Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher #11) by Lee Child



Published by Dell in 2012.
Originally published in in 2007 by Delacorte Press

I must live under a rock. I had not read any Jack Reacher novel until I read this one and I had not even heard of the series until last summer when a fellow blogger was excitedly talking about the latest release.

So, what did I think?

First of all, you do not have to have read any of the rest of the series to follow what is happening in this story. Jack Reacher is a drifter and he has been since he retired from the U.S. Army in 1997. In the military he led an investigation squad of the military police. Like Clint Eastwood's famed "Man WIth No Name" character from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Reacher says little, keeps his own counsel and does what he thinks is best, follow his own sense of justice and drifts from place to place.

Lee Child
In Bad Luck and Trouble, Reacher receives a message from a former member of his unit. He tracks her down and discovers that another former member was murdered - dropped from a helicopter in the desert outside of Los Angeles. The re-assemble as many members as they can and soon discover that four former members are missing, presumed dead. They vow to discover who did this and get revenge.

This is an action-packed book and I blew right through it. This is not deep literature, but it is solid escapist story-telling. The characters are under-developed and I got a little tired of the Jack Reacher personae (ultra-stoic tough guy). I appreciate tough guy stories but I really like them to have an abundance of personality like Robert B. Parker's Spenser or Robert Crais's Elvis Cole. Reacher's lack of personality (or, perhaps, an over-abundance of focus on the problem at hand) scream for someone to lighten the mood from time to time.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher, No. 11)

Reviewed December 28, 2012.

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 9, 2013 at 5:03 PM

    I'm glad I'm not the only one to mention/notice that Reacher doesn't have any real personality. lol but I loved the books and have listened to them all. Robert Crais's Elvis Cole is also a favorite of mine and I always get David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter series, he writes so well.

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