Without Fail - Hardcover

Child, Lee

4.16

105,698 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593046862 ISBN 13: 9780593046869

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2002

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Jack Reacher walks alone. No job, no ID, no last known address. But he never turns down a plea for help. Now a woman tracks him down, someone who was once close to his brother, becaue she needs help in her new job. Her task? Protecting the Vice President of the United States from someone threatening to kill him. And so Reacher, with nothing but his toothbrush and the clothes he stands up in, enters a very exclusive club at the very heart of Washington power- the offices of the United States Secret Service. Here he must literally put himself in the line of fire, pitting his native cunning, surly charm and instinctive but contrlled violence against the williness of bureaucrats and the ghosts from his own past - as well as the brutal ruthlessness of the mystery assassin. WITHOUT FAIL is Lee Child's sixth thriller to feature Jack Reacher. A hero whose toughness, coolness and sheer animal magnetism just grows more irresistable with every book.

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Review:

Lee Child has inexorably pulled himself into the upper echelons of thriller writing with a series of tough, lean and perfectly crafted novels featuring ex-US military cop Jack Reacher. Without Fail is the sixth outing for the resourceful Reacher, and far from showing any signs of incipient fatigue, the series just goes from strength to strength as Child hones his abilities.

As in such previous books as Die Trying and The Killing Floor, Jack Reacher is a maverick. He carries no ID, and any place he hangs his hat is home. And while he's more than capable of dealing out massive violence to the bad guys who take him on, he's a sucker for a plea for help--particularly from a woman. This time, he's asked by the persuasive Ms Froelich to help her protect the Vice-President of the United States from an assassination attempt that's on the cards. So Reacher, with only the clothes he stands up in, finds himself deep in the rarefied world of the United States Secret Service in Washington, where his problems come from the stiff-necked bureaucrats as much as from the utterly ruthless killer who soon has Reacher in his sights as much as the Vice-President.

If the plot here is a tad reminiscent of the Clint Eastwood movie In the Line of Fire, that's no coincidence--Child has his characters discuss the echoes of their situation with that film at length. But, boy, does Child ring some powerful variations of his own on the theme: this the most kinetic Reacher novel yet, full of the brilliantly orchestrated set-pieces that are a specialit� de la maison with the author (the final climax in a snowy ravine is a pip). The action here is relentless, but never at the expense of character--Child is canny enough to keep dark shadows from Reacher's past a key part of his motivation. And the skill that the British-born Child is so proud of--his faultless evocation of the American landscape--is the final icing on a very tempting cake. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

‘A good, edge-of-the-seat thriller.' -- Punch

‘For most fans of Lee Child the greatest draw is his tough guy Jack Reacher, who cuts through nests of bad guys like a laser-guided Schwarzenegger. -- Peter Millar, The Times

‘From one of Britain's most successful writers, outstanding dialogue, a super-cool hero and enough twists to have you reading way past your bedtime -- Daily Record

‘Sixth in seriously good series featuring Jack Reacher...Exciting, absorbing and intriguing, with a hero big and bold enough to handle the percussive action.' -- Literary Review

‘You cannot help but enjoy the well-constructed plot of what is a good old-fashioned nailbiting, page-turning thriller.' -- Matt Taylor, Borders (in the Bookseller)

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