Running Blind

The plot and execution of this book were amazing! The author made every page an absolute pleasure to read! Highly recommend.

The only reason I took 1 star away is that there was infidelity in the book that was brushed away as “not applicable” because the couple was already having issues and because “they didn't get naked”. And that is something I can't stand.

This book was very predictable and truly unbelievable. So the worse of the series.

Probably my favourite Reacher book yet

So this was the first Reacher book where it felt far more detective than action-hero. There was a lot less fist fights and car chases and such and more deliberating, discussing and using wits.

I enjoyed the slight change and it was a nice change.

Lee Child's writing continues to bug me a bit, describing places far too much with far too much description. Characters having conversations that lead the plot nowhere and feel like filler.

But this can all be forgiven as this was the most interesting Reacher book yet that has me guessing until the end. Whenever there's intrigue and suspicion to be had, you're always guessing in your head who the villain might be but it wasn't too obvious at any point for me.

Published in 2000 The Visitor is the fourth book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. After reading the three previous books, and giving the mediocre ratings, goodness only knows why I decided to read this. I set my expectations low and wasn't disappointed. Here's the plot:

The prologue opens with a mystery person's point of view on knowledge, power and killing, "People say that knowledge is power. The more knowledge, the more power. Suppose you knew the winning numbers for the lottery? You would run to the store. And you would win. Same for the stock market. You're not talking about a trend or a percentage game or a whisper or a tip. You're talking about knowledge. Real, hard knowledge. You would buy. Then later you'd sell, and you'd be rich. Any kind of sports at all, if you could predict the future, you'd be home and dry. Same for anything. Same for killing people."The story begins in New York City, with Reacher confronting and beating up two thugs sent to collect protection racket money from the new restaurant he was eating in, during which he deliberately implies that he is a member of a rival crime organization. Reacher is picked up by the FBI and questioned but explains he's been a loner since he mustered out of the army. He is then questioned about two women whose cases of sexual harassment he dealt with when he was an MP. It is revealed they have both been killed in the last few months and a criminal profiling team has come to the conclusion that the person responsible was someone exactly like Reacher. Reacher realizes that he has no alibi for the places and times that the women were killed, and he requests a lawyer.Reacher's lawyer girlfriend Jodie arrives, and he is released after further questioning. Jodie returns to work, and Reacher drives to his house in upstate New York that he inherited from Leon Garber He is soon called upon by two members of the FBI team that previously questioned him. A third woman has been killed, also an ex-soldier who filed for sexual harassment – albeit in a different time-frame from the first two. The FBI compels him to assist with the investigation by threatening to hurt him and, possibly, Jodie too.Reacher and Special Agent Lamarr, the lead profiler on the team, drive from New York to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, whilst discussing information on the case. Lamarr's stepsister, it so happens, is a woman with the same particulars as the three already killed. Lamarr also reveals the killer's M.O., which is killing the victims in an unknown way, with no bruises or injuries, leaving them naked in their bathtub, filled with army-issue camouflage paint.The team holds several meetings at Quantico, and Reacher meets agent Lisa Harper, the woman who has to accompany Reacher wherever he goes. Reacher suggests contacting Colonel John Trent at Fort Dix to try to get a trace on the paint. Reacher and Harper head up to New Jersey, but while Harper remains outside the colonel's office due to security clearance reasons, the colonel helps Reacher sneak out the window and arranges a four-hour trip to New York. Once there Jack targets a random pair of criminals collecting protection money and deliberately instigates a turf war between rival racketeers. By taking a certain crime lord out of the picture this effectively removes the leverage that the FBI has had over him and Jodie. He returns to New Jersey with Agent Harper being none the wiser.The team continues the search, and the next victim is Agent Lamarr's stepsister. Local policemen are then put on surveillance of the remaining women on the list. Eventually Reacher and Harper catch the killer. It is none other than FBI Agent Lamarr. She is in the process of killing her fifth victim when Jack intervenes. Reacher and Harper come to the conclusion that Lamarr was utilizing her hypnotizing techniques to make the victims unwittingly suffocate themselves by swallowing their own tongues. Her motives were a family inheritance and a sociopathic bitterness to her stepsister; the other murders were carried out to muddy the investigative waters. The FBI is unhappy that Reacher has killed one of their agents, murderess or not, but an accord is eventually reached. Jack then meets up with Jodie, and she reveals she is leaving for London in a month's time. Reacher knows he will not want to go with her, since he misses his wandering ways, and the two agree to spend one last month together.

A laboured read with an unbelievable plot. Its also taken me until the fourth book to realize something. Child is a master as stretching out descriptions of people and scenes: “This thing happened, then he felt like this, then another thing happened and he saw a table, a chair, a light, a bed, then he felt like this, etc”. Then saying the same thing again, albeit written in a slightly different way, then again. The other thing with this book is there is little more than people talking to each other until well past the half way mark. Factor in a lack of set pieces, the slow, long winded murder investigation, only sporadic bouts of action and a ludicrous (and I do mean ludicrous), frustrating ending, and finally the annoying peripheral characters. All of these points makes this a rating a solid, meh!

A lot better than book three, thats for sure. But I wonder why didn't Reacher call the head of the FBI when he was in the poop with the FBI. I suppose it made “story sense” for it to happen as it happened.

