[mesquite]

TITLE: One Shot (Jack Reacher #9)
AUTHOR: Lee Child
GENRE: Fiction/Thriller/Action & Adventure
PUBLISHED: June 14, 2005
RATING: ★★★★☆
PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
MOBILISM LINK: Jack Reacher 1-13

Review: Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me. And sure enough, from the world he lives in—no phone, no address, no commitments–ex–military investigator Jack Reacher is coming. In Lee Child’s astonishing new thriller, Reacher’s arrival will change everything—about a case that isn’t what it seems, about lives tangled in baffling ways, about a killer who missed one shot–and by doing so give Jack Reacher one shot at the truth.…

Trying to describe Jack Reacher is as tough as he is portrayed by Lee Child. Putting it into words though Lee Child makes it work. Honestly this book is understandably a best seller and why shouldn't it be? It has everything working for it to make it a fan favorite. It has the action, which a Reacher novel is NEVER short on. It has the drama which grips you by the wrist. Last, but not least, it has personality.

"I still need whatever information you have," Rodin said. Reacher shook his head. "No," he said. "You really don't."

Reacher has always been someone you don't mess with. His persona is blunt without the mess around to get to the point. He is a calculating, menacing brute force when being faced adversely head on. That being said lets talk about the book.

One Shot, the 9th book in the extremely popular Jack Reacher series is pedal to the metal action. When a sniper opens fire on the 5 o' clock rush hour exodus of office workers to their cars killing 5 people everyone is left in bewildered wondering as to why it could happen in a basic suburban American town in Indiana. Quickly getting to work the police find and arrest James Barr who makes one request "Get Jack Reacher for me." Sure, everything fits perfectly to fit James Barr to the crime and even Jack Reacher fits everything to James Barr with whom he has a bit of history with 14 years earlier in his old life of being a Military Policeman in Kuwait City when 4 service members where gunned down. With a bit of political maneuvering Barr gets off for the crime but in typical Reacher style he left him with a warning that he would bring him down if he stepped out of line. To which this is how Reacher is approaching the case.

Mysteriously, someone else is also watching the case, someone who puts Reacher in his sights before he arrives in Indiana. A cute innocent young girl and a bar fight is all it takes as Reacher begins to ask questions things escalate out of control to the point where Reacher starts to doubt the ability of James Barr to even commit this heinous act when everything shows that he was on the up and up from his brush with justice in Kuwait City. With the help of a wet behind the ears Defense Attorney, who just so happens to be the daughter of the District Attorney prosecuting the case, the concerned sister, and a news reporter looking for her big break Reacher pieces together a quieted cover up that without the right person digging for it would have gone unnoticed when it relates to something so obscure that it takes everyone, including Reacher by surprise.

I really felt this novel delivered from the first paragraph. It's brisk and to the point. No lengthy discussions about tactics or strategy. Hardly any filler to make it take up paper and space. Delivery of the dialogue delivers classic Reacher one liners that any true fan of Lee Child and Jack Reacher would instantly start nodding their head with a smirking grin.

"You've got blood on your shirt"... "Not mine."

That delivery is classy and blunt as you will ever find when discussing the kind of person that Jack Reacher is. Though apart from the physical description of 6 foot 5, 250 pounds, and muscles as hard as mahogany. This is just pure characteristic. Brute force, no holds bar, with very little acceptance of rules but his own. Novels live and die by the character written to lead and Jack Reacher leads us down a physical, personal path.

[ephemeral]

Nice review, mesquite. Although I must admit to chuckling here: "apart from the physical description of 6 foot 5, 250 pounds, and muscles as hard as mahogany."

Everybody and his or her brother wonders how Tom Cruise fills this role. Sure Tom has muscles hard as mahogany but he is not 250 lbs and he certainly is not 6'5"! And yet, when at CineWest, Lee (Child) went out of his way to endorse Tom and his portrayal of Jack Reacher. "Is there another actor who kicks more ass than Tom?" he said.

And then the studio shared a 10 minute snippet from the movie (based on THIS book - not #1!). Tom looks great as Jack Reacher. But there are those other 2 hours... for which we must wait 7 weeks to see with our own eyes whether Tom IS Jack.

I have read this book. Well worth a look. I too cant imagine Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher but hey ho thats Hollywood for you.

[cdlc]

Unlike a lot of thriller writers, Lee Child has a lot of female readers and, IMHO, the main reason is Reacher. The Reacher books are well worth reading if you like action and plenty of it. What makes them a cut above the rest is the personality, and physical presence, of Jack Reacher. He's a constant thread running through the books but he still manages to surprise us. Each book adds a bit more to the character helping to turn him into someone you'd like to know and would want on your side. I can thoroughly recommend.
Like to 2 above I don't see how Tom Cruise can play Reacher. Things happen to Reacher and people react to him the way they do because of his size and, no matter how good an actor he is, Tom Cruise will never fool me into believing that he's built like a brick outhouse.

