Rating:  Summary: Not your average murder mystery. Review: This story is all story - absolutely riveting and page turning. The mystery is a mystery like no other I have ever read, and the brilliant mind that is the killer's is fascinating. Women are dying, and Jack Reacher has a mind almost as cunning as the killers. For a long time, even the cause of death is not known, so clever is the M.O. It is a race against time as Jack Reacher has discovered the names of 11 women that are on this insane hitlist. Inside this twisting plot, lies another plot, that of Jack Reacher and his girlfriend, and yet another plot, that of Jack Reacher and the street mobs of New York. The author manages to weave it all together so brilliantly that you don't realize you have read three stories in one until you are done, and they all connect with a fluidity that is all too rare these days. It's a smash ending, leaving you breathless with excitement and waiting for the next Jack Reacher book. GREAT!
Rating:  Summary: A bit too obvious Review: My sole and only problem with this book is that fact that it's a big mystery...that I figured out less than a third of the way into the book. All you have to do is ask yourself the right question about what seems to be going on at the right time, and both the ultimate motive and the perpetrator are obvious.Otherwise, the book is competently written and the protagonist engaging. Child also steps away from the previous book where he gave Jack a wish-fulfillment ending that threatened to remove all of his character.
Rating:  Summary: Take a bath, Jack! Review: I love Jack Reacher...I would however, love him more if he bathed more often. The man sleeps in his clothes with no more luggage than a toothbrush!In the past, Jack has been a larger than life hero and in "Running Blind", he becomes a larger than life slob, vigilante and all around disgusting bully. He is handsome, smart and has powerful connections with the military, and I find it demeaning the way he resorts to solving all problems by either denial or violence. The way he treats Jody is obscene!I think Mr. Child was out of line in his portrayal of the FBI. I would like to think Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity still mean what they used to.I enjoyed the book, but, figured out the killer and the "how" very early on. I want Mr. Child to clean Jacks' act up a bit and bring him back to the character that he has the potential of being.Definitely a book to be read, I just want "Jack" back!
Rating:  Summary: Easy to figure out "who done it" Review: I made a mental note within the first 90 pages of this book "I bet I know who did it and how". I was right. I did enjoy the book, but thinking I knew the person and the method (and being right) made it a lot less of a read. This is my first "Jack Reacher" book, I did enjoy it enough to try the other two. One thing about reading a series about the same person is that you are familiar with their home, job, and city. Looks like with the Reacher books you can't count on any of those being the same.
Rating:  Summary: Disappointed Review: Up until "Running Blind" I thought that Lee Childs' books were the best thing to happen in the genre since the death of Alistair Maclean. I read this one in a single day and was intrigued until the last 4 chapters. I kept hoping that Childs' untracable "murder weapon" would turn out to be something original and clever. Instead it is based on an old myth that holds no truth, no I will not give it away, but expect to be disappointed. I wish that Childs' had done a little more research since his whole premise is based on something that research has showed to be impossible. The writing and the characters are so clever and interesting that to be honest I feel cheated. I feel like I have read an Agatha Christie novel all the way through, only to be told at the end..."The butler did it."
Rating:  Summary: running blind Review: i was so impressed with this book i read it in two days and couldn't wait to turn the page. usually i can figure out bites and pieces of who did it, in this book i only figured out a small piece at about page 300. then at page 340 when the book was almost ending i got it. this is really a big 10. now i want her to write more and for real readers to read this truly very good read. carl marciano
Rating:  Summary: Still very good but felt a bit strung out and impatient Review: Mr. Child could use better words to convey a deeper feeling or situation. He is so deep that makes other thriller writers appear an inch shallow and down under. Jack Reacher is so far one of the most(not too many) interesting characters that ever created by a writer, who are actually on a par with each other. What amazed me most is that Mr. Child's writing is such an internationally standardized modern English not just British English that used to be zigzagging and indirect. The flow of the sentences and paragraphs are so smoothly putting out that always makes you apprecitate his width of knowing how to choose a better and deeper word to describe a feeling or situation. This talent and knowledge are rarely to be found among other so-called thriller writers and making his every word worths the money you've paid for. The burden of relationship of his newly acquired secular belongings, either real estate property or romance, only makes Reacher more realistic. But the FBI people created this time seemed to be quite unconvincing. The way Blake treating Larma and the latter's insubordinate attitude is absolutely impossible and inprobable in FBI's ethics, unless they have some sexual relationship, therefore did not ring true at all. All of the other FBI's characters, well, Harper seems to be more acceptable as an FBI agent and more normal, others are just a fine line away from thugs; a situation Mr. Child should pay more attention to fine tune before or during writing. Also, a nation wide serial killing rampage is also fundamentally weak this time that made me feel a bit impatient to read along after two third of the book. Again, I jumped over those hateful and stupid itallic paragraphs and I can assure you, Mr. Child, lot of readers might be just like what I did. So please don't try to use too many lean to right itallic sentences, especially long and tiresome paragraphs. Also, how to realistically show the readers the way that the real FBI is dealing with a nation-wide crime, Mr. Child should do a deeper research before production; a more authentic and convincing task force or just of bunch thug-like agents? Don't "running blind" is what I would like to give to Mr. Child this time. A good book means that when readers think it twice, all the logic premises still could stand fast albeit bleaching the paper money.
Rating:  Summary: A Silly Mystery Review: What can i say about a book in which i can pick out the murderer a quarter of the way through it? I'm used to LeCarre, Ambler, Greene, Sandford and others of far better quality. Child wants the reader to believe the FBI is run by morons. While this may be the popular view, I don't subscribe to it and neither will countless others after they think about what this book suggests. I can't detail the offending matters without giving away the plot, but trust me: you don't want to waste your time or money on this. Contact me and i'll send you my copy. It won't be in my library long.
Rating:  Summary: Enjoyed This Book!! Review: I really enjoy the Jack Reacher stories. He is the best. This one was really compelling. It was driving me crazy trying to figure out what the victims were choking on. What a concept. Mr Child, you are an incredible writer. All I can say is bring on the next Reacher novel. I can't wait.
Rating:  Summary: Great read until the brain dead ending Review: For the first 300 pages, this is the best of the Jack Reacher novels. I am not a believer in series and this one proves my argument that one character needs one book and one book only. Jack Reacher is a walking nerve end, likely to take offense at almost nothing and likely to give offense for no good reason. He is a hero who is very hard to like over the course of a book, though we often root for him. He is almost autistic in that he knows a lot about fighting and police work and the military, but hasn't got a clue about how the rest of life works. And you just know a guy like this is going to get into big trouble. Though there is a nasty murderer and vicious gang members in the book, the FBI also comes off as a major villain. If the agency really acts the way it does in this book, then it ought to be deep-sixed immediately. All those gripes in place, the story is very compelling and Reacher's resourcefulness keeps your interest. However, the payoff, the ending where all of the terrific mysteries are explained, was totally unrealistic and an insult to the reader. That is pretty much all I can say without giving too much away, but, you have to be pretty gullible to believe the story could have happened that way. Lee Child has a ton of talent and I hope he puts Reacher to sleep for awhile and works on some books with new leading characters. And, hopefully, next time, he won't paint himself into a corner where a fantasy ending is the only way to escape.
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