Persuader by Lee Child

Lee Child, Persuader (New York: Dell Books; 2003), 480 pages.

Lee Child's "Persuader" is another book featuring Child's signature character Jack Reacher. Reacher is a former military policeman who is now retired and spends his time travelling incognito around the United States. He prefers to keep to himself, but situations and circumstances arise that work against this. In this book, Reacher finds himself in New England helping federal agents infiltrate a criminal organization that has taken a federal agent hostage. Reacher's motivation in personal: he recognizes a member of the criminal organization as someone he and his team failed to kill ten years ago. With this second chance, Reacher successfully works "off the books" with the federal agents and infiltrates the criminal organization and systematically goes about doing what he does best, namely kill bad people without remorse.

As a work of fiction, "Persuader" is adequately entertaining. It’s well written by a prolific author that has built a successful writing and now movie franchise around the character of Jack Reacher. "Persuader" is not a work of art and it’s a good bet that the author will not be recommended for a Booker or Nobel Prize based on this work. The book however does enough to keep the reader turning the pages. I'm not sure this is Lee Child's best book. At times it’s formulaic and riddled with violence. I didn't enjoy it, but did not dislike it so much as to want to put it down. A book about a self-righteous, live for the moment nihilist who operates simultaneously in co-operation with the law and above the law and intent of a killing spree motivated by revenge is enough to contain my curiosity for the duration. The down side of this book is that it breeds familiarity and sympathy for such a character who acts simultaneously as enforcer, judge, jury and executioner. I'm not certain that this is what we want in all of our popular fiction, but acknowledge that Lee Child has built a career on serving an audience that wants exactly that. Perhaps this reader has read enough of the works of Lee Child for the time being. Perhaps it is time for this reader to move onto other authors and come back to the works Lee Child at a later date.

Killing Floor by Lee Child

Lee Child, Killing Floor, (New York: The Berkley Publishing Group; 1997), 536 pages.

Killing Floor is Lee Child’s first book. It introduces the world to a new character called Jack Reacher, a retired soldier and military policeman now exploring America by foot. Reacher is a modern hobo, a man without roots who keeps a low profile and goes where he wants when he wants by foot or public transport. In Killing Floor, Reacher is arrested on suspicion of murder while passing through a small town in Georgia. After a brief period in a jail holding cell where an attempt was made on his life, Reacher helps the local police force investigate the murder. In doing to, he reveals a criminal enterprise that corrupted most of the small town, the town mayor, and part of the police force. Reacher’s brother, a federal investigator, is also killed by the conspirators. By working with the remaining honest local police that includes a female officer he becomes involved with, Reacher races to solve the murders and their relationship to the corruption and conspiracy before the conspirators can kill him and the other investigators.

Child’s innovation in Killing Fields is that his character in this crime book is not a policeman, attorney, or someone connected in some way with a legal institution. Reacher was part of the military justice system, but is now a highly skilled but rootless hobo. Reacher has great intellectual ability and physical strength: he is strong and unafraid and never gives up or backs down. He is the kind of man that can look after himself. He is intimidating when crossed or angered to the extent that people fear him. Despite his lack of connection with the community, he gets involved in that community largely because of noblesse oblige, and because he hates the big smug people that think that they can get away with things. Even though this is the first book I’ve read by Lee Childs. He is a skilled storyteller who keeps the reader engaged and turning the pages. Based on this first book, I’ll be reading more of Lee Child’s works that feature Jack Reacher.