Persuader: A Jack Reacher Novel

By Lee Child

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING JACK REACHER SERIES • The inspiration for season three of the hit streaming series Reacher! 

“Gripping and suspenseful . . . Child ratchets up the suspense to new heights.”—The Denver Post
 
Jack Reacher lives for the moment. Without a home. Without commitment. And with a burning desire to right wrongs—and rewrite his own agonizing past. DEA Susan Duffy is living for the future, knowing that she has made a terrible mistake by putting one of her own female agents into a death trap within a heavily guarded Maine mansion.
 
Staging a brilliant ruse, Reacher hurtles into the dark heart of a vast criminal enterprise. Trying to rescue an agent whose time is running out, Reacher enters a crime lord’s waterfront fortress. There he will find a world of secrecy and violence—and confront some unfinished business from his own past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 13, 2003
• ISBN: 9780440333869

Lee Child

Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in New York. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world, and have sold over one hundred million copies. Two blockbusting Jack Reacher movies have been made so far. www.LeeChild.com  

Reviews for Persuader

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another really good Jack Reacher book. I was afraid it might be too disturbing, but it wasn't bad. The suspense built up quite nicely. The characters were believable and complex. Lee Child always delivers.

[dickmanikowski · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Unlike the other books in the Jack Reacher series I've read, this one is written in the first person. While all of them are told from the protagonist's POV, this one actually refers to the narrator as "I" rather than as "Reacher."

[brucemmoyer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Taciturn Jack Reacher of dubious and mysterious credentials and vague resume, gets caught up in a vendetta and assists authorities in a clandestine take-down of bad guys, who seemingly, are not all bad, all the time. there is enough meat here to make it worthwhile along with some suspense and twists. I will read another book by this author.

[martinhughharvey_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the very best of Reacher.Ironically - this sentence a wee spoiler - started out somewhat differently and I wasn't sure - he wasn't an accidental good Samaritan but working with a government agency.Then apart from the intro there's not any violence until late in the book. However, what there is is a god plot, full but not complex, full of rich detail and rationale, and a superb Recheer ending we're all proud of!If you like Jack you'll love this one and yup, this would be one hell of a movie!

[dougcornelius_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Reacher is back doing Reacher stuff, but working with (for?) the government. Not the best stuff in the series.

[positrons-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's the first novel I've read of Jack Reacher series in the First Person narrative. Although the style is bearable, it was a bit long winded on some soliloquies. One instance is on the drowning sequence.

The main character is good, but sometimes too good, able to get the women one way or another. I promise myself if this next novel (THE ENEMY) which is another First Person Narrative, goes the same way, I am abandoning the series.

The only driving point to reading them, for myself, is that he spent time in the Philippines, and interjects his memories of this from time to time.

[jarratt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I continue to be impressed with the Jack Reacher stories. Child does a great job of getting Reacher to figure out things based on observation, experience, and intuition rather than the more typical tech-savvy route.Were I to describe the opener, I'd give away a pretty cool plot twist, so just know that Reacher infiltrates a drug ring in part to finish off someone he thought he'd killed 10 years earlier.

[vapops · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I have been working my way through Child's Reacher novels, reading them in order. This is the poorest one - plodding

[bogopea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jack Reacher accepts a black box assignment with a team of DEA agents. Ludicrous premise; however, it is another great Reacher escapade.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think this has to be my favorite Reacher story simply because it takes place, for the most part, outside of Portland, Maine. The ocean is always present so right away you can bet Reacher has to tangle with it at some point in the story. Of course he does. But, back to the plot. Reacher gets sucked into a compromising position, this time by his own accord. Ten years ago, a critical investigation went sideways and someone under Reacher's military command was horrifically murder. Up until present day Reacher had thought the killer was dead by his own hand. He witnessed a demise he thought no one could survive..and yet ten years later here is proof the nemesis not only survived, but is thriving. Revenge is Jack's motive. Of course, Reacher wouldn't be Reacher without an eye-roll inducing romance. This time it's with a federal agent and I agree with other reviewers when they say it feels like Child threw in the relationship with Duffy because it is simply part of the formula for Reacher's modus operandi. It was short lived and kind of silly.

[smetchie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This bad-ass walks around with an anaconda in his pants (apparently, that's a type of revolver but it's still pretty impressive)

He has an AOL device hidden in his shoe. He says nothing a lot. So does everyone else in this novel.

I'm not cut out for crime fiction. It bugs me.

[henrimoreaux · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The opening of this book is a little different in that it start off quite rapidly with Reacher gunning people down, only for us to find out shortly thereafter that this is all staged in order to insert him into a criminal organisation. He's being inserted as days before he had asked an military buddy to run a number plate of a man he spotted and it turns out said number plate is flagged in the system and ask per the format of this series, such a flagging brings him into the orbit of a female law enforcement agent who needs his help. Whilst the format is similar to the usual, it does unfold in a marginally different way, enough to keep it interesting but not so much that feeling of familiarity is removed.I don't quite feel it was up to the level of Running Blind and Echo Burning but it wasn't awful either.

