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| Nothing to Lose | 
 enlarge | List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £5.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 32 reviews)
Sales Rank: 71
Category: Book
Author: Lee Child
Publisher: Bantam Press
Studio: Bantam Press
Manufacturer: Bantam Press
Label: Bantam Press
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0593057023
EAN: 9780593057025
ASIN: 0593057023
Publication Date: March 24, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
Jack Reacher and Politics Don't Mix May 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I would not describe myself as an avid fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. I've found the books to be enjoyable pot-boiler thrillers, and I've read all of them to date, but I don't feel the need to rush out and buy the latest adventure on the day of publication.
That's one of the reasons that I'm only now getting around to reviewing Nothing to Lose, Child's latest Jack Reacher novel. The other reason that its taken me a bit of time to put fingers to keyboard is that it took me longer than normal to rattle through this latest book. Not because it was a particularly long novel compared to its predecessors, but because, remarkably, it wasn't very exciting.
Now the one thing that you can usually rely on when picking up a Reacher novel is that its going to move at a cracking pace and therefore, irrespective of book's other merits, you'll rattle through it pretty quickly. In this respect 'Nothing to Lose' bucks the trend. Not that I found myself so bored that I felt like giving up on it, but nor was I kept riveted as the carefully woven plot unfolded. In fact at one point I skipped ahead due to my impatience at the speed of the narrative. Considering that part of the Reacher novels' raison d'etre is to provide pulsing, fast paced excitement that final confession is to my mind a rather damning one.
Part of the problem is the plot itself, which goes around in circles for much of the book's length, stretching out two somewhat thin, parallel conspiracies to breaking point without really moving forward. As at least one other reviewer has mentioned, it gets to the point where if Reacher were to spend any more time sniffing around without actually 'discovering' anything (or at least revealing what he has worked out) you'd feel like screaming "GET ON WITH IT!". Normally the reveal at the end, as everything falls into place and Reacher ties up all the loose ends is part of the books appeal but in this case by the time it arrived I was just ready for the whole thing to be done with (I had also guessed what one of the two conspiracies was, so wasn't exactly wowed when it was revealed).
Another problem, and this is a big one since it goes to the heart of the whole series, is Reacher himself. Not for the first time I found myself wondering how much longer Child can keep pumping out books featuring such a one dimensional character who never develops as an individual. I am aware that the wandering 'loner' is a reoccuring character in modern American fiction, and I have no problem with Reacher's nomadic tendencies, but there is no attempt at character development. Whilst that wasn't a problem in the earlier books, which could get by on Reacher's stoicism, his abilities as a warrior and his apparent strong & silent charm, those things only go so far and a dozen books in the character is starting to become a little tired and predictable. That's not so much of an issue when the rest of the book is strong, but when stuck with a weak plot as he is here Reacher's weaknesses as a character become all the more evident.
The final problem I had with Nothing to Lose was the nature of the conspiracies that Reacher uncovers during the course of the book. The simple fact is that I just didn't buy either of them. The minor one (I don't want to give details and ruin the plot) struck me a improbable at best. The more significant one just struck me as ridiculous, as it required various arms of the US government to all act utterly incompetently (not necessarily impossible but highly unlikely). It would also have required a large number of 'secret' deaths amongst US forces in Iraq to go unreported by the media over a period of years. Essentially it would have required too many very unlikely and coincendental events to occur, and alot of smart people to behave stupidly, in order for it have been feasible. Other Reacher novel plots have had holes in them, but never to the extent where it fundamentally undermines the whole book.
Unfortunately in Nothing to Lose Lee Child has decided to include a plotical 'message', in this case an anti- Iraq war message. In order to do so he has crafted the book around the political points he wants to score, compromising plot and character in order to score them. Rather than allow the message to be implicit in the story and allow readers to form their own opinions he tries to budgeon us with his own point of view. It is an unsubtle and heavy handed approach that just feels wrong for a Jack Reacher novel, especially when it requires his central character, a former Military Policeman, to behave in a fashion that, based on everything we know about him from previous books, I simply can't believe he would.
If Lee Child wishes to hold anti-war beliefs then he is welcome to do so (its likely I would even agree with some of his views). If he wants to write an anti-war novel then he should go ahead and do so (I might even buy it), but trying to mix a Jack Reacher thriller with an overtly political message just doesn't work. It forces compromises that result in weak plotting, poor characterisation and a distinct lack of thrills.
 Jack Reacher is running out of steam - fast May 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I first discovered Jack Reacher I was enchanted by him and avidly awaited his next adventure - now it's quite clear that Lee Child is running out of ideas for Jack. This book should have been at least one third shorter - then it may not have had such a saggy middle. I found myself skipping paragraphs and not missing them at all. Bad Luck and Trouble (Child's penultime Reacher book) wasn't all that wonderful either.
Quit while you're on a relative high Mr Child - don't go the way of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta.
 A shame May 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book has little to recommend it. The characters are wooden and as I gratefully finished the book I couldn't care less about what happened to them. A previous reviewer said that Lee Childs couldn't write a bad book if he tried - I disagree, this is very poor, and would have benefited greatly from some judicious editing (about 100 pages worth), which is a shame considering some of his previous books. Hopefully he will take on board the citicism in these reviews and his next book will be back on par.
A blemish on an otherwise perfect series April 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Jack Reacher series of books are my favourite. I live in Canada, and the release date is 2 months after the UK release date. So I order the book off Amazon UK to a friends house in Scotland. He sends me the book, and I anxiously check the mail every day for a week or two until it finally arrives. Then after all that wait, I end up reading it right away, and inevitably pull an all-nighter until I'm finished it.
Not this one. Oh the process of purchasing it was the same, but reading it took a couple of weeks as I just didn't feel like finishing it. It didn't capture me at all, and it was quite a poor book overall. The story was boring, and there was some really outrageous, hard to believe parts. The characters lacked substance, and this really seemed like one of those books where the author is just trying to meet a quota, rather than inspired by an idea. The whole plot came over so forced.
As a book on its own, its passable I guess. However Lee Child has set high standards with his excellent series that he was unfortunately nowhere clear to matching in this latest episode.
my worst read in years April 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A book that completely loses its way, almost as if the author had no idea where the story should go. This was actually the poorest book I have read in as many years as I can remember, I certainly wont be purchasing other work by this author
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