Reacher has lost his edge
937124
I agree with the many reviewers who have expressed disappointment in this latest installment of the Jack Reacher saga. My husband and I discovered Lee Child's books last summer and sailed through every one of them. Although we eagerly awaited this year's publication, both of us felt Nothing to Lose was not up to Child's usual standards. The main weaknesses include too many plot lines wandering in too many directions, a villain who wasn't particularly villainous, and a basic underlying story concept that really isn't that interesting. A couple of really annoying  elements include a town named Despair: I can not suspend my disbelief long enough to accept such an idea. And don't get me started on the scene in which the townspeople rise up like residents of Village of the Damned. Let's hope Reacher regains some of his earlier power in the next book.
3688528
Seems Lee loses edginess with each Reacher outing, maybe he's  been watching the Tom Cruise duds. He needs to go back to the beginning. Fun read, but slightly disappointed.
4577040
Not the Jack Reacher we have come to love. May be my last time buying and reacher Lee Child. I think Lee has ran out of steam on this one. Wish I could get my money back.
4149628
For such a solid writer, this was a mediocre read. A Reacher who was much more arrogant and dismissive than usual, and a plot where way too much that went wrong was easily fixed. I have read all his books because I liked the protagonist and his mindfuless, but that may unfortunately be eroding.
2102824
There have been many reviews already that have covered the plot of this book.  It is a departure in pace and I liked seeing Reacher team up with an accomplice.  The story takes Reacher to both Paris and London, which I enjoyed.  I especially liked having Lee Child - an Englishman - describing London to us through American eyes.  I liked the fact that Reacher didn't get the girl, as it would have felt inappropriate given their age difference.  And I also liked the humor that came through.

And yet.  I can't put a finger on it, but it didn't feel like a book that had been penned by the same hand as the others in the series.  The writing style did, it has the same relentless go forward momentum that all the books in the series do, but there were so many changes in plot formula that it felt somewhat...off.  Reacher's humor felt different, his approach to women felt different (was there a sub-plot perhaps with the older FBI woman which got chopped?), his deductive powers were sluggish and his reaction to travel felt unlikely - though now that he has a fresh new passport it would be fun if this marks the start of him traveling around the world instead of just the US.

I devoured this book as I have all the others in the series.  It's not one of the greats, but nor is it the lamest.
2137885
Same great action and intrigue. But is it me or is Reacher becoming more emotional?
1859115
I wanted to sample one of Child's Reacher books and chose this title because it is the first book in the series. There is not much to like or admire about the Reacher character in this story.  Ostensibly he is one of the good guys but several of his actions reveal him to be as morally bankrupt as the criminals he is pursuing.  The plot line of the story is internally consistent, but it is not very plausible. I won't be purchasing or reading another book from this series..
1801994
I do like the Jack Reacher novels, and I have read all of them.  I was a bit disappointed with this one.  I did not think it measured up to the "tough guy" genre as well as Lee Child's previous books.
3503615
Not the best Reacher but still an easy page turner. The last couple of novels have pointed Reacher in the direction of the female Major who has taken over his old unit (he likes the sound of her voice). Finally he arrives only to find she has been replaced, he is pulled back into the military and his past seems to be catching up with him. Maybe.

So classic Reacher as he out smarts the bad guys and roots out the conspiracy at the heart of all his troubles. And on the journey we get many classic Reacher scenes and for once he is not in some middle of nowhere town with a female sheriff, but all the familiar themes are there.

The Reacher books are fairly obvious now, author Lee Child knows what his public wants and gives it to them. All well and good and always entertaining and easy reading. This one though had a very weak `reveal' and the two `Mr Bigs' were very dull wrapped around a very daft plot premise. So for that I have dropped my score to 3 stars.

