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Monday, July 19, 2010

Echo Burning by Lee Child

Child, Lee.  Echo Burning.

This makes the 8th Jack Reacher novel I've read so far this year.  What I can I say...it is a Jack Reacher novel--full of action, a tough guy super-hero, a far-fetched plot and lots of fun!

Reacher, who attracts trouble like sugar attracts flies, is trying to avoid a little dust-up with a local cop and is hitching a ride out of town.  The beautiful Carmen Greer picks him up.  Uh oh.

Carmen doesn't just pick Reacher up on a whim; she's been cruising West Texas roads looking for a tough guy...to kill her husband.  Amid some lies and half-truths, she tells of the beatings she's received at her husband's hands and informs Reacher that although her husband is currently in jail for tax-evasion, he is about to be released and she expects the abuse to continue at best, and at worst, that her husband will kill her because she tipped off the IRS.

Although Reacher, as a former Army MP  has killed many men (in some spectacular adventures), he is not an assassin and turns Carmen down.  However, he senses the genuine fear amid the lies and agrees to return with her to the ranch where Carmen lives with her daughter and her hateful mother- and brother-in-law.

All Reacher novels are action-packed and full of adventure.  Lee Child excels at action, suspense, and atmosphere of place.  Although this is not my favorite Reacher adventure, it was fast-paced and hard to put down.  It was not as satisfying as some of the previous Reacher novels, but still an entertaining read. 

Fiction.  Crime/Mystery/Adventure/Suspense.  2007.  576 pages.

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