paced novels I think I’ve ever read, I just couldn’t put the book down, a true page-turner in every sense. The storyline is believable and the way Child’s wraps things up is magical. In fact I’d go so far as to say the final third was breath-taking. Sitting back and watching the story unfold before my eyes was like watching a master craftsman shaping a sailboat from beginning to end.
This is the third Lee Child novel I’ve read and reviewed – “The Killing Floor” & “Die Trying” the first two books in the series, I found it highly entertaining and is without doubt my favourite book of the series so far. I just need to sit down and read the other twelve books now!
The book, like his others, is violent at times, but you never feel it is overused and unnecessary. The violence is justified.
“Game Over. Eight blows in six seconds, which was grievously slow and laborious by Reacher’s standards, but then, the guy was huge, and he had an athlete’s tone and stamina and he was accustomed to a certain amount of physical punishment. He had been competitive, just barely. In the ballpark, almost.”
Powerfully descriptive, Child’s utilises the natural Nebraskan landscape; the barren fields, the dilapidated disused barns and the frost covered ground all adding a sense of realism and honesty to the book – even the stewed coffee on offer at Hotel Apollo will tempt you.
The book is highly recommended and is my book of the month for September.
Published by Bantam Press, the book is available from Amazon & United States Here.
Excellent review, I still have not read 61 hours, but I have to catch up.
I have read all the Jack Reacher books and I found Worth Dying For slightly disappointing. It didn’t grab me as much as 61 hours and I think there was a lot of gratuitous violence. Perhaps I was not in the mood.