- Nothing to Lose (novel)
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Nothing To Lose 
2008 Hardcover editionAuthor(s) Lee Child Country United Kingdom Language English Series Jack Reacher Genre(s) Thriller novel Publisher Bantam Press Publication date 24th March, 2008 Media type Print (Hardcover) Pages 426 pp ISBN 0593057023 OCLC Number 181926600 Preceded by Bad Luck and Trouble Followed by Gone Tomorrow Nothing to Lose is the twelfth book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. It was published in the UK by Bantam Press in March 2008. The novel was published in the US by Delacorte in June 2008.
Contents
Plot Summary
As described by Sherryl Connelly of the New York Daily News,[1]
In Child's 12th Reacher novel, "Nothing to Lose," our man has casually decided to walk across the country diagonally from Maine to California. It's a stroll until he hits Despair, where he's run out of town for just showing up.The cops drop him at the neighboring town line, Hope. There, a friendly, really quite attractive deputy picks him up in a cruiser and they bond, first in trying to finding what kind of hell Despair is in, and then otherwise.
It's a one-man town. Everything, including the excessively profitable metal recycling plant, is owned by a crazed evangelist. But then there's the inexplicably located high- grade military base a few miles beyond. Despair has more than one secret and won't give them up easily. That makes Reacher mad.
The guy's money when it comes to personally engineered mass destruction for the right reasons. The folks in Despair have everything to fear, and nothing to hope for when Reacher comes to town. They just don't know that, until they do.—Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily NewsSimilarities to First Blood
Nothing to Lose features several similarities to David Morrell's 1972 novel, First Blood, including the fact that the lead character (a former soldier) is mistaken for a loiterer and harassed by local law enforcement. The name of the town in both novels is "Hope" and the theme of corrupt and bullying authority is also shared.
Morrell's novel was popular in its time and was the inspiration for the hugely successful 1982 film Rambo: First Blood starring Sylvester Stalone, released to international acclaim.
Style
Andy Martin of The Independent described the writing of the main character to be like "the great Philip Marlowe pulp tradition, nuanced with a dash of Rambo and Bruce Willis."[2]
Critical reception
Peter Millar of The Sunday Times found the novel to be "as gripping and readable as any in the Reacher series", though considered the main character to be a "socially dysfunctional, second-rate Superman".[3] Daily Mirror writer, Henry Sutton, says that the novel is another example of Child's "brilliantly paced plots".[4]
References
- ^ Connelly, Sherryl (June 13, 2008). "Trouble comes to town in Lee Child's new Jack Reacher novel". New York Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2008/06/15/2008-06-15_trouble_comes_to_town_in_lee_childs_new_-2.html. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
- ^ Martin, Andy (April 2, 2008). "Nothing To Lose, by Lee Child". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/nothing-to-lose-by-lee-child-803436.html. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
- ^ Millar, Peter (April 11, 2008). "Nothing to Lose by Lee Child and Steel Witches by Patrick Lennon". The Sunday Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article3728229.ece. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
- ^ Sutton, Henry (March 20, 2008). "Review: Nothing To Lose". Daily Mirror. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv-entertainment/archive/books/2008/03/20/review-nothing-to-lose-115875-20357085/. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
External links
Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child Novel series Killing Floor • Die Trying • Tripwire • Running Blind • Echo Burning • Without Fail • Persuader • The Enemy • One Shot • The Hard Way • Bad Luck and Trouble • Nothing to Lose • Gone Tomorrow • 61 Hours • Worth Dying For
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