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Title: A Wanted Man
Author: Lee Child
Release: September 11, 2012
Series: Jack Reacher #17
Reviewer: Noa
Source: Mom’s BEA haul
Purchase: | Book Depository

Four people in a car, hoping to make Chicago by morning. One man driving, eyes on the road. Another man next to him, telling stories that don’t add up. A woman in the back, silent and worried. And next to her, a huge man with a broken nose, hitching a ride east to Virginia.

An hour behind them, a man lies stabbed to death in an old pumping station. He was seen going in with two others, but he never came out. He has been executed, the knife work professional, the killers vanished. Within minutes, the police are notified. Within hours, the FBI descends, laying claim to the victim without ever saying who he was or why he was there.

All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. All he did was stick out his thumb. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride. He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat—to both sides at once.

In Lee Child’s white-hot thriller, nothing is what it seems, and nobody is telling the truth. As the tension rises, the twists come fast and furious, keeping readers guessing and gasping until the explosive finale.

Jack Reacher is one of my favorite thriller series – the guy with a toothbrush in his pocket and not much else has been a constant on my reading list for the past few years so I was extremely excited to learn Lee Child would be attending BEA 2012 – which I got to enjoy vicariously through my mom and aunt Penny.

They got minute by minute updates from me – and thankfully agreed to wait the very long line to meet the man himself (who charmed them both) and got me a signed copy of the latest in Mr. Reacher’s adventures – A Wanted Man.

This book was about the road trip from hell which is what made it so completely awesome. Jack is hitchhiking en route to Virginia (the reason is explained in the previous book) when he finally gets a ride he realizes that something is not quite as it should be among his traveling companions.

Meanwhile, a dead body of a government official is found in a concrete bunker in Nebraska and the murderers have escaped… So of course police issue an APB – but will they manage to capture the killers in time?

Back on Jack Reacher’s road trip the group has been getting through the roadblocks but it is very obvious that at least one of the travelers is not what he or she seems and this means that Jack may soon find himself without a ride – if he’s lucky.

I can’t really say anything else about the story without ruining the plot but I can say that I loved the premise. In fact, my only problem with the book was that the road trip portion didn’t last longer. The scenario created a new kind of suspense genre which had me slipping further and further to edge of my seat with every mile that went by.

Lee Child once again delivers a suspense thriller filled with action, adventure, humor and a seriously attractive protagonist you can’t help but root for. I jut hope he makes it to Virginia…

Now can anyone explain to me just how Tom Cruise got the role of a guy who stands at 6’5???? Seriously? Seriously? Will everybody else on the set be under 5’ in order to split the difference? Stoopid.

Noa first fell in love with books when she discovered 100 acre wood and its inhabitants. To this day, the last pages of “The House at Pooh Corner” make her cry. In a good way. From“Calvin and Hobbes” to “The Iliad and the Odyssey” and lets not forget “Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes”. Biographies, mysteries, history books and romances all have a place on her bookshelves. Who needs furniture? This 29 year old singleton’s dream is to invent the zero-calorie chocolate. But until that day arrives, she tries to create sweet confections with whatever chocolate she can find. An MA in conflict studies (need a mediator?) means Noa loves a good debate, especially when she wins. If she were in charge, books would be free for everyone.

Doll Noa

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