One Shot
ISBN: 9780857500120
Description
A heartland city thrown into terror. But within hours the cops have it solved. A slam-dunk case. Apart from one thing. The accused gunman refuses to talk except for a single phrase: "Get Jack Reacher for me". Reacher lives off the grid. He's not looking for trouble. But sometimes trouble looks for him. What could connect the ex-military cop to this psychopathic killer?
Reviewed on 7th August 2011
This is a really enjoyable read, though the Reacher stories may be starting to get a little formulaic. When a sniper guns down five random people in an Indiana city, there are so many clues that the police take mere hours to track down and arrest the perpetrator. But all he does is ask for Jack Reacher.
Once again, a good solid action novel - Child is certainly at the top of the genre and manages to make the action and events believable. He tells the story in his own style, with short and to the point sentences and no flowery unnecessary language to get in the way. However I can imagine this annoying some readers, who may view it as not literary enough, but personally I find it quite a refreshing style.
The characters in this book are very flat though. Some seem barely to have a second-dimension, and the focus is very much on Reacher himself as usual. The bad-guys get the best treatment, but even then seem fairly bland compared to the star of the show. In fact the bad-guys are my one real criticism of the novel, as I felt there was too much told from their point-of-view, somewhat removing any sense of suspense as we knew what they were up to. I prefer a slightly more whodunnit approach with a bit of mystery to it, and although this novel has a touch it didn't feel quite enough.
A good read, which I sped through in a couple of days. I'd certainly recommend it, along with the rest of the series, but can't quite see how they're going to make it into a film (which I understand is under production).
