Mini-Review:Echo Burning by Lee Child

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Jove (November 27, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0515143820
• Source: Self-purchase

Jack Reacher is back on the road again after trying, unsuccessfully, to settle down. He’s hitchhiking in dry, hot, Texas when he is picked up by Carmen Greer, an attractive Hispanic woman.  It isn’t until they are miles down the road when Carmen tells Reacher the reason why she picked him up–she desperately needs his help.  Her husband, Scoop, will soon be released from prison. Scoop beat Carmen for rive years and is in prison for evading the IRS. Carmen fears for her life, and the life her six year old daughter, Ellie. Carmen begs Reacher to help her, and by help she means killing her husband.

Reacher, a former military police officer, won’t resort to violence unless violence is what is due. He ultimately agrees to accompany Carmen back to the Greer family farm and help protect her.

Once Scoop is released from prison things change for the worse.  Carmen is carted off to prison, and it’s up to Reacher to prove her innocence.

Echo Burning is a classic Reacher book: full of action and intrigue. There are so many twists and turns you don’t know who to believe.  Child has created an outstanding character in Reacher: strong, independent, but not afraid to get dirty when necessary. Reacher looks rough on the outside but he’s definitely a teddy bear on the inside.  Child also does a great job of building the secondary characters, they are each well-developed

While there is technically an order to the series, I think each can serve as a stand alone.  Any relevant back story is typically relayed to the author.

The Jack Reacher series are addictive, I don’t recommend you start one without having the next one ready!  I’ve listened to the audiobooks of all of them thus far, Echo Burning is the fifth in the series. The narrator is Dick Hill and it seems as if these books were made to be read by him.  There’s something about his voice that is truly “Reacher.”

Needless to say, I highly recommend this book.