Echo Burning - Lee Child

"There were three watchers,
two men and a boy."

Rated 5.2/10 (average)

Jack finds himself suffering the intense heat of a Texas summer, and (leaving behind a messy situation) hardly worries about the dangers of who will pick him up when he hitches a ride. But it's a beautiful young rich girl driving a Cadillac who gives Jack a lift.

My Thoughts: I know what to expect when I pick up a Reacher novel - action, girls and plenty of cheese. The previous four books in this series that I read had everything going for them, but 'Echo Burning' didn't really hit the mark with anything in the way that I expected it to.

The first few scenes in the book were great. Plenty of action and it set the story up well - but after this everything went downhill. Reacher believes a complete stranger based entirely on his gut instinct and then most of what she says turns out to be lies. But he still believes her, and still based on his gut instinct. I think that this discredited his character a little bit and I would never have put him down as a man that falls for silly tricks and lies.

This plot seems to be scrambling and clutching at straws. It doesn't read comfortably and it doesn't run smoothly. Some of it seems a little vague, other parts felt as if Lee Child just couldn't dig his characters out without making new things up and throwing more random information into the mix. Jack Reacher doesn't tell his comrade any of the information that he has figured out at all towards the end, and the one single reason for this is to keep us, the reader, guessing. It just doesn't read well at all. She would need to know!

All told, I did keep reading and I did get hooked. I think this was mainly because Jack Reacher is such a stunning character and I can't get enough of him. It is disappointing that Reacher's personna was nearly destroyed in this one and I hope that 'Without Fail' picks it up a bit.

Theme: 2/5
A little bit lacking in this one, mainly because it seemed so forced.

Plot: 2/5
Again, not as fresh and exciting as some of Reacher's previous adventures, but it did keep the pages turning.

Characters: 3/5
Jack Reacher is awesome. But his character was a bit questionable in this one, and most of the other characters weren't memorable, even the antagonists!

Setting: 4/5
The setting did the job, and of course, the rain starts pouring at just the right moment.

Style: 2/5
It just didn't cut it for me this time. Where's the bloody action? Where's the big cheesy action hero banging heads together to get results? Why's he turned so gullible all of a sudden?

Overall: 5.2/10

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to any established fan of Jack Reacher. Definitely don't pick this one up if it's your first meeting with him though!

Click here to grab this at Waterstones.com ...