As an aside, fellow author David Baldacci has published two very obvious rip offs of the Reacher novels and it would appear Lee Child is making a point in this by naming one of the incompetent low level bad guys after him (Ronald David Baldacci) which I did find very amusing.
1940310
The sad thing about Night School is that its opening premise seems electrifying: surely this book is going to slip somehow into the  run-up to the 9/11 catastrophe, as did one of Nelson DeMille's best books. SPOILER: Okay, that doesn't happen here. The actual plot does catch the imagination, as do the actions of the main villain and intermittent interactions of the three main plot strands. But much is disappointing here: 1) Up until recently, Jack Reacher always seemed to be a magical character. I have not found this to be true in the last few books, including this one. 2) As in one or two of the more recent Reacher books, there's an awful lot of following of characters as they walk or drive down streets, turn left or right, circle here and there, whatever. I'm never much good at envisioning scenes from their physical description, and I find this kind of on- and-on-and-on walking-and-turning becomes tiresome. Reacher's guesses as to where to go next used to seem brilliant. Here they seem at best possible--and lucky. I like to stay on top of the author's plotting, but here I couldn't always remember what the characters had done previously or even who all of them were. (Why the heck does the character named Bishop get mentioned so much? He's a total cipher.) The recurrent repetition of text was cute but only for a while. And the sex scenes seemed obligatory--they didn't seduce the reader and were totally non-germane to the plot. I'm not sorry I read the book, but it did disappoint me. I think it could have taken an upward, not downward, arc from the opening. Most of all, I'd like the magical version of Jack Reacher to return.
215686
I love Jack Reacher novels but this was a little dull. There was a lot of filler as if there wasn't quite enough plot for a full novel. While most Reacher novels require some suspension of belief this one was particularly far-fetched. Even so I am onto "Gone Tomorrow"
1058868
Like other Lee Child books, the novel was off to a good start.  However, about half way through the read, I became bored.  The story became shallow and glacially slow.  The author allowed Reacher, the main character, to take a sharp left turn from his usual character.  In this storyline, Reacher is of either agnostic or atheist beliefs, which I previously had not encountered in Reacher's character.  Furthermore, Reacher seemingly turns his back on all that he has represented and stood for in previous caricatures.  Additionally, it appeared Lee Child characterized Reacher with a less than healthy respect for women in Nothing to Lose.  When the female lead states she does not want to repeat a sexual tryst, Reacher says
"Oh shut up Vaughn, we will check into the same hotel and do exactly the same things."  Totally out of character in many ways.  I have to wonder if there was a ghost writer working on the story.  It does not fit with previous writes or reads.  Therefore, this novel was a complete disappointment.
2371857
This is the weakest Jack Reacher novel for some time. The narrative is repetitive, the characters poorly fleshed out. The supposed antagonist in particular is a non-entity; although this is, in part, the hinge of the plot, it's still dissatisfying. The great villain that Reacher does confront is too grotesque to be truly sinister. Reacher himself seems more avuncular than dangerous for large parts of the book, and the female lead is weak. Perhaps it's appropriate for Reacher to be showing his age, and he doesn't need to sleep with every female he pairs up with, but in Personal I found myself wondering whether he was going to adopt the young thing. The final reveal or plot twist is a good one, but the rest of the book doesn't deserve it.
2837255
I've read all the Jack Reacher stories and was looking forward to reading this one.  I bought it and read it and should have waited for my library to get it.  As one of the previous reviewers mentioned, some readers might be annoyed at Lee Child's politics  revealing itself in Jack Reacher.  That did annoy me.  The different plots seamed to be reaching a bit (sorry).  I was ready the throw the book down when  it referred to an Army Lt. as a "one-striper."  Let's hope, but not despair,(that was fun) Lee Child will bring his magic back with his next  book.
733886
Not nearly as good as any of the previous works. Reacher was too willing and the interaction with the British agent and MI6 was convoluted.
All too tidy of an ending.
I LOVE Jack Reacher stories but was a bit bummed by this one.
NOTHING IS AS BUMMING AS SOME IDIOT LETTING TOM CRUISE PLAY REACHER IN A MOVIE.
THAT CAN NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN...EVER
4234022
I like the Jack Reacher books, but this one had way too much "filler".  It took away from the flow of the story.
236211
I was a great Reacher fan until the stories became repetitive and unbelievable. This is just another Reacher story set in the heart of small-town America, with Reacher pitted against mundane, greedy villains who have absolutely no chance of winning against Reacher's superior physical strength and Army training. And of course, there is the unbelievable ending with Reacher as a one-man Amazing Hulk in an abandoned Army facility. I was so disappointed in this book because Lee Child has proven he can write a dynamic, well-written story, but he's not coming through for his fans anymore. And I agree with the reviewer who wrote that Tom Cruise is a bad choice to portray Reacher on film. I like Tom Cruise, but it's simply not his role for obvious reasons. Lee Child, please bring the real Reacher back -- he is now less than the "idiot Puller."