[WLR]∎ Download Free Personal Jack Reacher Lee Child Books

Personal Jack Reacher Lee Child Books

Download As PDF : Personal Jack Reacher Lee Child Books

Personal Jack Reacher Lee Child Books

I am a Reacher fan. Every book from "Killing Floor" to "Worth Dying For" is on our bookshelf. I have read them all two or three times. The last few, though, only on Kindle, and after reading "Personal" it's time to call a halt. Lee Child hasn't written a decent book since he committed the dreadful faux pas of casting the pipsqueak Tom Cruise as the 6 foot 5 inch 250 pound Reacher in the movie version of "One Shot". Maybe he is suffering from terminal embarrassment.
The premise for this latest effort is only finally revealed on the last few pages, and you can't help but groan "Oooooh come on! Reeeeeeally?" While most Reacher books, and indeed most thrillers, require a leap of faith somewhere, this is just awful. For a start, the two - sniper scenario is lifted straight from Ian Fleming's very first James Bond book "Casino Royale".
Then there're the guns. Child has never been good at ballistics, but how hard would it be for him to do some fact checking? This is after all, a book about snipers. We are repeatedly told that a 50 cal. BMG bullet will take 3 seconds to travel 1,400 yards. But it doesn't. Bullet velocity is usually referred to in feet per second. For a bullet to take three seconds to travel 1,400 yards, it would have to average 1,400 feet per second for the whole distance. The trouble is that with a normal load, from a rifle such as Child describes, a ballistically efficient bullet would leave the muzzle at around 2,800 feet per second, and still be doing over 1,700 feet per second at 1,400 yards. That's an average of over 2,200 feet per second, and means the bullet would take just under two seconds to arrive. Splitting hairs? Not when Child goes into such repeated detail as central to the plot.
Still on guns, he writes in detail about testing various calibres on bullet proof glass. Among the cartridges he says were tested is the 7.62 mm NATO. He then goes on to say that the .308 Winchester specifically wasn't tested. They are for all intents the same cartridge; one is military, and the other is the commercial version. Can't he run this by someone before he goes into print?
Even more. In the climactic fight scene, Reacher and two sidekicks are confronted with an unarmed 6'11" man mountain "bigger than a gorilla". They are all carrying 9mm pistols, but are afraid to shoot him, not because they might miss, but because they think the bullets would go clean through him and kill some poor neighbour in their London suburban home. Damn! Looks like Reacher will just have to fight him hand to hand. Look, these are 9mm slugs shot at pretty low velocity, not some cannon. After penetrating that much flesh and bone, they're going nowhere. Just shoot him!
Then there's the mind numbing scene in the giant's house, where Reacher loses his perspective. It's just too awful. Regretfully, the only way I'll read a new Reacher now is if I know in advance that Reacher dies. It really is time for Child to kill him off. Until then, if I need a Reacher fix, I'll have to content myself with re-reading the old ones again.


Tags : Amazon.com: Personal (Jack Reacher) (9780804178747): Lee Child: Books,Lee Child,Personal (Jack Reacher),Delacorte Press,0804178747,Thrillers - Suspense,Murder;Investigation;Fiction.,Mystery fiction.,Suspense fiction.,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,CHILD, LEE - PROSE & CRITICISM,Fiction,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,Fiction Mystery & Detective General,Fiction Thrillers General,Fiction Thrillers Suspense,Fiction-Suspense,GENERAL,General Adult,Investigation,Monograph Series, any,Murder,Mystery & Detective - General,Mystery fiction,MysterySuspense,Reacher, Jack (Fictitious character),United States

Personal Jack Reacher Lee Child Books Reviews

A nice read. Fun. Real fun. A conclusive and satisfying ending for me.

Could have been a 5 star if the geography knowledge wasn't a bit illogical and the bad characters too politically correct. At first JR knows nothing about London, cannot find a 5-star hotel but suddenly he knows commuting time, down to the minute between different parts of London, while at the same time he doesn't know he has to pay for grocery bags in shops. JR and the author mix up their knowledge too much.**

The bad guys are white as usual and bad blacks are absent (except in real life UK prisons). The best girls are usually of color. The usual addicts, all three of them are pure white.

** [JR remembers] "We checked the map at the station and used the District Line, which had a stop at a place called St James’s Park, which sounded like it might be near some fancy places. Which it was. We came up into the night air and saw signs to Westminster Abbey in one direction and Buckingham Palace in the other. And there was a big hotel right across the street." ---- JR has no clue where he is.

