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Nothing to Lose

Author: Lee Child
Publisher: Bantam Press
Category: Book

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

58 reviews
Sales Rank: 267

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
Condition: BRAND NEW NEVER READ, MOVING NEED SPACE UK SELLER

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 11-15 of 58

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Caught between Hope and Despair, Child makes a political statement June 24, 2008
Working his way to San Diego from Maine, Lee Child's tough guy, Jack Reacher, finds himself in eastern Colorado walking westward from the pleasant settlement of Hope to the dingy town of Despair. Whereas the former was welcoming, the latter isn't, and the local law busts Jack for vagrancy and ultimately deposits him back on the asphalt in the midst of nowhere at the Hope-Despair boundary. Of course, this only gets Reacher riled. Against the advice of Vaughan, a sympathetic officer of the Hope Police Department whose husband is an Iraq war vet, Jack trudges back to Despair determined to find out the nature of its problem with strangers and ready to bust some heads in the process. In the course of NOTHING TO LOSE, Reacher, no surprise, accomplishes both with a bang. That's his job, the one for which his fans pay the publisher to read about.

For the first time ever I'm decidedly unhappy with a Jack Reacher thriller, and it's made me more cranky than usual. I can forgive the evolution of the story line, which hyperextends itself with at least one superfluous subplot. But Child's major gaffe is to air his (apparently) own opinion of the Iraq war through the voice of his protagonist, a bias cleverly buried in an observation by Reacher to Vaughan on the obligations of America's civilian military overseers towards the troops. While I don't necessarily disagree with his position, assigning such to a popular fictional superhero verges on the unforgivable; heroic figures are best left apolitical. (When is the last time you saw Indiana Jones take a stand on abortion or gay marriage while chasing down some hidden treasure?) Thus, I'm knocking NOTHING TO LOSE down to three stars mostly on account of the author's bad form.

Lee, if you want to vent via an interview, fine. (Maybe you already have and I missed it.) Otherwise, please keep Reacher in the realm of recreational, fantasy reading, thank you very much.

3 out of 5 stars

One Man Versus the Town Plot Marred by Slow Pace and Unrealistic Threats June 21, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Unless you feel like you have to read every Reacher novel in the series, you could skip this one.

If you think America should withdraw immediately from Iraq, you'll like this anti-war book better than those who favor continuing to fight there. The primary subtext for this novel is that being in Iraq is bad for America, soldiers, and veterans of that conflict. If you believe that fundamental Christians are all scheming to create the Apocalypse, you'll also like this better than if you are a God-fearing, Bible-reading Christian.

Beyond whether or not you agree with the subtexts, the book's primary weakness is that it moves too slowly. After Reacher is expelled from the town of Despair to the town of Hope, he seems to spend most of the book traveling back and forth. Ho hum. Lee Child would have done better to develop a plot that kept Reacher in hiding in Despair. The book could have been 170 pages shorter and a lot more fun to read.

For those who want their villains to be veritable devils, this book will also disappoint. This villain is more annoying than threatening.

As for the big ending and what's at risk, it didn't seem credible so I couldn't take it seriously.

3 out of 5 stars

One Man Versus the Town Plot Marred by Slow Pace and Unrealistic Threats June 21, 2008
Unless you feel like you have to read every Reacher novel in the series, you could skip this one.

If you think America should withdraw immediately from Iraq, you'll like this anti-war book better than those who favor continuing to fight there. The primary subtext for this novel is that being in Iraq is bad for America, soldiers, and veterans of that conflict. If you believe that fundamental Christians are all scheming to create the Apocalypse, you'll also like this better than if you are a God-fearing, Bible-reading Christian.

Beyond whether or not you agree with the subtexts, the book's primary weakness is that it moves too slowly. After Reacher is expelled from the town of Despair to the town of Hope, he seems to spend most of the book traveling back and forth. Ho hum. Lee Child would have done better to develop a plot that kept Reacher in hiding in Despair. The book could have been 170 pages shorter and a lot more fun to read.

For those who want their villains to be veritable devils, this book will also disappoint. This villain is more annoying than threatening.

As for the big ending and what's at risk, it didn't seem credible so I couldn't take it seriously.

1 out of 5 stars

Very disappointed June 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've read all the books in the series, requested this one for my birthday and waited for it eagerly. All in all I wish I hadn't bothered. If you're a fan of the series I'd advise waiting for paperback as paying extra for the hardback will just leave you feeling worse. At the end of the book I felt like I'd wasted time reading it. Too formulaic and it seemed that Lee Child didn't put the same effort he did into the others. Maybe he was pushed for a deadline, maybe he struggled for a plot/ending but either way it left me cold. Sadly, I'd advise spending your cash on other fiction.

1 out of 5 stars

Why did I buy this book? June 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

What a load of rubbish this book was. It made me wonder why I had enjoyed previous novels. The story was not credible, the detail was meaningless dribble. I was bored reading the book, I only persisted because I hoped it would improve. I was glad to put it down. I will never buy another Lee Child novel.