The problem with this book was that I easily spotted the killer within the first couple chapters

The pacing of this plot of really on the mark. I enjoyed every minute of this Reacher book!

This is the first Lee Child I've read and based on this, it will be my last.
An appalling and totally unrealistic plot. By half way through it was so obvious who the killer was, I read on, waiting for the twist that never came.
Frustrating and disappointing.

Okay - went on a Reacher binge. Need a break after 4 in a row - but not a long break.

A different Reacher novel this one, more of a murder mystery, which if I'd picked up on earlier I might have guessed the ending sooner than I did, I still guessed it about two thirds through but I would think most people would get it at that point.

Typical, awesome Reacher book (I'm working on re-reading the early books in the series) though I had figured out who the killer was pretty early on. Would have given it 4 stars if not for the and we had to wave goodbye to Jodie - she's still my favorite love interest.

blew my mind

Via di fuga, in originale “Running Blind” è un romanzo di Lee Child del 2000, pubblicato in Italia nel 2003 per Longanesi. Il libro costituisce il quarto episodio della serie Jack Reacher.

Jack Reacher è ovviamente un personaggio immaginario dell'autore: è un ex Maggiore nel Corpo di Polizia dell'esercito militare degli Stati Uniti, che decide di lasciare all'età di 36 anni per poi cominciare a viaggiare senza una meta fissa in tutti gli Stati Uniti prendendo lavoretti saltuari e per indagare nelle varie situazioni sospette e spesso pericolose che si troverà ad affrontare tra capo e collo.

Da questo personaggio e dai libri -per adesso solo due- che sono già stati tutti opzionati dalla Paramount Pictures, è già uscito il primo film con protagonista Tom Cruise.
Il personaggio di Lee Child è menzionato più volte anche nel romanzo di Stephen King “Under the Dome”.

Jack Reacher, chiamato semplicemente Reacher anche dalla madre, nasce in una base militare a Berlino in quanto il padre è un militare in carriera il 29 ottobre 1960 e verrà poi costretto a viaggiare per tutta la sua infanzia e adolescenza in tutto il mondo dovendo seguire il padre che in base alle varie missioni viene assegnato in molteplici basi militare americane. Anche lui entrerà nella Accademia Militare di West Point e grazie alle sue straordinarie doti investigative raggiungerà il grado di maggiore risolvendo casi eccezionalmente difficili. Guadagnerà la “Bronze Star”, “Superior Service Medal”, la “Legion of Merit”, una “Silver Star” e la “Purple Heart” per le ferite e le azioni nel bombardamento a Beirut nel 1983. Successivamente lascerà l'esercito e diventerà un vagabondo errante per l'America; le sue peregrinazioni sono anche spinti dal desiderio di sperimentare il paese ha servito per così tanto tempo, senza mai aver vissuto in esso. Vivrà sempre pagando in contanti, vivendo in motel economici, portando nessun bagaglio se non i vestiti che indossa e che abitualmente cambia adattandosi al clima e alle varie località.

Reacher è alto 1,96 m di altezza e pesa sui 110 Kg. (e qui non si capisce molto come venga scelto Tom Cruise per interpretarlo sul grande schermo), è abile in varie forme di arti marziali, abile tiratore e usa la sua notevole intelligenza con la conoscenza tecnica e militare avanzata. Ha una capacità innata di contare il tempo senza fare riferimento a un orologio, che gli consentono di riposare o svegliarsi in qualsiasi momento che sceglie. Ha anche una predisposizione naturale con i numeri, che solleva la possibilità di essere affetto di una forma lieve della sindrome di Savant. Ama il blues, il caffè che prende nero e forte in grandi quantità.

La maggior parte dei romanzi sono ambientati negli Stati Uniti, da grandi aree metropolitane come New York e Los Angeles a piccoli centri della Midwest e del Sud degli Stati Uniti e i romanzi sono scritti sia in prima persona che in terza persona.

La trama di questo libro è la seguente: Due donne vengono trovate morte nelle loro case con i bagni completamente ricoperte di vernice militare. Solo Jack Reacher sapeva che entrambe avevano lasciato l'esercito in circostanze dubbie, entrambi vittime di molestie sessuali. Reacher è sospettato dell'omicidio perché corrisponde al profilo psicologico penale preparato dal agente speciale dell'FBI Julia Lamarr e viene arrestato. Quando un'altra donna viene uccisa nello stesso modo mentre Reacher è sotto sorveglianza, è rilasciato, ma dovrà aiutare lo stesso FBI a ricercare l'assassino.

Ora se siete appassionati del genere action-thriller e non avete mai letto un libro di Lee Child, cominciate pure a nascondervi che vi mando Reacher a stanarvi e saranno cazzi acidi per voi. Questo è la commistione di James Bond, John Mclane e Rambo, vi basta? Sa fare tutto: usa il cervello, l'istinto, spara, corre, salva il mondo e nel frattempo si tromba il trombabile.
A parte gli scherzi, se amate i ritmi incalzanti, descrizioni minuziose di armi e tecniche di combattimento, rocamboleschi colpi di scena e tanta tanta azione, correte in libreria e cominciate a leggere i libri di Lee Child.

Vi suggerisco di cominciare dai primi e di andare avanti, perché purtroppo dopo il sesto le trame cominciano a calare un po' e anche il personaggio perde un po' di smalto.