I have never been so disappointed by a book in such a long time. This is a book that I would have not normally picked up for a purchase, but it was on a special offer in the supermarket so I did. And despite the title I feel that nothing to lose doesn’t go far enough.
This is the latest (or if not the latest, then a very recent) Jack Reacher novel. For my and other newcomers, Jack Reacher is an ex-soldier who is the star of a series of Lee Child thrillers.
In ‘Nothing To Lose’ he is travelling across the US in a diagonal direction from NE to SW and comes across the town of Hope. 17 miles down the road is Despair (see what the author did there?), and the two could not be more different.
Hope is a Pleasantville type of place, with no crime, lots of sunshine and a feeling of comfort and warmth. Despair is a Fearville type of place, with no crime (because the Sheriffs rule with fear), lots of sunshine and the knowledge that it is a steel-making company town.
Our hero, who seems to either walk everywhere or borrow the local (female) deputy’s truck seems to have no other motivation than ‘keep moving forwards’. I was not convinced at all by the reasoning for him to keep investigating murders and goings on in this desparate town. If all I had was a ‘keep moving forwards’ mentality, I’d have headed off into the sunset and left all Despair’s troubles behind me.
This is not a book that I have even finished yet. I’m about halfway through at the moment, and though it maybe unfair to criticise without having read the whole book, I believe I can make a fair assumption of how it’s all going to finish. I have experienced this once before with some of the late-middle Scarpetta books where soap opera took over from plot, but without having read other Lee Childs I can’t make any comment on that. Overall, I am thoroughly disappointed with Nothing to Lose. I hope that I am inspired to read another Jack Reacher novel, but on this outing I think it will be a while.
Mark 4/10
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