Lots of shots!! (One Shot - Lee Child)

Member Name: CPTDANIELS

Product:	One Shot - Lee Child
Date:	18/01/09 (339 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good interesting storyline

Disadvantages: Slow start

Background

A friend at work knows how much I enjoy reading, so he suggested I give a Lee Child thriller a go, so I finally (10 months later!!) did. I found this novel in my library along with several others from this author.

About the Author:

Lee Child was born in Coventry in 1954. He worked for 18 years at Granada TV, before being made redundant. He took this opportunity to move to America and begin a very successful career writing thrillers. His first book was 'Killing Floor' and since then he has written 10 more. All his books so far have featured Jack Reacher as an amateur detective.

Outline of the book:

The rapidly growing City of Indiana is rocked by what appears to be a random killing spree in the Plaza as people are coming out of their offices on a Friday night. The gunman kills five people in seconds with just six shots.

However within hours the Police have arrested and put into custody an ex-army man James Barr for this random act of terror. In his interview all he will say is that they have the wrong man and to get Jack Reacher. This baffles the Police but they decide to set about finding this elusive man anyway.

Reacher though and unknown to the Police investigated Barr 14 years before. For a similar random act while on Duty in Kuwait City, which he managed to get away with as the Army hushed it all up. So why would he ask for the ex-investigating officer from this event all those years before as it would surely incriminate him further?

Jack sets to work with his defence lawyer Helen Rodin and his devoted sister Rosemary Barr to try and piece together the truth and what happened in the face of huge Prosecution evidence.

He must find the answers before he is next to die, as his presence in the city seems to be ruffling some people's feathers.

My thoughts on the book:

I found this book a very enjoyable read. It was longer than I was used to and initially I found it quite difficult to get into to. But once I did, it was full of great creative writing and a well-researched plot.

I tend to find American authors difficult to come to terms with. I think this is down to my inexperience and knowledge of American culture. For example in this book where Jack Reacher will make reference to old and famous Baseball Players, I find this hard to understand or relate to. But I should really have no complaints as I found out after finishing the book his is an English author living in America!

The book is extremely well written. The author manages to link all the possible cues together in a logical and very clever way. Leaving an exciting end to the book that leaves you griped to the final pages. All the time you want to know why this happened, why the man called Reacher and if he can capture the man responsible.

The books hero Jack Reacher I did not immediately like and found difficult to relate to him. As he is a man who dropped out of American society and at the same time a man who is also irresistible to women. Not someone I can easily relate too!! But in truth he grew on me as his investigatory skills were brought more to fore as the book continued.

The novel was a classic try and find the obscure clues to piece together why this happened and then from there is needed the mind of a professional soldier to get into the mind of the killer.

I liked the air of mystery about the books leading character, the way he floater from place to place. He certainly was a very clever man who did not enjoy being constrained by society or authority and in many ways this in an endearing quality. Although this can develop into arrogance which is not so attractive.

I found I liked the author's style of writing easy to understand and interesting without ever requiring too much thought on my behalf. It was a very thought out story but one that I always felt would be solved quickly by Jack Reacher.

The chapters of the book I found a little long at 35 pages a time. But the author is very good at writing punchy paragraphs alternating between the various characters in the book so you know exactly what is happening to all the key players.

Also a nice touch or a clever ploy depending on how you see it. The author thanks you for reading his book, hoping you have enjoyed it and he introduces you to his next book with the first chapter. I took the positive as it makes me now want to read his next book, as it sounds really interesting.


Conclusion:

I thought this was a very good well thought out and well written book. I would recommend Lee Child as a very intelligent and thought provoking thriller writer.
I certainly will try and read another of his books, but my first impressions are favourable.

The book has 495 pages.
It is published by Bantam Books March 2006
ISBN: 0-553-81586-5
On sale at Amazon for £5.59

More details about the author
Go to: www.jackreacher.co.uk

Happy reading!!

This review was also published under my name on Ciao.

@CPTDaniels January 2009

Summary: Sniper on the loose