Echo Burning (Jack Reacher)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
There was a time when a US-set crime novel by a British writer (such as James Hadley Chase's No Orchids For Miss Blandish) could get away with a certain carelessness in local detail. Not any more. Since the Englishman Lee Child began writing his superbly authentic novels, few readers on either side of the Atlantic would accept anything other than the gritty authenticity of books such as Child's latest, Echo Burning. He prides himself on the plausibility of his settings and characters, and actually has a more striking sense of the American landscape that many native writers. He never allows the reader to forget just where his hero Jack Reacher is, what he's feeling, smelling, seeing. And Reacher has slowly but surely become one of the most fully rounded protagonists in thriller fiction. It's hardly surprising that the novels have been optioned for filming; what is surprising is the fact that it hasn't happened before.
Jack finds himself suffering the intense heat of a Texas summer, and (leaving behind a messy situation) hardly worries about the dangers of who will pick him up when he hitches a ride. But it's a beautiful young rich girl driving a Cadillac who gives Jack a lift. Carmen tells him she has a little girl who is being observed by unseen and sinister forces. And her brutal, abusive jailed husband is more than likely to kill her when he gets out. It's obviously highly inadvisable for Jack to travel to Carmen's remote ranch in Echo County and become involved in her problems, but (needless to say) he does just that. And he's soon encountering lies, lust and prejudice, with untrustworthy cops and lawyers absolutely no help. Jack finally realises that there is only one way to resolve this lethal situation.
As always with Child, the narrative rattles along with real élan, and the sultry characterisation keeps everything ruthlessly on track. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Daily Mail
'Cracking fast dialogue, an edgy ambivalent plot...this feels like Child's breakthrough book into the mega-sellers. He is that good'
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Each generation, I suppose, has its favorite fictional Tough Guys. For my parents, it may have been Bogart and The Duke. For me, they've been Clint, Bruce, and Mel on the Big Screen, and the literary British spy Quiller. However, in the past couple of years, Jack Reacher has arrived on the killing fields. And he's perhaps tougher, certainly smarter, than any who've gone before.
A former Army major assigned to the Military Police, Jack has been aimlessly roaming the United States through several novels, and attracting big trouble in each one. In ECHO BURNING, he's hitchhiked into sunburnt West Texas where he's given a ride by Carmen Greer, who's cruising the highways on the lookout for a Tough Guy. Carmen lives with her young daughter, Ellie, on an arid ranch with her hateful brother-in-law and mother-in-law while her husband, Sloop, serves time in a federal pen for tax evasion. According to the story Carmen spins, her spouse had been viciously beating her for years. Since Sloop is due to be released in forty-eight hours, Carmen expects the beatings to begin anew, especially since she was the one that ratted on Sloop to the IRS. Will Reacher kill him for her? No? Well, will he at least teach her how to shoot the dainty pistol she's purchased? (In the meantime, what's with that team of three professional assassins circling the ranch unbeknownst to all? Jack may discover his hands full.)
All those other Tough Guys I mentioned are smart, but not so much that they don't sporadically get beaten up and kicked silly by the Bad Guys. But not Reacher - nobody gets the drop on him. When the reader sees a violent confrontation looming, he almost feels sorry for the villains for the World of Hurt in which they'll soon find themselves. By his own admission, Jack's a hard man who likes cockroaches better than the men (and women) he's sometimes forced to exterminate.
Reacher is endlessly fascinating. Having gone from one Army post to another, first as an Army brat and then on his own as an MP officer, he's never known a permanent home. So, now he chooses to live as a near-vagrant, shunning commitment to material things and the occasional interesting woman. He travels only with testosterone and a toothbrush, buying cheap clothes to wear and discard as he goes. He's educated, intelligent and gentlemanly, but excruciatingly asocial (as opposed to antisocial, which he's not) and heroically ignorant about how a "normal" life - wife, house, mortgage, kids, dog, 9 to 5, and Lexus - is lived. This is a man whom all you single ladies out there would love the chance to improve. (Don't cave, Jack! Be a role model for the rest of us New Age men pining to be free!)
Hey, all you other Tough Guys of lore and legend, move aside and make room for a Real Man.
A former Army major assigned to the Military Police, Jack has been aimlessly roaming the United States through several novels, and attracting big trouble in each one. In ECHO BURNING, he's hitchhiked into sunburnt West Texas where he's given a ride by Carmen Greer, who's cruising the highways on the lookout for a Tough Guy. Carmen lives with her young daughter, Ellie, on an arid ranch with her hateful brother-in-law and mother-in-law while her husband, Sloop, serves time in a federal pen for tax evasion. According to the story Carmen spins, her spouse had been viciously beating her for years. Since Sloop is due to be released in forty-eight hours, Carmen expects the beatings to begin anew, especially since she was the one that ratted on Sloop to the IRS. Will Reacher kill him for her? No? Well, will he at least teach her how to shoot the dainty pistol she's purchased? (In the meantime, what's with that team of three professional assassins circling the ranch unbeknownst to all? Jack may discover his hands full.)
