61 Hours (Jack Reacher Novels)

I'm honestly surprised at the slew of negative reviews on Amazon for this, the latest entry in the spectacularly enjoyable Jack Reacher series. Even odder is the fact that many of the things that are being complained about are the things I liked best. The Reacher books have always seemed simple, a sort of modern version of The Man with No Name or Yojimbo and Sanjuro - a loner with his own moral code who wanders into a town and ends up entangled in the local problems. Here, Reacher finds himself in a bitterly and dangerously cold South Dakota prison town with a witness who needs protecting and one very angry criminal. As if that's not enough, there's a timer here - from the first page of the book, we're aware that we are reading events that began 61 hours before "it" happened - and the uncertainty about the event and the ticking clock provide an unease that really works for the book. Most excitingly for me, Child is playing with the character in new ways, downplaying the action in favor of a deeper insight into Reacher and a little more focus on the way the man's mind works as he plays people against each other and tries desperately to get a handle on the situation. It's this downshift in action that seems to bother people so much - well, that and a couple of other tweaks on the formula that would be spoilers to say much about, including an unexpected lapse and the much-discussed ending - but to me, the action has never been the appeal of these books as much as Reacher himself. I may be in a minority, but I absolutely loved 61 Hours, beginning to end; I thought it was nicely tense, with a complex and interesting plot, good characters, and a great finale that really caught me off guard.

If "open" user reviews are useful in deciding whether to choose a book or not (and as an avid reader I take choosing books very seriously, it's one of my great pleasures in life), if you are familiar with this series it's an easy choice. This is one of my very favorite (top five) series across all genres, and having wistfully looked at the picture of the cover for months, I'm happy to say the wait was worth it. For me, recently Lee Child has tightened his already clean, sparing prose down with the recent "Gone Tomorrow" and seems to be following in the same vein here. Also, as in "Gone Tomorrow" this is a less insouciant, in-your-face, mature Reacher, who while formidable does makes mistakes, and at one point in the story demonstrates a real anguish that I've seldom seen in this series.

Since others have laid out the plot I won't go through it again, just add that I am not quite sure how Child or any good writer does it, but this is one of those stories where events, some larger, some smaller, begin to mass and vortex together, and steadily the tension ratchets up and up, and in this book it's relentless, had to keep turning the pages until 3 in the morning. The actual language used is basic enough, and Child is a genius at saying just enough. Another element as mentioned by others is the omnipresent, deadly, burning cold of an indifferent South Dakota winter - the way this is written you can FEEL a steering wheel jerking from you under the ice ruts, and the sting of icy snow. As usual the relationship Reacher forms with a woman on a telephone is an intelligent one, Child's depiction of the women Reacher encounters are much appreciated vs. those of the author Brian Haig (where the brilliant beautiful female in question always seems to end up being a psycho!) In its way this book is brutal and pulls no punches on your emotions, at least there were a couple of places where I was thinking "oh no......"

So, if you are new to this series, it's just a damn good read, and you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't backtrack and pick up the earlier novels. If you are a Reacher fan this is a worthy, gripping, edition to the series. The one grief I would have, and maybe it's kind of a need for the perfect hero, is while Reacher certainly remains heroic, and a realistic one in the this book and the last, I miss the supremely self-confident, quick-tongued Reacher of earlier novels (like when he threatened to turn over an oily slacker and use his face like a mop). Perhaps he is a bit godlike in earlier novels and this seems to be akin to the earlier Clint Eastwood westerns which eventually evolved to a more complex, vulnerable character depicted in the Outlaw Josey Wales. But I miss the avenging angel Reacher of "Bad Luck and Trouble", "The Hard Way" and "Persuader". He's more human here, and it's more "realistic" in that way, but I miss the guy who head-butt a smarmy deputy off a bar stool in "Echo Burning" a.k.a. all is right with the world, eventually, as Reacher makes it right, but this book isn't that way, some bad stuff happens that can't be made right. And too, if I want non-stop, popcorn-movie action, I read James Rollins, and I think Lee Child wisely moves his character along in the series.

In any case will re-read, and I'll be counting down the months to the next book, again. PS. I don't know that I would describe this book as a true "cliffhanger", I think things are spelled out by the evidence left behind. Guess I'll find out if I'm correct, eventually. Since I don't have a mind like Jack Reacher's I'll have to wait.

"61 Hours," by Lee Child, alludes to a countdown of some sort. Initially, we have no idea what will happen when the time elapses, but it is safe to assume that it will not be good. The novel opens in the dead of winter in South Dakota. A crooked lawyer conducts some shady business at a prison and then skids on a frozen road, sending a bus crashing into a ditch. One of the passengers, Jack Reacher, does what he can to assist the injured and dazed victims until the local police arrive at the scene.

As fans of this popular series know, Reacher is an ex-army man who travels around the country with no suitcase. He is physically imposing, and his brainpower is as impressive as his stature. Wherever Jack goes, he gets involved in some sort of mayhem and this time is no exception. Because he has seen so much tragedy over the years, Reacher has become somewhat cynical and pessimistic. "Hope for the best, plan for the worst" is one of his favorite mottoes.

