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Book Summary and Reviews of Nothing To Lose by Lee Child

Nothing To Lose by Lee Child

Nothing To Lose

Jack Reacher Series #12

by Lee Child

  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Readers' Rating (4):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2008, 416 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Two small towns in the middle of nowhere Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, nothing but twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher can't find a ride, so he walks. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets are four hostile locals, a vagrancy charge and an order to move on.

They're picking on the wrong guy.

Reacher is a hard man. No job, no address, no baggage. Nothing at all, except hardheaded curiosity. What are the secrets that Despair seems so desperate to hide?

With just one ally—a mysterious woman cop from Hope—and many enemies, Reacher goes up against a whole town, hunting the rich man at its core, cracking open his terrifying agenda, asking the question: Who has the edge—a man with everything to gain, or a man with nothing to lose?

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"With his powerful sense of justice, dogged determination and the physical and mental skills to overcome what to most would be overwhelming odds, Jack Reacher makes an irresistible modern knight-errant." - Publishers Weekly.

"Child's 12th thriller may be formulaic and predictable, but Jack Reacher fans have always liked that about Child's novels." - Library Journal.

"When, single-handedly, Reacher takes out eight huskies in a bar-room brawl, a million plus fans will grin happily, knowing that all's right with the action-lit world." - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about Nothing To Lose was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

GrannyVe

Good Fiction
Not perfect but great page turner and typical Reacher. I love the way Reacher meets all the nutters and yet never gets shot! Lee Childs as always imbibes some ironic humour into Reacher's behaviour and his musings - even in the bleak scenarios detailed here. I wonder about the religious aspect. One of your other reviewers said that he doesn't know of any religious orders like this in reality. But this is fiction albeit there are some scary evangelical religious maniacs around - Even more so now (enter the Trump faction!) than in 2008. Also there are references in the book to real life cults and 'rapture' theories so not entirely fictional! But Reacher triumphs again beating the bad guys! - all in all an entertaining read

Bemison

Nothing to lose....but admiration
It was well written but the plot was poorly conceived, not based in reality, misguided…… In short ignorant. I’ve been a person of faith for 40 years and been to every major protestant church denomination in North America. Whole town’s do not get out chanting and hoping for the end of time. While inevitable it is dreadful. No one thinks of making a dirty bomb to hasten the second coming. No one speaks up red cows or breeds them. While possible it is all quite implausible and in effect ruins the book. Bummer. Mr. Child, shame you and your publisher for such a major thing to be so substandard… I want my 10 bucks back.

MeekeIkon

Disappointing
The politics and jabs just are getting way too thinly veiled and it stinks. I was very, very disappointed.

Will

Worst book I have ever read
This is by far the worst book I have ever read. The writing is terrible and the main character is an insufferable macho man. I can't believe it got published.

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Author Information

Lee Child Author Biography

Photo: Sigrid Estrada

Lee Child was born in the exact geographic center of England, in the heart of the industrial badlands. Never saw a tree until he was twelve. It was the sort of place where if you fell in the river, you had to go to the hospital for a mandatory stomach pump. The sort of place where minor disputes were settled with box cutters and bicycle chains. He's got the scars to prove it.

But he survived, got an education, and went to law school, but only because he didn't want to be a lawyer. Without the pressure of aiming for a job in the field, he figured it would be a relaxing subject to study. He spent most of the time in the university theater - to the extent that he had to repeat several courses, because he failed the exams - and then went to work for Granada Television in ...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Lee Child's Website

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