Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




Lee Child


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Cover art for A WANTED MAN
FICTION
Released: Sept. 11, 2012

"In this latest attempt to show Reacher enjoying every possible variety of conflict with his nation's government short of outright secession, Child (The Affair, 2011, etc.) has produced two-thirds of a masterpiece."
Will Jack Reacher ever make it to that woman in Virginia he was trying to reach in Worth Dying For (2010)? Not if all hell continues to break loose in Nebraska. Read full book review >
Cover art for WORTH DYING FOR
FICTION
Released: Oct. 19, 2010

"It's hard to imagine a single white-collar wage slave who won't thrill to this latest Robin Hood fantasy of righteous vengeance."
Whatever business Jack Reacher has in Virginia will have to wait till the world's most distractible soldier of fortune cleans up the mess he's stumbled into amid the cornfields of the Midwest. Read full book review >
Cover art for 61 HOURS
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2010

"In his 14th outing, implausible, irresistible Reacher remains just about the best butt-kicker in thriller-lit."
When a bus full of seniors spins out of control, the obvious recourse is to reach out for Reacher (Gone Tomorrow, 2009, etc.). Read full book review >
Cover art for BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE
FICTION
Released: May 15, 2007

"Perhaps there are action-lit writers more recognizable than Child, but the bet is that none of them will turn in a tighter-plotted, richer-peopled, faster-paced page-turner this year."
In a scorching 11th (The Hard Way, 2006, etc.), Jack Reacher, that murderous moralist, seeks an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye. Read full book review >
Cover art for ONE SHOT
FICTION
Released: June 21, 2005

"Par for the series: canny plotting, tight prose, swift tempo."
Reacher's back and Child's got him tracking a complex case, springing surprises and dispatching a nasty crew in a punishing finish. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE ENEMY
FICTION
Released: May 11, 2004

"Child has turned away from formulaic high-jinks to explore his characters instead: The result? His best so far."
The eighth Jack Reacher tale (Persuader, 2003, etc.) is a fabulously suspenseful prequel that reveals Reacher's character as he uncovers a homicidal cabal of military officers. Read full book review >
Cover art for PERSUADER
FICTION
Released: May 13, 2003

"Wily plotting, swift pacing, mordant wit: Child is one skillful writer."
Surprise tops nasty surprise when former MP Jack Reacher stalks a nemesis from the past. Read full book review >
Cover art for ECHO BURNING
FICTION
Released: July 1, 2001

"Child builds tension to unbearable extremes, then blows it out in sharply choreographed violence, even if his plot has more holes in it than the shirt Reacher uses for target practice. "
Smashingly suspenseful fifth in Child's series (Running Blind, 2000, etc.) lands this British author's rootless, laconic action hero in southwest Texas, where a femme fatale lures him into a family squabble that inevitably turns violent. Read full book review >
Cover art for WITHOUT FAIL
FICTION
Released: May 1, 2001

"Relentlessly suspenseful and unexpectedly timely: just the thing for Dick Cheney's bedside reading wherever he's keeping himself these days."
When the newly elected Vice President's life is threatened, the Secret Service runs to nomadic soldier-of-fortune Jack Reacher (Echo Burning, 2001, etc.) in this razor-sharp update of The Day of the Jackal and In the Line of Fire that's begging to be filmed. Read full book review >
Cover art for RUNNING BLIND
FICTION
Released: Aug. 1, 2000

"Even readers who identify the criminal, motive, and modus operandi early on (and many readers will) can plan to stay up long past bedtime and do some serious hyperventilating toward the end."
Soldier-turned-soldier-of-fortune Jack Reacher goes after a serial killer in a conventionally but nonetheless deeply satisfying whodunit. Read full book review >
Cover art for TRIPWIRE
FICTION
Released: July 1, 1999

"Unabashedly mindless but fun: Reacher swashbuckles with the best of them."
A good guy outsmarts a venomous viper, outguns a gazillion villains—and falls in love with a nice gal. Read full book review >
Cover art for DIE TRYING
FICTION
Released: July 20, 1998

"Another Rogue Warrior meets Die Hard with all the typical over-the-top plotting, blood-splattering ultraviolence, lock-jawed heroics and the dumbest villains this side of Ruby Ridge."
Furiously suspenseful, but brain-dead second volume in Child's gratuitously derivative Jack Reacher action series (Killing Floor, 1997). Read full book review >