All those other Tough Guys I mentioned are smart, but not so much that they don't sporadically get beaten up and kicked silly by the Bad Guys. But not Reacher - nobody gets the drop on him. When the reader sees a violent confrontation looming, he almost feels sorry for the villains for the World of Hurt in which they'll soon find themselves. By his own admission, Jack's a hard man who likes cockroaches better than the men (and women) he's sometimes forced to exterminate.
Reacher is endlessly fascinating. Having gone from one Army post to another, first as an Army brat and then on his own as an MP officer, he's never known a permanent home. So, now he chooses to live as a near-vagrant, shunning commitment to material things and the occasional interesting woman. He travels only with testosterone and a toothbrush, buying cheap clothes to wear and discard as he goes. He's educated, intelligent and gentlemanly, but excruciatingly asocial (as opposed to antisocial, which he's not) and heroically ignorant about how a "normal" life - wife, house, mortgage, kids, dog, 9 to 5, and Lexus - is lived. This is a man whom all you single ladies out there would love the chance to improve. (Don't cave, Jack! Be a role model for the rest of us New Age men pining to be free!)
Hey, all you other Tough Guys of lore and legend, move aside and make room for a Real Man.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The review title may seem a contradiction but the sheer charisma of Lee Child's writing and characterisation allows the reader to wallow in the faintly absurd and come out the other side wishing that the book was twice the length. Let me explain.
Firstly, Jack Reacher is, was rather, a military policeman. At the risk of offending military police out there, who do a difficult and often dangerous job, theirs is not the world of CSI or Law and Order Special Homicide squads. 90% of their weeks work involves petty theft, drunk squaddies and mindless violence. Jack Reacher, whilst being the hardest man in the U.S. and the best shot, also manages to have the sort of investigative techinique that can only mean he was the illegitimate love-child of Hercule Poirot and Angela Lansbury.
Let me promise you, he didnt learn that in the M.P.'s.
Firstly, Jack Reacher is, was rather, a military policeman. At the risk of offending military police out there, who do a difficult and often dangerous job, theirs is not the world of CSI or Law and Order Special Homicide squads. 90% of their weeks work involves petty theft, drunk squaddies and mindless violence. Jack Reacher, whilst being the hardest man in the U.S. and the best shot, also manages to have the sort of investigative techinique that can only mean he was the illegitimate love-child of Hercule Poirot and Angela Lansbury.
Let me promise you, he didnt learn that in the M.P.'s.
The thing is though, and this is where Child is on an absolute winner....it doesnt matter. We WANT Reacher to be that ridiculously good, we need him to be that good, because in this day and age, if ever, we need our heroes to be bigger and better than anything that life can throw at them.
These books roll along at an incredible pace leaving the reader desperate to see what happens on the next page but reluctant to turn it as that brings us one step closer to the end.
A trimuphant return for Child and Reacher.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Keep a cool drink nearby as you read Echo Burning. Lee Child takes the reader into the unbearable heat of Echo, Texas as Jack Reacher tries to help a beautiful woman and her six-year-old daughter. Reacher has to sort through a web of truth, lies, and half-truths. Just when he has everything figured out, all the evidence points to different suspects and motives, and the closer Reacher gets to the truth the more his own life is at stake. Echo Burning is suspenseful from the first page until the spectacular climax. The biggest problem I had with the book was trying to put it down long enough to sleep.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Another Reacher special
Reacher does what Reacher does best. Dry humour makes these book very readable, funny in a dry ironic way.
It is not action all the way, but a really good read.
It is not action all the way, but a really good read.
Published 9 days ago by Vegar
Echo Burning
As with all Reacher books, it is well written, fast moving, & keeps you guessing until the end. Hard to put down.
Published 27 days ago by DH
Reacher story
The Jack Reacher stories are always good and this one is no exception. Very clever theme and an excellent read from start to finish.
Published 1 month ago by Peter M. Andrews
Follow Reacher!
What a character! I have followed Lee Childs series of Reacher novels and all are full of action. May there be more to come
Published 1 month ago by Dennis Chappelle-Molloy
Up to standard
I continue to read the Jack Reacher stories with enthusiasm. Each one has its own twists and turns and keeps me engaged (and sometimes confused) until the end. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mike Eccles
Jack Reacher Books
I am a great Jack Reacher Fan, thanks to Lee Childs.
I find Jack Reacher novels 'unputdownable'. They have to be read and read to the finish.
Superb Reading.
I find Jack Reacher novels 'unputdownable'. They have to be read and read to the finish.
Superb Reading.
Published 1 month ago by Whirlwind4143
Good story, well crafted and another good Reacher tale
The 5th Reacher story opens in a typical fashion - following trouble in a bar the previous night, it turns out he hit a lowlife bully who just happened to be police officer. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrenshaw
Not my favourite
Lee Child has found a good hero in Jack Reacher, but had this been my first Jack reacher book, it might have been my last. Read more
Published 2 months ago by V. G. Hardy
Loved it
I'm a Lee Child fan and this is as good as any of his others. Kept me hanging on to the end!
Published 2 months ago by E's Mummy
Fun, light read - a good Reacher
This was my second Reacher - I thought 'One Shot' was a bit too linear and shallow. Either I've got used to the format or this is a better read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by thegoodbook
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