“Die Trying,” by Lee Child

MN’s ratings:

1.      Premise 8

2.      Prose 8

3.      Plot 9

4.      Characters 10

5.      Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

I catch myself wanting to just keep going like Reacher does. No ties. But then, I do love my life. Brahms 1 needs to be conquered this season…  [MN is a serious classical double bass player.]

FM's rating:

1.      Premise 8

2.      Prose 8

3.      Plot 9

4.      Characters 10

5.      Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

All through this book I kept comparing it to books I’ve read by Tom Clancy.  In my opinion, Clancy requires way too much patience from the reader, filling the pages with very impressive background information about topics that guys are typically really into, but just not keeping the flow going fast enough.  Life’s too short.  This is only the first book by Lee Child that I’ve read, but my initial impression is that he writes the way Tom Clancy would if Tom Clancy were really as good as his fans say he is.  Yes, the plot was a little over-dressed, but never once, in 552 pages, did I wish he would just get on with the story.  One reason for that, perhaps, is the fact that we don’t really get introduced to the premise until almost a third of the way through the book!  We’re kept enthralled by plot events all that time, and, along with the protagonists, have no idea why these things are happening.  Any author that can pull that off has my undivided attention!  Mr. Child’s hero, Jack Reacher, is larger than life and lives up to it; worthy of being portrayed by a first-rate actor like, say, I don’t know, maybe Tom Cruise?  Wait, that’s right, he was cast in the role!  I guess I need to see that movie now, but … first the book, then the movie.  Lee Child’s prose is distinctive, with an interesting use of incomplete sentences, using periods where other authors use semicolons.  I wasn’t put off by that; it seems to speed up the flow for the reader; but others might be.  Wasn’t put off by that.  Seems to speed up the flow.  For the reader.  But others might be.  Only he uses the technique with great skill and I appreciate him for it.  Was the characterization really a “10”?  He developed them only as much as necessary for me, very economically, but again, other readers might want or need more.  Will I be returning to the Jack Reacher stories?  Oh yeah; or die trying...