Echo Burning (Lee Child)

Jack Reacher travels the country with the clothes on his back and a folding toothbrush in his pocket. Hitchhiking through Texas, he's picked up by Carmen Greer, a beautiful Hispanic woman. Although Carmen's husband Sloop Greer is from a rich family, she only has $1.00 in her purse. Her husband's in prison and Carmen hopes he stays there but Sloop's worked out a deal with the federal authorities and is expected home. Carmen's been cruising the streets, looking for someone she can talk into murdering her husband because he physically abused her before he went to prison and she's afraid he'll kill her once free. Reacher agrees to go with Carmen to Sloop's ranch to protect her but tells her he will not commit murder. Just hours after Sloop's home, he's found in his bedroom, shot to death by Carmen's gun. Carmen's arrested and Reacher teams up with a lawyer from the legal mission to find out who really shot Sloop Greer. Reacher is one of the best characters written today; a strong man w... Read more

I'm working my way through the entire Jack Reacher series and am a huge fan. This one, however, was uninspired. I hate to admit it, but I think the problem was that it was too down to earth. While I can appreciate the sentiment, I like my Jack Reacher reading more in the realm of fantasy. The imperfect characters made them unlikeable. The action was also a bit lacking. Jack himself was a bit hard to take at times. Finally, the Bruce Banner ending sealed the deal - I'd recommend skipping this one.

I think that this 5th book is his best to this point. Maybe it's because there is the absence of sex and fighting which seem absurb in some of his books.

You gotta love a guy who is 6 foot 5 inches..weighs 250 and has no remorse about doing what he believes is right!

What can I say. Every Lee Child/Jack Reacher book is fantastic. Just when you finish one and think it is the best, you go on to read the next one and its the best. Great plots, fantastic hero, and terrific characters.

I give you fair warning, this review includes a minor spoiler here.There's one thing you can bet your shirt on in a Jack Reacher thriller.. However, on this paricular point, you would lose your bet in this installment. You know for a surety that good old Jack's going to score with the main female character. But it doesn't happen in this one, and I give the author credit for letting him go without any hanky panky in this book. I'm no prude, but I like the fact that Lee Child chose to vary the inevitable pattern here.He certainly succeeds in his portrait of Carmen and the other characters in this one. Truth is certainly an issue in the bok. Reacher needs desperately to know who to believe and who not to believe in this adventure. This time around, he's hitching a ride when he's picked up by an attractive woman who's looking for a certain type of man who will perform a certain job for her. In no time, our hero finds himself swimming in some really nasty stuff. As always, the vari... Read more

Jack is the best at what he does. He can get out and in trouble in the blink of an eye. Fast paced action all the way and you can see Echo burning!

Excellent fair. Reacher's skill and instincts are the highlight of this story. I love these action thriller type novels and the Reacher series always fills the bill. "Echo Burning" is one of the best thus far.

This one starts slowly, leading up to a firecracker of an ending, typical of Lee Child novels. Jack Reacher, the ex army police officer turned freelance lawman who never hesitates to stick his nose into private business, takes his lively act to Texas, embroiling himself in what starts as a messy domestic dispute before turning far more ominous. The rugged former army cop comes to the aid of a damsil in distress, who picks him up on the side of the road one morning outside Lubbock, then asks him to kill her abusive husband. She is beautiful but is worried her husband is getting out of prison in a few days, and Carmen fears he will start beating her again. Reacher declines, but agrees to protect Carmen, hiring on as a cowhand at the couple's remote ranch in Echo County, Tex., far outside Pecos. Within hours of Sloop's return from prison, where he was serving time for tax evasion, violence strikes. But the victim isn't Carmen; it's Sloop. He's found shot dead, and Carmen is arrested. End ... Read more

I have been reading all tof the Reacher books in order, and after the first 5 I still think the first one, Killing Floor, is still the best. This is the second best so far. The intensity builds slowly, and the one sequence towards the end where Reacher is stalking/being stalked in the woods at night during a thunder and lightening storm was unbelievably intense and pulse pounding! The scorching Texas landscape lent the book a vivid sense of place and there was more of a mystery element than the last few books. Highly recommended!