2008-07-24 Die trying to finish this book

This is the second Jack Reacher book I've read, chosen after I found One Shot quite un-put-downable. It was a bit silly but enjoyable in a satisfying-action-movie kind of way, but if 'One Shot' is a slick Hollywood production, 'Die Trying' turns out to be straight-to-video poor-man's-Chuck-Norris dross.

It starts well enough with the punchy narrative setting up an intriguing mystery, and maintains some good pace until about half-way through the book where the plot just turns to mush, becoming a sequence of characters being captured, escaping, re-captured, re-escaping, being on the verge of execution, escaping, and so on and so on. It is filled with repetition and cliche and it builds to a feeble climax.

Writing this sort of escapism clearly takes talent, but that talent seems to have escaped Lee Child in this instance.

Another Jack Reacher novel might be worth trying, but not this one.