Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Better Off Dead by Andrew Child, Lee Child Series: Jack Reacher #26
Published by Ballantine on October 26, 2021
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Reacher isn’t one to back down from a fight. And when a shadowy crew raises the stakes, he won’t hesitate to teach them a lesson: When you pick a fight with Reacher, you’re better off dead.
I have really enjoyed the Jack Reacher series and have read them all, including novellas. Jack Reacher started out wandering when he was maybe mid-thirties, and as the books went along he aged. Then, the books seemed to go back in time and cover times when he was in the military or freshly a civilian. I’m uncertain as to his age in Better Off Dead. I would read the earlier books in order but later books could be read standalone.
Now, Lee Child is joined by his younger brother, Andrew to write these adventures. It seems to be going well. I liked The Sentinel. The world events and modern conveniences suggest Reacher is somewhat older. He doesn’t have many specific plans but he was headed to the Pacific Ocean this time.
I didn’t like the start because it gave a dire situation and then went back in time leading up to the situation. This only went on for a few chapter but it didn’t work for me. The rest of the book was pure Reacher style. He is always helping the underdog, making things right, jamming up the bad guys. Luckily, he has his old military type contacts to handle some aspects, be it information or arrests.
He is not afraid of a fight and uses excellent strategy which we get to hear about half in his stream of thoughts. Even when he gets into a dire place, he works out of it. He isn’t worried about just disposing of villains, particularly if they try to kill him. It seems like he perhaps has had more violent fights when not in the military, first when he was growing up and now once he has retired from the military. He doesn’t carry a gun but he has skills with them and often ends up with one from the bad guys.
Reacher is a classic for me with compassion, thrilling action, and intelligent strategy. It’s also great to see the good guys or the innocent win and the bad guys get taken down.
About Lee Child
Lee Child was born October 29th, 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV’s “golden age.” During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of 40 as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars’ worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.
Killing Floor was an immediate success and launched the series which has grown in sales and impact with every new installment. The first Jack Reacher movie, based on the novel One Shot and starring Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, was released in December 2012.
Lee has three homes—an apartment in Manhattan, a country house in the south of France, and whatever airplane cabin he happens to be in while traveling between the two. In the US he drives a supercharged Jaguar, which was built in Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant, thirty yards from the hospital in which he was born.
Lee spends his spare time reading, listening to music, and watching the Yankees, Aston Villa, or Marseilles soccer. He is married with a grown-up daughter. He is tall and slim, despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- C21-Fall
I’m a bit envious that you’re up to date in this series, Anne💜 I started it years ago and got distracted…you know that story. Excellent review! I had no idea his brother was co-writing these books now.
I look forward to the day when I can resurrect the series. I am up to date, though, with the Netflix series.
Well I haven’t watched the Netflix at all. The brother is 14 years younger I think. I hope you get to them at some point. I always get into the story easily and violent as it is, it is a comfort read.
Twenty-six books now? Wow! I’ve never read or watched the movies, but my folks LOVE these books – they get the audiobooks for when they travel.
I didn’t like the original narrator plus when I started the series I was reading paperbacks from the library. Now it’s Scott Brick narrating so I have listened to some of them. I just enjoy them a lot.
I’m glad it is working out with his brother as co-writer and that the bouncing around on the timeline doesn’t affect your pleasure in the series. I still need to try Jack Reacher books.
Honestly I would start at the beginning but then I always would. Some of these later ones could be read as standalone but it helps to get the mindset of Reacher from the start.
Jack Reacher is one of my favorite characters. I’m a big fan of these books, though I’m behind in the series and haven’t read any of these latest ones.
I’m so comfortable with the books it’s like reading an old favorite.
This is a series that has been on my tbr forever. I have some of the early books. I am happy to hear that it is one that you are still enjoying!
I have to say I am glad I read a lot when I was younger because some of these series have a lot of installments which might be more daunting now. But I love this series and while I would start at the beginning you could amble along reading a few each year for a long time.
I really need to read more of his books. I’ve only read a couple so far but I loved them both.
I have long series I just power through and others I am slowly working through. It has nothing to do with how much I love them and more the cycles in my life and also perhaps the format I typically read for them.
My husband loves the Jack Reacher movies, but he’s not much of a reader. I need to try to get him to read these. Lovely review.
Thank you! I have only seen one movie with Tom Cruise who looks nothing like the book Reacher. These are comfort reads for me somehow as they are familiar and loved.