Die Trying by Lee Child

In a Chicago suburb, a dentist is met in his office parking lot by three men and ordered into the trunk of his Lexus. On a downtown sidewalk, Jack Reacher and an unknown woman are abducted in broad daylight by two men - practiced and confident - who stop them at gunpoint and hustle them into the same sedan. Then Reacher and the woman are switched into a second vehicle and hauled away, leaving the dentist bound and gagged inside his car with the woman's abandoned possessions, two gallons of gasoline. . . and a burning match. The FBI is desperate to rescue the woman, a Special Agent from the Chicago office, because the FBI always - always - takes care of its own, and because this woman is not just another agent. Reacher and the woman join forces, against seemingly hopeless odds, to outwit their captors and escape. But the FBI thinks Jack is one of the kidnappers - and when they close in, the Bureau snipers will be shooting to kill.

It's been a little while since I read the first Jack Reacher novel and after reading quite a few ‘girly' books I decided I'd have a bit of a change and try something a little grittier.

I found the book burst out of the starters gate getting immediately into lots of action with the kidnapping of FBI agent Holly Johnson and the innocent passerby Jack Reacher who gets embroiled in her seizure. The only problem is Reacher is no innocent passerby he's a highly trained military police man with nothing to lose. The start of this book was engaging as we follow Jack and Holly as they are transported across the country to an unknown location. We are given glimpses into their intended destination through cryptic chapters and we are also given glimpses into the FBI hunt for them. It's all high octane action and I was engrossed very quickly in the story.

From approximately half way through though it began to dip a little for me. After the big reveal of who was doing the kidnapping and why I just couldn't love it so much. It went from having an espionage feel to being very military and cultish. The action became a bit samey, I lost count of how many times Reacher escaped and was recaptured. I just began to find the group responsible a little unorganized and unbelievable.

It was all a bit confusing, too many FBI agents who might be rogue and not enough dialogue. By the time I got to Chapter 30 something I just wanted it to be over already. I didn't care how. I was skimming pages galore and praying for Reacher to just shoot them all already.

This was a great start let down by poor execution.

Stretches the imagination a little too much in parts

Exquisite, nonsensical, gun-loving, frequently absurd, testosterone-laden pulp.

I'm a harsh critic as a book reviewer as, being a huge movie fan, I often find it hard to be immersed in a book the same way I am a really good film. This book was a great action book, Jack Reacher gets a lot done with very little effort and, as with both Lee Child books I've read so far, there are always plenty of little twists to keep you going. Alongside these twists you learn a lot about weapons, tactics, how to be a spy and a lot of other really fascinating tips that Reacher has learned over the years that you really hope ring true. Solid book, solid storyline and will definitely continue this series, I'm just difficult to sell to!