Customer Reviews

Running Blind

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

In Lee Child's "Running Blind" we find ex-MP hero Jack Reacher entrapped by the FBI. Reacher was unwittingly observed by an FBI surveillance team using strong arm tactics in thwarting an extortion attempt against a restauranteur of an Italian place that he frequented.

Reacher was reeled in on the pretext that he fit the profile of a serial killer who had eluded apprehension by the FBI. The cerebral killer had murdered a group of former female members of the Army who had filed sexual harrassmnet charges. They were all found immersed in bathtubs filled to the top with green Army camouflage paint. All victims were apparently not drowned but killed by a means so far undeciphered. There was an unprecedented lack of clues and no clear motive.

Reacher was coerced into helping the FBI investigate using some thinly veiled threats to his girlfriend Jodie Garber. Garber, a high powered New York attorney and daughter of Reacher mentor, the late General Leon Garber, was on the verge of being made a partner in her firm. Throughout the book drifter-like Reacher who inherited General Garber's house was wrestling with the feelings of being tied down. While he and Jodie were very much in love they were both unwilling to follow in each other's lifestyle.

Reacher, of course, is instrumental in ultimately solving the paradoxes behind the killings. Child in this work explores the inner workings of Reacher's psyche which gives "Running Blind" a more expansive picture into the human side of his main character.

Lee Child has written seven novels about Jack Reacher, a former military cop with formidable combat skills. The strength of the Reacher novels is the plotting; Child is excellent at throwing red herrings and plot reversals in to keep the reader off-guard. The results are usually effective thrillers, with plenty of action.
Running Blind fails as a thriller. All of the Reacher novels, indeed just about every thriller, have inconsistencies, coincidences, or illogical behavior by the characters. In effective thrillers, the force of the plot pushes the action at such a pace that the reader doesn't care about these problems. After all, no one readers a thriller for realism. Here, Child's plot has women who were sexually harassed being killed under bizarre circumstances, with no obvious cause of death, and without the killer leaving a trace of how the crime was committed. Enough clues are given that most readers will realize who the killer is and how the killer pulls it off half way through the book. And the means used to pull it off would not be believed in a comic book. The sheer impossibility was so great that once I realized what the answer was, I skipped to the end of the book to confirm my belief, and then gave up on it. Child painted himself in a corner with this book that he had to rely on something that might have been used in the B movies of the thirties, but is ridiculous today. I suggest skipping this book and going with the rest of the series. Certainly, any one who has not read the other Reacher books should avoid this one -- they may be so put off by the absurd ending that they will not read the others and thus miss some great thrillers.

The "top 100 reviewer" said, "The absolutely very best thing about RUNNING BLIND is the plot twist identity of the Perp". And I'd agree, if I hadn't guessed the perp after about a third of the way into the book. Child's Reacher thrillers are good because you are not supposed to guess what comes next. But in the Reacher mysteries, his clues are often pretty obvious. Read it anyway; see if you agree.

If you've been seeking some DeMille read-a-likes, look no further than Lee Child's Reacher series. And _Running Blind_ is the best one yet, which is saying something. Former military cop Jack Reacher is in New York City, reconsidering the impact his inherited house and relationship has on his beloved "vagabond" lifestyle. He happens upon a small-time protection racket and quickly, violently deals with the situation. Within hours, he is pulled off the streets by a SWAT team of feds.

It turns out he was already under surveillance; he's one of the prime suspects in a serial murder case. Several retired female soldiers have been killed in their homes under circumstances that are truly bizarre. Since he had served with two of the women, he's one of the key suspects that the FBI profilers have identified.

Proving his innocence, inciting a mob war, and tracking down the real killer are all on the agenda. Reacher is tough, sarcastic, and a completely entertaining character. And don't worry about reading the Reacher series in order - I didn't, and did not miss a beat. Each story seems to stand alone just fine.

Mr. Lee Child has written another winner with his "Running Blind." Jack Reacher once again gets involved in solving a horrendous series of murders. There are lots of twists and turns with an almost complete surprise ending. I will admit I was starting to suspect the true villin about 1/2 to 3/4 through, but it didn't detract from my reading enjoyment. Let me warn you though, this is a one sitter -- you will not be able to put it down. Mr. Child: keep up the good work.

This is a great novel for adolescent sex addicts who 1. don't know anything about the military, 2. think the best way to keep a job is to insult your employers, 3. think it's cool to wear the same clothes day after day, 4. would like to commit sexual harrasment themselves.
The dialogue is simple and extensive, which keeps the pace fast.
What is most astonishing are reviews on the cover calling Mr. Child's efforts a 'masterpiece' and 'spectacular'. My response: a roll of the eyes and moan of "Good Grief!".

I read a lot, and some fraction of what I read is junk, but this book goes way past my junk tolerance level. Jack Reacher, the central character, is a mere cartoon. Some of the blurbs in the paperback edition compared Reacher to Dave Robicheaux or Spenser or Travis McGee, but each of these guys has a real, complex personality. Reacher just never comes alive. And it's hard to see how he could. He inhabits a book devoid of a single believable situation or person. It's an action comic for ten-year-olds, translated to prose.

that Lee Child writes about his pseudo-hero, Jack Reacher, are less than satisfying.

To be sure, I read both at almost a single setting, because Child has an uncanny way of absorbing your interest while reading the book. It is after you've finished, and think about your reactions, that you'll wish Running Blind was as good an outing as the first 3 Reacher novels.

There's a killer loose in this novel, and the victims are three women, all of whom have a tie in the past to Jack Reacher, while in the military. Naturally, with crime scenes that are incredibly far-fetched, the FBI is sniffing around for a serial killer...and Jack is a prime suspect. Once he is off the hook, the FBI decides to use him to help find the killer. It's a plausible theme, with an interesting M.O., but Child loses his way in the story.

To begin... Jack needs to be on the road, not settled down with Jodie; Child does find a creative way to take care of that. But, despite the excitement of the tale, the story is unsatisfying, much of the characterization missing or lacking, and there are the usual editing errors you find in each Child work.

I'm hanging in there with the series, because Reacher is one of the more interesting (if over the top) leading characters developed in serial thrillers in the last few years, but Running Blind could have, should have, been a much better story.

What book is "The Visitor" from Lee Child? Looks like "Runnig Blind". Under different titles same books??

This is the fourth Reacher novel I've read and they've steadily gone downhill from 'Killing Floor'. From Lee Child not knowing diddly-squat about the military life Reacher purports to come from to the unbelievable string of coincidences in the storyline, Child totally stretches the realm of credibility.

Jack Reacher is coerced in to leading a FBI investigation of several murders, and all the while the FBI steadfastly refuses to entertain any of his ideas. If that isn't bad enough for Reacher, the FBI is persistently trying to blackmail and pin crimes on him. Of course, that cannot stop our hero, Reacher, from solving the murders. Heck, he even gets all the girls, but just temporarily.

I guess what really turned me off about this book was that: Reacher is seemingly infallible, the FBI is an incompetent modern day Gestapo, and the egregious errors about the military i.e., Fort Dix, NJ being a Marine Corps Air station, C'mon!

Jack Reacher would be a somewhat interesting character if Child didn't continually try to turn him in to a psychic superman who never changes his clothes.