Review of 'Persuader' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Persuader breaks the mold of most Jack Reacher novels by providing very little of a mystery, and turning Reacher into an undercover spy. It starts off with a Hollywood-style cold open and turns into a basic, by-the-numbers thriller. Don't get me wrong, the character is the same and the details still make this into a Jack Reacher novel (including the rapid demise of antagonists and excellent detail in all action scenes). The primary antagonist is sympathetic and has none of the shortfalls of Lee Child's early cartoon villain characterization. The narration is even back to first-person. This is something I should be happy about since it was the main reason why I loved the initial novel, but Lee Child didn't use the opportunity to give us Reacher's deeper thoughts / analysis. This makes the choice of first-person narration a stylistic one -- but I won't complain as it avoids the …
Persuader breaks the mold of most Jack Reacher novels by providing very little of a mystery, and turning Reacher into an undercover spy. It starts off with a Hollywood-style cold open and turns into a basic, by-the-numbers thriller. Don't get me wrong, the character is the same and the details still make this into a Jack Reacher novel (including the rapid demise of antagonists and excellent detail in all action scenes). The primary antagonist is sympathetic and has none of the shortfalls of Lee Child's early cartoon villain characterization. The narration is even back to first-person. This is something I should be happy about since it was the main reason why I loved the initial novel, but Lee Child didn't use the opportunity to give us Reacher's deeper thoughts / analysis. This makes the choice of first-person narration a stylistic one -- but I won't complain as it avoids the subplot narration of secondary characters that are often terribly written.
In summary, it's a mixed bag. There are elements of genius, mixed in with a lot of negatives. The novel will entertain, but I don't think it'll ever elicit a second thought -- decidedly average.
In particular, where Teresa and Quinn were located should have been the primary mystery. But all Reacher did was look around. He went to a location, checked, and moved on. It was asinine. Reacher himself is complaining that his time is running out because of the random, wasteful things he was forced to do, and hilariously Beck and Duke didn't even realize they were getting in his way. Quinn didn't even know who Reacher until the climax. So yeah, it's just a generic thriller / Bond-style spy flick. Show up, shoot people, have a brief period where the enemy might interact with you, shoot more people. Eh at least it was entertaining.
