Die Trying book review

Die Trying (Jack Reacher, #2) by Lee Child
Series: Jack Reacher #2
Published by Jove on October 28, 2008
Pages: 552
Goodreads

In a Chicago suburb, a dentist is met in his office parking lot by three men and ordered into the trunk of his Lexus. On a downtown sidewalk, Jack Reacher and an unknown woman are abducted in broad daylight by two men - practiced and confident - who stop them at gunpoint and hustle them into the same sedan. Then Reacher and the woman are switched into a second vehicle and hauled away, leaving the dentist bound and gagged inside his car with the woman's abandoned possessions, two gallons of gasoline. . . and a burning match. The FBI is desperate to rescue the woman, a Special Agent from the Chicago office, because the FBI always - always - takes care of its own, and because this woman is not just another agent. Reacher and the woman join forces, against seemingly hopeless odds, to outwit their captors and escape. But the FBI thinks Jack is one of the kidnappers - and when they close in, the Bureau snipers will be shooting to kill.

Die Trying is the second novel in the Jack Reacher series and I have to say this one didn’t grab my attention as much as the first but by the end I was hooked. I think the beauty of these books is definitely how easy they are to read and how gripping the storylines are. I did have some issues with some of the things that happened and it made me roll my eyes when I saw what was going to happen. I think this is going to be a problem with all of them if I’m completely honest but it didn’t stop me from enjoying it so I’ll carry on reading them.

The main character is obviously Jack Reacher and I don’t think we connected with him as a person as much as we did in Killing Floor. I feel as though because this was a kidnapping and had no personal element we didn’t really get to see the personal side or learn anything new about him as a person. I hope that we get to learn more about him as the books go on and this wasn’t the start of a growing trend. The other main character was Holly an FBI agent that was the main kidnapping victim, and she was a great character. There was no doubt that she was not a damsel in distress and she held her own quite well. I enjoyed learning about her and her job but I wish there had been more about her as a person rather than about her family and how important she was.

For me the best bits of Die Trying would have to be the last quarter of the book, the first parts just didn’t grip me and it wasn’t until we had the drama actually taking place did it get good. I loved the politics that stopped everything from happening the way they thought it should and I loved the suspense that was created when we were all waiting to find out what was going to happen. I do love a good ending and this one definitely gave me the closure I was hoping for in all the best ways. I kind of want a little bit of a follow up so I can find out exactly how it ends and how all the characters get on.

I think the worst bit of Die Trying would have to be the random sexual advances none of them really made sense and it kind of ruined the story for me. There wasn’t any real need for the romance to happen and I kinda felt it wasn’t realistic in the position the characters were in but I think it’s going to be an ongoing issue with the Jack Reacher books and him as a character I think I’ll see if I keep enjoying the book enough to keep reading them!

I’m still going to recommend this books because it did keep me gripped but I do think I’m going to end up having an issue with the relationships and sex that seem to plague and take over the story! I think the thing that Lee Child does well is that he creates an action-packed story with some great politics systems! I am quite looking forward to reading the next one and figuring out what’s going to happen next!

Have you read any of the Jack Reacher novels? Do they get better? Or worse? Let me know!