Three and a half stars. While sticking to the basic formula of Reacher kicks bad guys' butts, Child manages to change it up a little. In some ways, Reacher's an anachronism, and if serious modern technology was used with strategy against him, he'd be in trouble. It starts to look as though he will be outnumbered when professional enforcers get added into the mix of local thugs, but part of the problem is solved by them turning on each other. There's no honor among thieves, I guess. The mystery was only moderately engaging. Childs went to great pains to demonstrate how local and federal officials had done their utmost to track down a missing girl, yet Reacher comes to the conclusion of a fifth involved man. He doesn't even have to follow the lead, since the fifth man is lying in wait to kill him. I felt like that was somewhat of a hollow discovery; more like the solution presented itself without any real work. As for the barn being the site of the house of horrors--really? No child since then has snuck into the barn? Local law enforcement didn't check abandoned wells and structures? It seemed more like it was a prop to justify Reacher's killing; these people were so awful that no judge, jury or trial was needed, since anyone would agree they were evil. I think the extreme evilness Child describes and Reacher's cold-blooded _targeted assassination left me with an unsettled feeling at the end instead of the "Hoo-rah" that one hopes for. ( )

Worth Dying For is the fifteenth book in the Jack Reacher series and was first published in 2010. Reading this it is easy to see why Lee Child is a bestselling author and Jack Reacher is so popular. Worth Dying For is an explosive thriller which delivers on every level.

Jack Reacher has been dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska, though he is trying to hitch a ride, it is almost night and there seems to be a decided lack of life around him. The flat countryside and the only place he would be able to see any light source. He can see that light and begins walking towards it. He heads in to the bar of the motel to book in to the motel. At the bar is a doctor who happened to be very drunk.

Reacher drives the good doctor to see a patient after which he visits the patients husband. Reacher makes his point and then leaves. Later that evening he is asked to leave the motel. He finds out that a local clan called the Duncans keep the locals afraid and subservient to them. The locals are fearful of them and the Duncans are a family of bullies.

The Duncans are forcing the local farmer to use their transportation company. The family cannot afford to upsetting the family or they will have rotting crops in their fields. As Reacher talks to the locals, he discovers that one of the families had a child who went missing over twenty years ago and the Duncans were the prime suspects. The local police did not really investigate.

Reacher has never liked bullies and believes that the Duncans clearly need re-educating. Reacher therefore begins to create a number of problems for the Duncans. It also does not help the Duncans that some of their extra-curricular activities are beginning to cause problems. Even then Reacher is outnumbered but he is not afraid to take the fight to the Duncans, Reacher has never been so sure in his life.

With plenty of violence and Reacher’s compassion for the underdog this is a brilliant story. A great read and an even better thriller. ( )

7/10
A pretty high body count, even for a Jack Reacher novel. But the author peels back the layers of the plot using shifting points of view and kept this reader turning the pages pretty compulsively. ( )

Lots of bad guys for Reacher to beat up. 13 hour book describes in detail the many rental cars that go missing or damaged in this novel. Not a police officer in sight despite multiple killings, burnings and car crashes....author must dislike Nebraska (maybe he drove across it?) Exciting read. ( )

I don't like his Jack Reacher potboilers. Too violent for me. ( )