[rockhead515-580421 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Terrific!
Best one of the series, so far.

[antao-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Shit, This Thing Is Selling Millions: "Persuader" by Lee Child Published 2004.

I’m taking two risks here by writing this review. The first risk sounds repetitive. I have the distinct impression that I’ve written about this in several of my previous texts. The second risk might be because you might incur a waste of my (and your) time by reading this diatribe. After reading one more Reacher book, I just had to write (again) about this.

Imagine the following dialogue with the author of this text: “Shit, this thing is selling millions. Anyone of us could have written it. I don’t believe we can put Lee Child on the same shelf along with some of Mervyn Peake's books, sadly being eaten away by moths.”

I agree that Peake's prose is much more enticing than Child’s or Meyer’s. Peake's reflections have much more inner depth. This would tempt us to say that Peake “has” more inherent quality than Child or Stephanie Meyer.

The rest of this diatribe can be found elsewhere.

[roncrouch-445920 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great gripping read

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I seem to have a recurring problem with the Reacher series. It takes me forever to get into them and to read the first half, but then I'll stay up all night to finish the second half! This story was a bit convoluted and the flashbacks became pretty damn annoying toward the end, but overall a good read.

[buffalogr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Persuader is the seventh book in the Jack Reacher series. Each book has new characters except for "Reacher". The plot worked it's way through 13 hours; could have been shorter. But, there were several twists and turns that worked well. until the end. I didn't care for the frequent flashbacks and the story did not need them. There was a better way to end it and the author did not use it.

[maureencean · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Consistent with the other entries in the series and still ennjoyable, only this time he tells two stories at once. He is just overflowing with them!

[idiotgirl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Audible. I listened to the end, so I must give it at least two stars. Interested in getting a sense of genre fiction. REacher the hero. Mainly the lonely guy, can't see much else here. Lover. Loyal. A certain ethic about who it's okay to slaughter. A long painful history your'e supposed to care about. Can't even count all of the folks he kills in the book. The main evil guy he kills twice, pretty clever I suppose--once in the flashback but obviously not really and once in the present of the story. In both ladies he beds and also "mentors" or supports. And tries to save, sometimes succesful sometimes not, that helps propels the story. Failure to save the damsel. Why do I read to the end. I'm propelled by a plot. And also just interested in how folks write novels that make them rich and popular. The violence here just wasn't balanced by something in terms of social or psychology that some novels aspire too. Don't think I'll read that many more Childs. But I did listen to the whole thing. . . . . .

[waldhaus1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps the introductory Reacher novel. Doesn't present him as the itinerant of the contemporary novels. It involves Reachers search for vengeance. In the middle of that he gets involved in investigation of a smuggling operation.

[andy_dimartino · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a one day read, sucked me in and I couldn't put it down until I finished it.

[susandennis-139327 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is something very compelling about Child's recurring Jack Reacher character. I didn't quite like this as much as the others but… a not perfect Jack Reacher is still better than most. 10 years ago, Reacher was involved in a capture of a very bad guy that ended badly. He now has a chance to make it right.

[tulsatv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With a past including events like the ones Reacher recalls in this book, I can see why he is homeless by choice and hitchhiking aimlessly. Another brutal page-turner.

[gogglemiss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was quite a violent storyline and very atmospheric. I usually leave plenty of time inbetween Jack Reacher books, to savour, but enjoyable nonetheless.

[infjsarah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this one. I actually quite like the ones where Reacher is working with other people to fix something.And I prefer the buildup of the story, rather than the conclusion where Jack kicks arse. I often skip bits of the endings where there's lots of fighting etc.

[nosajeel · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've never read Lee Child before but based on what I've heard thought he would be one of the better thriller writers. Downloaded this book for free on Kindle about a year ago and in retrospect that wasn't cheap enough to justify getting it.

It started out promisingly enough with an action scene that propels the protagonist, Jack Reacher, forward into the thriller plot. Although the book was a thrill a minute (if you count extensive descriptions of firearms, hackneyed descriptions of killing and occasional sex), I was kept going by the feeling that there had to be major surprises in store. It just couldn't be that the people who appeared good (and most of them were really good) and those who appeared bad (and they ranged from very bad to extremely bad) really could be what they appeared. But sadly, they all were. The "plot" was just a question of how Reacher would kill them all the bad ones while rescuing some of the good ones and avoiding being killed himself.

Some of the purported suspense comes from situations you can't possibly imagine how Reacher will escape. Like a 300 pound killer with two guns who has cornered him weaponless. In that case, the killer decides to put down his guns and beat Reacher to death with his bare hands -- which doesn't work out too well. About three more bad guys similarly take their time describing their diabolical plans to Reacher while letting him handle what they think are unloaded guns -- but surprise, surprise, they're loaded. Similar plot devices make this increasingly a chore to read.

