Running Blind (Jack Reacher) - Softcover

Child, Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425206238 ISBN 13: 9780425206232

Publisher: Berkley Pub Group, 2005

Synopsis

Jack Reacher searches for an elusive killer responsible for the deaths of a number of women, who have nothing in common but the fact that they once worked for the military and had known Jack, and races against time to find a murderer who leaves no trace evidence at the scene of the crime. Reprint.

About this title

Review

Before Lee Child's Jack Reacher became a wanderer, stumbling into desperate situations and sorting them out with his two fists and sharp brain, he used his skill for the US Army's military police. When he is accused of a series of killings--women who left the army after sexual harassment proceedings found with their hearts stopped in baths full of camouflage paint--he has to use his skills to clear his name, and to do the Army and FBI's work for them. The near-impossible perfection of Reacher's physique and brain are met here by a puzzle that almost meets the same standard of perfection--the reason he is suspected is simply that perfect detectives are handy patsies for perfect murders, and Reacher is, besides, a man whom those in authority find making them itch...

"As a rule, the Bureau and the military don't get along too well."
"Well, there's a big surprise. Who the hell do you guys gel along with."
..."You know how it is. Military hates the Bureau, the Bureau hates CIA, everybody hates everybody else...So we need a go-between."
Reacher shrugged.
"I don't know anybody like that. I've been out too long."

Lee Child's remorselessly perverse ingenuity is working overtime in this, his fourth book, though like most great puzzles or tricks, his secrets depend a little heavily on mere misdirection. A book this driven by the central character's laconic aggression ought not to be quite as smart as this is, or quite as likeable--Lee Child's clever formula is to make that paradox work. --Roz Kaveney

Review

"'Reacher is as dyed-in-the-wool an American action man as Hollywood could hope for...manages that tough trick of seeming at once battle-hardened, footloose, sexy and compassionate: the sort of ladies' man that Peter Millar, The Times" (The Times)

"'Within a short space of time, Child has gleaned enviable recognition for his tautly written thrillers...This tale will ensure that many a train stop is missed'" (The Good Book Guide)

"'In three novels Lee Child has established a franchise with his maverick drifter, the ex-US military cop Jack Reacher, and shown that, for an Englishman, he can produce passable American. His fourth, The Visitor, offers an efficient mix of hard-boiled style with lots of lip and a revivial of the classic locked-room mystery...Tight plotting, pace and high mileage'" (Guardian)

"'Relentlessly fast-paced and beautifully structured...Amply fulfils the promise of its predecessors. Reacher is the sort of hero no woman could help falling for, and he looks destined to have a very long life'" (Daily Mail)

"'A thumping good read...This is an excellent thriller of the Patricia Cornwell variety. Gripping and well-constructed...Impossible to put down'" (Daily Express)

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley Pub Group
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0425206238
• ISBN 13: 9780425206232
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 486