Jack soon becomes acquainted with an elderly woman named Janet Salter, whose testimony could help put away the leader of a large methamphetamine ring. Unfortunately, the bad guys know where she lives and have a strong motive to silence her. Salter, who is principled, courageous, quick-witted, and unpretentious, senses that Reacher is a kindred spirit and the two form a bond. Although Janet already has police protection, the setup is far from ideal. Reacher decides to guard Ms. Salter, who needs someone smart, strong, and resourceful to keep her safe--someone who can think out of the box and has the imagination and savvy to outwit and outfight most criminals.

Reacher remains as taciturn as ever, although he does let his hair down a bit with Janet. He also exchanges confidences with Susan Turner, the CO of the elite 110th Special Unit based in Virginia that Reacher once commanded. Jack's conversations with Susan provide a fascinating window into his past, revealing a bit more about what makes him tick. In addition, we see Reacher's human side; he makes serious errors in judgment, which is unusual for him.

Child scores with "61 Hours," thanks to his no-nonsense and terse prose style, rapid-fire dialogue, dramatic description of South Dakota's frozen landscape, and intense plot. There is excitement aplenty in "61 Hours," with its violent confrontations and electrifying conclusion, during which Reacher is forced to make some tough and morally dubious decisions. The finale may not please everyone, but the author shows courage and originality in not sticking to the conventional action-adventure formula. This thriller will bring chills to Reacher fans--even those who do not reside in a state where the mercury can dip to thirty degrees below zero.

This past Saturday Janet Maslin reviewed "61 Hours" in the New York Times. She admires Lee Child and his creation, Jack Reacher. Maslin called this new book a "cliffhanger." And it could be. Perhaps.

Reacher is dealing with a number of insidious forces in a small South Dakota town. There's a huge private prison nearby. There's a motorcycle gang peddling tons of meth on the outskirts of town, In Mexico, a drug kingpin is plotting the death of a witness. Then there's Reacher, who always ends up in the wrong place at the right time.

Oh, and there's one more powerful force which shapes this story; the weather. It is brutal, cold, windy, snowy, icy, deathly, almost impossible to survive. Will Reacher survive? Some readers might wonder. Child leaves some readers hanging at the end. Or not. He leaves us all the clues we need to figure it out. Cliffhanger or not, Child's fans will be be buzzing all summer about this one.

And luckily for us, Child's next book won't be another year away. It will be out in the fall.

"61 Hours" is a gripping, scalding, freezing, boiling, choking, struggling, and ultimately, a thoroughly smashing read. We can't forget that Child is actually a Brit. That's easy to do. He knows America and Americans very well.

Lee Child is a very good writer, and his protagonist Jack Reacher is a classic action hero. "61 Hours" should please all Child's fans and win some new ones, because it is just as gripping as any of its predecessors. I happened to read it in two sessions, simply because I had to do some work in between; but if I had been able to, I would have gone through all 388 pages without putting it down. There just never comes a point where you think, "OK, everything is calm for the time being; I can leave it there till tomorrow". As always, the background research is meticulous and accurate, and entirely US-centric; how many other British writers, for instance, would think of describing a house as being shaped like a pound cake? As a professional editor, I can't see anything in Child's writing that I would think of changing. No problems with grammar, punctuation, style, pace; not the slightest infelicity anywhere; and the dialogue is utterly convincing. It all makes for a smooth, easy read and lets you rip along at your fastest reading pace. As always with Child, you'll be disappointed at how soon you reach the end.

I must admit to being surprised at how compulsive I found "61 Hours", because its construction is noticeably simpler than many of the Reacher novels. The first, "Killing Floor", had a very complex plot with a lot of characters (many of whom ended up dead in various horrible ways) and a lot of double-crossing and surprise twists. The same could be said of most of the intervening 12 Reacher books. In contrast, "61 Hours" tells a single story that builds gradually to an exciting climax; but you never feel short-changed. Instead of presenting us with a continual series of surprises, the author focuses on describing the chilling cold of a winter storm in South Dakota, and filling in a more detailed picture of a limited set of characters. The one plot twist that seems designed to fake you out (and, rather unconvincingly, fools Reacher himself) is so obvious as to seem almost perfunctory.

On the other hand, so complete is Child's mastery of the genre that he can keep the reader on tenterhooks for page after page, even when nothing much seems to be happening. The experience of war has been described as "long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror" - and that is what Child expertly brings home to you. Although his villains are just as frightful as ever, it would perhaps be fair to say that the real adversary Reacher faces in "61 Hours" is the weather. "The cold hit him like a fist. It was raging. It was searching. It stunned him. Way below zero. Too far below to even guess at a number". I can't recall a novel in which the cold plays such a dominant role since Alistair MacLean's "HMS Ulysses". By the time you reach page 100, you're uneasily aware that being caught outdoors in that sort of cold for an hour or two would be just as fatal as being shot in the heart.

As for the denouement, let's just say that although Reacher apparently must survive, it's difficult to see how he can. If you can't tolerate that kind of suspense for a few months, maybe you ought to put off reading "61 Hours" until you have the next Reacher book in your hands.