Like many of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child, 61 Hours start with Reacher coming to a stop, this time because he is on a bus full of senior citizens when it crashes in South Dakota during what sounds like an extremely miserable winter.
He is quickly plunged (reluctantly) into a situation that only he can deal with. This time it involves a small town, a very short (4’9″) Mexican gangster named Plato, the typical assortment of local cops, both competent and bumbling, a woman with a sexy phone voice, a bizarre and abandoned and underground military building, a gang of bikers, and the usual Lee Child quota of broken limbs and headshot wounds.
I’m going to mention the freezing South Dakota winter again here, because it is a character in the book. I have spent a little bit of time in North Dakota, but never in the winter. However, my friend who lived there for years never has anything nice to say about would could kindly be called “bitter cold.”
In one of my favorite scenes from the book, Reacher again shows why he is the toughest man alive when he runs two miles, inappropriately dressed, in the middle of the night, on deadline in sub-zero weather.
Also, to date, 61 Hours contains my favorite description of Jack Reacher’s legendary hand to hand combat abilities: “It’s like having a running chainsaw thrown at you.”
If you haven’t read any of the Reacher novels, any one of them can be read alone, but there are pieces of each story that do make more sense if the series has been read in order. Here’s a quick recap of the main character.
Jack Reacher for beginners
He is a former military policeman.Now, one of my best friends is a former military policeman, and I can totally picture him in the scenarios (and fights) Reacher deals with.
Jack Reacher is extremely tall and well built. In some of the books he is still in the military. He doesn’t own anything and buys his clothes every few days, then discards the old ones. He can talk tough with the best of them and can tell time in his head.
Hmm…sounds a lot like me.
Speaking of, every single one of the Jack Reacher books has been optioned for a movie. I once read an interview with Lee Child where he said that they didn’t have an actor of the appropriate size and attitude.
Please write to Mr. Child and tell him that there is an enormous librarian waiting for his call.
Also, 61 Hours is an awesome thriller. I love Lee Child’s page turners. They’re smut for macho bookworms who aren’t any good in a fight and rarely have to save entire towns from bad guys.
I rate it 95 million degrees below zero. 61 hours by Lee Child. Read it. Live it. Wear a coat.
Josh
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I wanted to see what it was like to read a book on a Kindle so managed to download this without realising it was the latest. I love Jack Reacher – a type of avenging angel. He feels no guilt about hammering bad guys, is a coffee addict, but is driven to do the right thing along his own particular moral compass. I hated the fact that this book leaves one in suspense but September is just around the corner and the next one, I believe, is due then. I’ve read all the books and can’t get enough.
Long Live Reacher.
Long live Reacher is right!
love the reaher novels, i havr read them all… but is anyone else feeling like there is declining action and violance throughtout the last few novels?
I’m not sure, Nate. I thought the one with the Afghani women was pretty intense and had a ton of violence in it. I think it was only two back.
I think we need a cage match between Mitch Rapp and Jack Reacher. I wish we had either or both of these guys taking care of things over in the Middle East.
The book 61 hours It’s brilliant I have just finished it and want more of Jack. At the end it said on my kindle that it was to be continued but I can’t see where can anyone help, please.
Eliza, the next one is called Worth Dying For. Here’s a post I wrote that has all of the Reacher books in order:
http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com/8324/lee-child-books-in-order-and-brief-reviews/