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So I am now on a Lee Child reading spree! I only discovered his Jack Reacher books recently and I am now addicted! This is the essence of good series writing. I read this book in one afternoon in my hammock on the Kindle. Awesome. I immediately bought more of them.
Let’s talk about ‘Worth Dying For’ which got me hooked with a blend of fast paced action, violence and an underlying ethics in Reacher that had me rooting for him every step of the way.
The book starts with Jack Reacher arriving in a small town and very quickly becoming embroiled in a local domestic violence incident. After beating the husband for what he did to the wife, Reacher takes on some thugs sent to deal with him. The book then escalates as we find out how one family of sinister men have sewn up the town businesses and rule the place with some illegal stuff on the side. Reacher helps some of the people in the town and investigates what secrets are hidden below the surface.
No spoilers but there is a mystery throughout the book of what is in the white van that the bad guys are waiting for, and how it is related to what’s in the shed guarded from the opening scene. Finding out gave me a real chill. It added another reason why you wanted the bad guys dead.
I do like violence in a book but not too graphic. This book was getting to the point of being graphic but was absolutely justified. Reacher beats up bad guys, protects the innocent and weak and empowers one woman to take her own revenge. It has a very high body count but you feel it’s all meant to happen. The right people get their come-uppance. I think this is why the Reacher books are so popular. There is a black and white ethical sense and Reacher is almost an avenging angel, he is dark and just beats through the bodies in his path but he is a righteous man.
The setting of the small town gave the book a constrained feel. There are very few scenes outside the town itself and many are in small rooms which keeps the tension going. It felt like this could be a place in middle America.
In terms of characters, I don’t think we are meant to get to know Reacher very much and the other characters are sketchy too. This suits the genre though, it is a fast-paced action book with probably the most fight scenes I’ve ever read. I did like the guys from Las Vegas from the various levels of the criminal organisations. They were almost farcical but again, fitted right into the novel.
This is a great escapist novel and I bought another Lee Child immediately. Reacher is a character I want to see more of, I know he will always be on the side of moral right even though his methods may be questionable!
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Hey, Joanna,
Great review. I love the quality of Lee Child’s writing–true craft. In trying to decide on the next book to read after finishing the latest Koontz release, I looked through a bunch of Child’s titles but couldn’t decide on one because I like to read series in order, and the first Reacher novel description didn’t catch my interest. But this one sounds good and I may just have to break my “have to read in order” OCD habit!
Thanks for the review. Looking forward to reading something new now.
Joan
Thanks Joan – I know you’ll enjoy the book and then get into the other Reachers. I think they are stand-alone really – fantastic stories!
Uh oh. I remember the first Reacher book I read. It was Persuader. I then went on a month long jag of Child books. It’s rather amazing that he’s approaching 20 books and essentially following a very similar plot formula for each one. But dang, very few miss the mark. Having read all of them, I still tend to favor ones were we get a bit more about Reacher and his past than just the self contained knight errant tales.
That’s funny Michael – I’m heading down the same path in reading them all. He is clearly a brilliant writer who just keeps putting out great novels!
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