[mesquite]

To be honest, I think Bruce Willis would have been a great choice but Bruce is always type casted as a bulky built up hunk of man (yes, my high school girlfriend called him that) but I want to see fresh faces playing a middle aged butt kicker. Definitely true that Tom isn't atypical for Reacher but if Lee says he is worthy then Lee's word is law.

[Guy1731]

A great review. Well done.

I have a question for the readers of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Hope someone can illuminate me. While looking at some books at the book store, I found the book 'A wanted man', and took it home. It's a good story and I liked it very much. I'm a fan of books around a hero, so I decided to read another book from Lee Child about Jack Reacher. I bought the previous book 'the Affair', and just finished it. It's another fantastic story. I'm hooked.

Now comes my question. The book 'A wanted man' starts with Jack having a broken nose, and in the book is said he got that broken nose from the previous story. In the previous book 'The Affair' Jack has indeed some fights with locals in a small town, and he breaks some noses from people that threaten him, but he doesn't get injured or get a broken nose himself the whole book.

So my question is: where did Jack get the broken nose he starts with in the book 'A wanted man'?

[mesquite]

A great review. Well done.

I have a question for the readers of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Hope someone can illuminate me. While looking at some books at the book store, I found the book 'A wanted man', and took it home. It's a good story and I liked it very much. I'm a fan of books around a hero, so I decided to read another book from Lee Child about Jack Reacher. I bought the previous book 'the Affair', and just finished it. It's another fantastic story. I'm hooked.

Now comes my question. The book 'A wanted man' starts with Jack having a broken nose, and in the book is said he got that broken nose from the previous story. In the previous book 'The Affair' Jack has indeed some fights with locals in a small town, and he breaks some noses from people that threaten him, but he doesn't get injured or get a broken nose himself the whole book.

So my question is: where did Jack get the broken nose he starts with in the book 'A wanted man'?

A Wanted Man is the sort of finale regarding a story arc he (Lee Child) started with 61 Hours and continued with in Worth Dying For. The Affair is a sort of prequel when he was still in the US Army. So it has no bearing on continuation in regards to how he broke his nose in A Wanted Man.

[Guy1731]

You mean 'Worth Dying For' is the story just before 'A wanted man'?

[mesquite]

You mean 'Worth Dying For' is the story just before 'A wanted man'?

Lee wrote the Reacher novels so you could start the series with any one of them. Really. No fooling.

Our suggestion? Read them in the order Lee wrote them (they were published in that order, too). We believe the prequel (The Enemy) has more emotional impact after you’ve gotten to know Reacher a bit better. We numbered them on the BOOKS page for your convenience. There’s also a printable list of all books available for download on the Media downloads page.

#1 Killing Floor; #2 Die Trying; #3 Tripwire; #4 Running Blind (US title)/The Visitor (UK title); #5 Echo Burning; #6 Without Fail; #7 Persuader; #8 The Enemy (the prequel, this takes place before the events of Killing Floor); #9 One Shot; #10 The Hard Way; #11 Bad Luck and Trouble; #12 Nothing to Lose; #13 Gone Tomorrow; #14 61 Hours; #15 Worth Dying For; #16 The Affair; #17 A Wanted Man.

If you’re a diehard must-be-read-in-chronological-order person: The Enemy (prequel); The Affair (prequel); Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; Running Blind (US title)/The Visitor (UK title); Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader; One Shot; The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For; A Wanted Man.

(Courtesy of leechild.com click #4) http://www.leechild.com/faq/

[Guy1731]

ok, I'll go for the diehard must-be-read-in-not-necessarily-chronological-order option, and feedback on the broken nose when I get to it. Thanks!

[mesquite]

To be honest it doesn't matter as they pointed out. I prefer the publication date order.

[fullybook]

I've read the whole series and I was disappointed with the other books as the series progressed, the quality of the story declines also. What prompted me to read the series was the movie, of course.

At this point, the series was going downhill but it was redeemed slightly by this book. I liked how the story was presented. Though there are parts where I thought it was "over-acting", it added to the character of Jack Reacher. But then, Jack was always presented as almost-invincible. He may get a busted nose but nothing so life-threatening.

[Guy1731]

I just finished reading book 2 and 3 from Dean Koontz' Frankenstein series. Now I'm reading another book from Lee Child: Die Trying (The second Jack Reacher story). Did I mention I read most of my books in Dutch? Only while on holidays I read one or two English books which I mostly get from local shops or the hotel's library. That way I usually change from my usual habit to read books from writers I know, making me discover new ones.

[mesquite]

FYI: according to my official LeeChild.com Reacher Report email his upcoming book is the conclusion in this story arc (thought A Wanted Man finalized it but it didn't)