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Persuader | 
 enlarge | Author: Lee Child
Publisher: Bantam Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £2.24
You Save: £4.75 (68%)
New (39) Used (31) Collectible (1) from £1.13
Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 274
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 542
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0553813447
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553813449
ASIN: 0553813447
Publication Date: April 1, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New Paperback. May contain very slight shelf wear. Otherwise of exceptional condition. FAST DISPATCH.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Breakneck in its pace, uncompromising in its narrative ruthlessness, Persuader is typical of Lee Child's Jack Reacher adventures. After a first chapter that misdirects the reader quite staggeringly, ex-army freelance adventurer Reacher is apparently on the run. As always with Child and Reacher, what we see at first is only a small part of the complex plotting lying underneath. Reacher has his own reasons for taking on this case, reasons that are very personal and go back a decade. Being Reacher, tough with a heart of gold, his emotions--his liking for a drug dealer's wife and son, his more than professional interest in the DEA officer investigating them, his dislike of steroid-crazed thug Paulie--soon complicate his objectives. Childs is endlessly reliable on gadgets--the miniaturised e-mail senders, the big guns--and on action sequences--various fights and a swim in a riptide; he also makes us believe in complex emotions and deeper feelings than a love of violence. This is not one of the best of the Reacher books--it has too many flashbacks and a shadowy villain--but like all of them it is an action thriller for intelligent readers. --Roz Kaveney
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
My fave Reacher story June 10, 2008
edzshed (UK)
The first Reacher book I read I was quite disappointed with, some months later I happened upon this in a second hand shop and decided to give it a go.....2 days later I'd finished it and have been a Reacher fan ever since. The plot moves at a cracking pace, the storyline itself is simply ace....I love it
Hooked January 16, 2008
Gavin James (Bath, UK)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
As my first exposure to Lee Child, this couldn't have been a better hook. Since reading this in June 2007, I've now bought the entire Jack Reacher catalogue to date and am working my way through, and loving every minute.
To begin with, I had a little trouble adapting to the style and language of this book, but purely because I'd read an article about Lee Child prior to reading his work. I knew he was a Coventry guy and had spent much of his time working for Granada Television, so when I first started Persuader and was confronted with a style of writing and language more stateside than born and bread American authors I'd encountered, I was a little taken aback and dubious as to his motives. The first page in particular read more like wannabee Western screenwriter in full flow, but it only took me to the end of the first chapter to become fully immersed in it, love it and be persuaded that it couldn't have worked as well any other way.
The story is simple, but clever and detailed and you're with Jack the whole way (this is one of few Jack Reacher books written in the first person). Child manages to make his loveable flawlessness believable and his motives impeccable while at the same time creating bad guys you can't help but hate.
Try it, you won't be sorry.
This latest Jack Reacher novel has all the fast-paced action that we December 15, 2007
J. Bowles
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
The characters are all well-developed and believable with Lee's trademark
strong women adding special dynamics to this story. Combined with an unusually twisted plot, it is probably one of Lee's best books yet. Written in the first person, Jack Reacher goes undercover, partly to help Duffy, a DEA agent chasing a major drug dealer in Maine, but mostly to try to find an old enemy he left for dead ten years ago while still in the army, an enemy who now seems to be associated with the dealer.
Reacher's motive is personal: unfinished business. Duffy's motive is personal: she sent a female agent in after being pulled from the case, and has lost contact with her. Everything is very off-the-record. It is a personal fight, and Reacher makes even more personal enemies with some spectacularly unsavory characters along the way. Expect some very dirty fights. The first person form does give a unique insight into the Reacher character and seems to work well, though I personally think Lee Child handles the third person better. The sentences do get very short, giving an almost staccato feel to parts of the story. Probably how Reacher is supposed to think, but at times the lack of rhythm makes the reading harder than it needs to be.
The characters are great. Duffy is a particularly fine portrait, and Dominique Kohl, the investigator in the original case ten years ago, is lovingly sketched. As usual, Lee excels in strong women. The weaker women are less convincing: Elizabeth Beck, the long-suffering wife of the drug dealer, is a good enough effort while the other women (e.g. Teresa Justice) are barely developed beyond their names!!! I would also recommend reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates--if you haven't read it yet.
A Thriller in Every Sense of the Word March 12, 2007
J. Chippindale (Yorkshire, England)
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
Contrary to what many reader's believe Lee Child is British, but moved with his family from Cumbria to the United States to begin a new career as an American thriller writer. What probably fools a lot of people is that is rare for a British author to be able to write American thrillers with any kind of authenticity. He has won a number of awards with his books and he lives just outside New York City with his American wife Jane. The couple have a grown-up daughter, Ruth and when Lee is not writing he shares his time between music, reader and supporting the New York Yankees.
It is difficult to say the least to even give a brief synopsis of these books without giving some clue or other away and spoiling it for the reader. Suffice to say that the author's books featuring Jack Reacher are up there with the best in crime thrillers and this one is no different in that respect to the others. If crime novels, particularly American thrillers ring your bell, then this author and this book is for you.
First person Reacher - can't beat it March 7, 2007
A. Edge (Halifax, UK)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've read a few of the Reacher books, but I always prefer the ones written in the first person. I have no idea why this is...
The first chapter of this book (deliberately) misleads the reader, and then after that, everything is explained in the subsequent chapter(s). All very cleverly done, by the way.
The author then creates a very realistic impression of the main location where the story is set. A big house by the ocean. The characters also add to that realism. You could even argue that the location is an extra character in itself.
For me, this story is up there with my favourite book of the series (Killing Floor). I doubt you will be disappointed....
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