Six shots, five people dead and a small Indiana city is thrown into a state of terror. Within hours, the cops have solved it. It's a slam-dunk case but there's one problem: even in the face of overwhelming forensic evidence, the accused says they've got the wrong man. And he wants Jack Reacher to prove it. Jack Reacher, an ex-military cop and drifter catches the news on the television and immediately heads for Indiana. What he finds is the accused in a coma and a case that's a little bit too perfect.
One Shot is not great literature but that's not Lee Child's thing. What is Lee Child's thing are fast-paced, smart, and well written thrillers that may be implausible but are a lot of fun to read. The action starts slowly as Child sets everything up. Once the pieces are in place, the pace picks up, the plot thickens and a case that originally looked watertight starts to unravel. Jack Reacher too is a great character. In a genre full of alcoholic, divorced, world-weary detectives, he's a breath of fresh air. He rides into town on a Greyhound bus, analyses the hell out of everything, kicks everyone's ass and rides off into the sunset with a clear conscience. Some of the stuff he does is frankly implausible but he does make enough mistakes to prevent him appearing omniscient.
In summary, not a great work of literature but a good thriller. The fast pace and smart plot makes this a real page-turner and One Shot will keep you hooked until the last page.
Read On: One Shot is the ninth book featuring Jack Reacher and the tenth is The Hard Way. Other rollicking thrillers with kick-ass characters and implausible storylines include Ice Station by Matthew Reilly and Map of Bones by James Rollins.
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