[smiler69 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Did all kinds of chores around the house today, including taking an old toothbrush to the space between the tiles in my bathroom. I'm not very fond of housecleaning, but once in a while I get a fixation on a certain specific task and get it done as if it was an Olympic event. I also did lots of stuff around the kitchen which involved hours of pureeing foods and washing dishes. Anyhow, all that gave me ample time to finish listening to my latest serving of Lee Child, Persuader, which is the 7th book in the Jack Reacher series. I've come to expect lots of gripping, violent action and unputdownable thrills-a-minute from this series, along with more flirting an sex than any Sex and the City episode used to offer up, but somehow I found this one quite boring. Here, Reacher goes undercover within what is already an undercover 'off the books' government agency operation, presumably to rescue a female agent gone missing, but also to avenge the brutal murder of one of his former work colleagues (who happened to be a very attractive young woman and would-be lover) by killing a sadistic ex-military official gone rogue. Lots of gun descriptions, which were a yawn-fest for me, though obviously essential to the story since arms dealers played a large role, and somehow not all that much action, save for two major scenes which I guess made the price of admission worth the expense. I should make the effort to count how many times Child mentions 'he/she said nothing' in any one of his books. But I guess the music is in the space between the notes, or at least, that's what I remember reading somewhere. All the same, it took me just two days to finish this 14+ hour listen, and it did get me to do a lot more chores than I normally do in a six-month period, so it couldn't be all that bad, or at least, it won't keep me from moving on to the next book in the series, to which we get a free 20-minute preview presenting the next case in which a two star General is found dead from a massive heart attack with an empty condom still stuck to his appendage in a two-bit motel a few steps away from a sleazy girlie bar. Just right for when this old maid needs her next dose of testosterone-driven action. My rating (2.75 stars) is based on my rating system in which three stars means 'enjoyed it (good)' and two stars mean 'it was just ok'.

[erickibler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This first-person tale is a strong entry in the series. Child's Reacher books can always be counted on for hard-ass action, but this one shows a new hard-boiled artfulness to Child's approach, capturing the bittersweet tinge of tenderness that lies in the heart of every tough guy, and serving up some terse prose that, in a couple of action sequences, will make a fan of the genre laugh with delight.

Here's one: "I caught him with a wild left in the throat. It was a solid punch, and a lucky one. But not for him. It crushed his larynx. He went down on the floor again and suffocated. It was reasonably quick. About a minute and a half. There was nothing I could do for him. I'm not a doctor."

Reacher is at his best when his emotions are engaged. Particularly those emotions that require vengeance, and the dark thrill of taking out the baddest guys. The ones who can't be suffered to live. And that's what we get here. Reacher in full avenging mode.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Persuader is one of the many Lee Child novels featuring Jack Reacher, an ex-military police officer who now passes his time as a loner and vigilante. He doesn’t go looking for trouble, but it keeps finding him. (Actually one isn’t sure what he is looking for, but it’s a moot point since “bad luck and trouble” as one of Child’s other books is called, keeps following Reacher around.) Like the other six or so Jack Reacher books I have read, this one features snappy, macho dialog, short sentences, at least one very attractive, competent woman, and a few surprising plot twists. In this book, the biggest surprise takes place in the first 30 pages, but the rest of the book holds one’s interest and is not anticlimactic. Lee Child is very consistent in his portrayal of Jack Reacher: tough, very tough; completely uninterested in monetary rewards; and driven to see that evildoers get their comeuppance. This book may be significant in that for the first time Reacher encounters a bad guy who is bigger (a lot bigger) and tougher than he is. Don’t worry. Jack hasn’t gone soft. This bad guy, at nearly 7 feet tall and over 400 pounds, would be more than a match for Hulk Hogan in his prime. To find out how Jack handles this monster in hand to hand combat, you’ll have to read the book. The book is pure escapism, well executed. As always, the bad guys are really bad, and the good guys will have to overcome some serious obstacles to prevail.   As an added bonus, the author treats (if that’s the right word) the reader to a discussion of the comparative merits of a host of different assault weapons.  Child keeps the action taut, usually ending most chapters with a brief sentence that makes you reluctant to put the book down.  Evaluation: I would rate this book as one of the best Reacher novels, with Child at the top of his game.  This is the seventh book in the Jack Reacher series, but there is no need to read them in order.(JAB)

[sunnysd_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Getting involved in an off the books DEA operation wasn't on Reacher's to-do list, but when he spots a dead man's face in the crowd, he's on board. Undercover, out numbered with his cover unraveling, Reacher's determined to find some answers. And this time make sure the dead man stays dead. There's no one quite like Reacher for pure bloody - very bloody - determination.