** [JR speaking next day] "But London is big and traffic is slow and we’re all the way on the other side of town. They’ve got to get a little convoy together. That’s ten minutes, right there, even if they’re all on the ball. Then they’ll have to loop all the way north in a big wide circle, or come all the way through the centre of the city. The East End, Westminster, Paddington. Could be we have an hour." --- JR knows London's geography and commuting times by heart.
This saddens me. I have read all of Lee Child's, Reacher series. I look forward to each book like it was a major holiday. I read them slowly to savor the experience. Even the short stories. They often provide thought provoking commentary and are always entertaining, but something is amiss here. The story line is too convoluted and Jack Reacher is just too "ordinary". He is no longer the strong silent type. He is like someone that you might meet while passing time while waiting at the airport. If I had to guess I would say that Mr. Child had something going on in his life so in order to meet his deadline; he sketched out the outline, but had another ghost write it for him. Someone who "kinda knew" who Jack Reacher was supposed to be. It is like James Patterson when he co-writes. It is very easy to spot the parts that he does not write (which of late are many). I stopped reading him also. As a reader, I feel violated. Like a breach of contract between author and reader. If the next book is like this than I will need to abandon Jack Reacher. Too bad because he and I had a good run together.
Jack Reacher is a former military policeman who was stationed all over the world, but never got to see the USA. Upon separating from the military, Reacher adopts a minimalist lifestyle, possessing only his toothbrush and ATM card. He wanders America, occasionally helping the little guy with their problems. His preferred method of travel is hitchhiking. His preferred lodging is the cheapest hotel that takes cash and doesn’t ask any questions. He prefers to eat at whatever local diner is nearby.
Until “Personal.” The author betrays Reacher in this novel, casting him in a pointlessly complicated story that sees him travel by private jet from Seattle to Paris and points in between, stay in four-star hotels, and becoming part of a plot that makes this giant look small.
There is nothing about this novel that makes it a “Reacher” novel. Any action movie persona, from Shia LeBuff to The Rock, could be inserted without changing the story at all. For Reacher and his fans, there is nothing “personal” about this novel. Save your money and re-read “Killing Floor” or nearly any Reacher novel.
I am a Reacher fan. Every book from "Killing Floor" to "Worth Dying For" is on our bookshelf. I have read them all two or three times. The last few, though, only on , and after reading "Personal" it's time to call a halt. Lee Child hasn't written a decent book since he committed the dreadful faux pas of casting the pipsqueak Tom Cruise as the 6 foot 5 inch 250 pound Reacher in the movie version of "One Shot". Maybe he is suffering from terminal embarrassment.
The premise for this latest effort is only finally revealed on the last few pages, and you can't help but groan "Oooooh come on! Reeeeeeally?" While most Reacher books, and indeed most thrillers, require a leap of faith somewhere, this is just awful. For a start, the two - sniper scenario is lifted straight from Ian Fleming's very first James Bond book "Casino Royale".
Then there're the guns. Child has never been good at ballistics, but how hard would it be for him to do some fact checking? This is after all, a book about snipers. We are repeatedly told that a 50 cal. BMG bullet will take 3 seconds to travel 1,400 yards. But it doesn't. Bullet velocity is usually referred to in feet per second. For a bullet to take three seconds to travel 1,400 yards, it would have to average 1,400 feet per second for the whole distance. The trouble is that with a normal load, from a rifle such as Child describes, a ballistically efficient bullet would leave the muzzle at around 2,800 feet per second, and still be doing over 1,700 feet per second at 1,400 yards. That's an average of over 2,200 feet per second, and means the bullet would take just under two seconds to arrive. Splitting hairs? Not when Child goes into such repeated detail as central to the plot.
Still on guns, he writes in detail about testing various calibres on bullet proof glass. Among the cartridges he says were tested is the 7.62 mm NATO. He then goes on to say that the .308 Winchester specifically wasn't tested. They are for all intents the same cartridge; one is military, and the other is the commercial version. Can't he run this by someone before he goes into print?
Even more. In the climactic fight scene, Reacher and two sidekicks are confronted with an unarmed 6'11" man mountain "bigger than a gorilla". They are all carrying 9mm pistols, but are afraid to shoot him, not because they might miss, but because they think the bullets would go clean through him and kill some poor neighbour in their London suburban home. Damn! Looks like Reacher will just have to fight him hand to hand. Look, these are 9mm slugs shot at pretty low velocity, not some cannon. After penetrating that much flesh and bone, they're going nowhere. Just shoot him!
Then there's the mind numbing scene in the giant's house, where Reacher loses his perspective. It's just too awful. Regretfully, the only way I'll read a new Reacher now is if I know in advance that Reacher dies. It really is time for Child to kill him off. Until then, if I need a Reacher fix, I'll have to content myself with re-reading the old ones again.