Die Trying

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.