Without Fail (Jack Reacher Series)

Child, Lee

4.16

105,713 ratings by Goodreads

9781441826565: Without Fail (Jack Reacher Series)

ISBN 10: 1441826564 ISBN 13: 9781441826565

Publisher: Brilliance Audio, 2009

“As the ultimate outsider, Reacher brings a fresh, if cynical, perspective to a world that he never made — and can’t wait to escape.” — The New York Times “[The] plot is ingenious...This is a superior series.” — The Washington Post Book World “Relentlessly paced...and absolutely mesmerizing.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Skilled, cautious, and anonymous, Jack Reacher is perfect for the job: to assassinate the vice president of the United States. Theoretically, of course. A female Secret Service agent wants Reacher to find the holes in her system, and fast — because a covert group already has the vice president in their sights. They’ve planned well. There’s just one thing they didn’t plan on: Reacher. “Irresistible.” — The Globe and Mail “Everything falls into place like a well-assembled time bomb.” — The Boston Globe “A stunner...the suspense becomes nearly unbearable.” - Booklist

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Review:

What better way to test the security surrounding a U.S. vice president-elect than to hire someone skilled in the killing arts to penetrate his protection? Assassination strategy, though, is only part of the assignment facing Jack Reacher in Without Fail. This restive, blunt-edged ex-military cop must also determine whether recent threats against VP-to-be Senator Brook Armstrong are legitimate or are primarily intended to embarrass the perfectionist head of Armstrong's new Secret Service detail, M.E. Froelich, who happens to have been a girlfriend of Reacher's late brother.

If Without Fail lacks the emotional urgency of Lee Child's previous novel, Echo Burning, it still barely lets the reader catch a decent breath between plot crests. Jack and his fetching yet formidable colleague, Frances Neagley, must figure out how warning letters to Armstrong are being delivered into the Secret Service sanctum, whether the senator is at risk because of something political or personal, and who staged the demonstration murders of two innocent men also named Armstrong, first initial B. Unfortunately, a few twists (including the source of a thumbprint applied to the threats against Armstrong) can be figured out in advance, and the story is light on character development. A tiny breach in Reacher's reclusive carapace opens as Froelich transfers the love she once felt for his brother toward him, and there are suggestions that Neagley may have depths of feeling just waiting to be plumbed. However, other players are mere ciphers--the sacrificial victims of an action-oriented yarn. --J. Kingston Pierce

About the Author:

Lee Child is a #1 bestselling author worldwide. His debut novel, Killing Floor, won two awards for best first mystery and was nominated for two more. Foreign rights in the Jack Reacher series have been sold in ninety-five countries. The movie franchise stars Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Child, a native of England, is a former television director. He lives in New York City, where he is at work on his next Jack Reacher thriller.

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