I watched season 1 of Reacher on Amazon and fell in love with the character. I decided that since the first season was based on the first book (The Killing Floor), which I swear I randomly have a paperback copy of on one of my many bookshelves, but never read, that I could start at book two.
Reacher gets randomly and accidentally abducted with another woman while he was trying to help her with her drycleaning and walking cane. If you saw season 1 or read the first book you know that Reacher is a helper, so he couldn’t not help a woman who was struggling out the door of a dry cleaner’s shop.
The two of them are driven all over the place while handcuffed or chained or hoodwinked. They start to get to know each other and decide that they’re going to work together to escape safely. Reacher does have a chance to escape at one point, but he won’t leave the woman with her captors.
I liked Reacher in this story, and I liked the story in general. It just felt really really long though, which is never a good feeling in a book. I just kept waiting for it to be wrapped up. It was almost like there were a few too many twists and turns to keep my interest.
My rating: 3
OK so I liked this book better. It didn’t feel as long as Die Trying. However, I just looked them both up, and Tripwire has about twenty more pages than Die Trying. I guess I just liked this story better and it moved along more for me!
Anyway, we find Reacher relaxing in Key West. He turned a ramble into a three-month lifestyle by accident, and he didn’t even realize it until he was leaving. A private eye comes into a bar looking for him, and Reacher lies to him. Later that night, he finds the man murdered in the street. He has one clue to go on – the name of the woman who hired the private investigator to find Reacher. He flies up to New York to seek her out.
It turns into a reunion of sorts once he figures out who the woman is. She is the daughter of his old commanding officer, who had just passed away. Jody and Reacher reunite at her father’s house and they’re almost killed there. Reacher realizes that he’s into something dangerous and he doesn’t want Jody to get killed.
There’s a man not too far away in New York city that’s orchestrating all the drama. He’s a (capital letter) very bad man. He was burned in a helicopter crash in Vietnam and has been hiding (ish) ever since. He’s also very rich and very powerful. There is a lot of collateral damage in this book, but I feel like that’s going to be the case with most of the Reacher books. I just love the badassery that Reacher exhibits and his confidence that he can take out nearly anyone. He has a fierce sense of loyalty, which is totally endearing. I will be continuing this series. My rating: 4