A Wanted Man - Lee Child

A WANTED MAN

A Jack Reacher novel

ISBN -  978-0-593-06572-3
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2012
PUBLISHERS - Bantam Press, imprint of Random House
PAGES - 427
GENRE - Thriller
SOURCE - Publishers

AUTHOR - Lee Child

BEST-SELLERS - Killing Floor, Die Trying, Tripwire

SYNOPSIS - [From the back cover]

When you're as big and rough as Jack Reacher - and you have a badly set, freshly busted nose, patched with silver duct tape - it isn't easy to hitch a ride. But Reacher has some unfinished business in Virginia, so he doesn't quit. And at last he's picked up by three strangers - two men and a woman.

But within minutes it becomes clear they're all lying about everything - and then they run into a police roadblock on the highway. There has been an incident, and the cops are looking for the bad guys...

Will they get through because the three are innocent? Or because the three are now four? Is Reacher just a decoy?

EXCERPT - Delfuenso opened her mouth and closed it, and then she started blinking again, a long and laborious sequence.

Forward two, Forward twelve, backward twelve, backward twelve, forward four.

B-L-O-O-D, blood.

Backward twelve, backward thirteen.

O-N, on.

Backward seven, forward eight, forward five, forward nine, backward nine.

T-H-E-I-R, their. 

FL Speak - They say Jack Reacher is superman. They may be right.

Alrighty, this is my first Reacher novel, way below the ladder. And now that I'm done devouring the book, I know I'll be hearing from Reacher again.

For those of you, who's new to Jack Reacher, he isn't your average hero. He's no detective, he's better than one. He has no team [atleast on this one] and he's a beast. I mean he's like a mini version of Hulk. Not too mini.

Nevertheless, going back to the book, Jack has a busted nose [somebody obviously beat the crap out of him] and he's wandering the streets at night looking for a lift. [If this was Delhi and Jack Reacher was infact Jackie/Jacqlin Reacher, you might have already guessed what woud've have happened] Anyway, its the States and Jack needs a ride to Virginia. 

And even with the ugly face of a busted gorilla, Jack manages to find one. The fun starts here. Two guys and a girl. And Jack. And Jack realises, they're lying about everything. They aren't trying hard to lie, simply making things up as they go. And if you aren't very, very careful about what you speak, a few truths might trickle down as well.

Elsewhere, a few miles away, a man lay dead. An eyewitness saw two men scurrying away in a red flashy car. 

When the roadblocks start to appear and the women in the car start signalling Jack furtively, ze pot has just began to boil. Julia Sorenson, FBI, is with the Sheriff overlooking the body of the dead man. But when CIA and State Department, starts breathing down their necks, they realise its much worse than murder. Specially when the CIA is supposedly NOT allowed to work in the country. 

The search for two men turn to three, then to four. Jack needs to be at his best to outwit his opponents and figure out what on dear earth was happening. When an anonymous call to the FBI gets dropped, Julia figures there might be another twist to the tale.

The endgame is far too different though. And here we see the classic JACK REACHER. Guns and Jack go hand in hand. A friend of mine told me that she didn't like Reacher because he was too violent. Fortunately, there wasn't any major action sequence until the final 50 pages. And those 50 pages goes to a whole new level.

This might not be Reacher at his best, but it is still one of the ones worth reading. Look out for plot building and revelations. Its fantastic to say the least.

My Rating - 3.5/5 stars

PRICE - INR 350/-