Recently, I had made a post about three books I'll be reading this holiday. After reading my last novel which was of the romance genre, I decided to delve into the crime/thriller genre. I then picked up DIE TRYING by LEE CHILD. A book which many are more familiar with the movie adaptation.
DIE TRYING is a 552 paged, 46 chaptered book of the thriller genre and it is written from a third person's narrative. This is the second book in the Jack Reacher series. I didn't even know it was part of a series till I had finished the book and came across a sneak peek of the next book in the series written in the last few pages of the book. So, it's safe to say that it can also be read as a standalone.
Jack Reacher, the hero and protagonist of the novel is kidnapped alongside a woman who he later gets to know as Holly Johnson, an FBI agent with an injured leg, daughter of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Goddaughter of the President.
Reacher who could have escaped easily on his own is drawn to help Holly and has to comply to every whims of the kidnappers just so Holly isn't harmed by them till her fellow agents come looking for her. Unknown to Reacher, he had become a prime suspect in Holly's disappearance case, thanks to the security footage gotten from the scene where the abduction took place.
On the way to their destination. Holly and Reacher begin to realize that the mission which was at first meant to be Holly's kidnap but now involved Reacher, was an operation that had been planned carefully for a long time. When they finally get to their destination, a mountain community that harbours a group of people wishing to secede from the United States, they find out the main reason for the planned abduction.
I found this crime/thriller novel very entertaining all the while I was reading it. It was very different from the usual romance novels I've been reading for a while now. There were atoms of romance weaved into the book and I was really really grateful to the author for that. One other thing I liked about this book was the suspense in it. What's a thriller without suspense? I mean that's the spice in thrillers as it keeps you on your toes, looking forward to what happens next.
This book also, had me hold my pencil close to me while reading it. As someone that loves to get the best out of books, If there's a phrase or word I'm not familiar with that would limit my understanding and ability to imagine the scenes as I would want to, I'll definitely search for the meaning so I can get a better understanding of what I'm reading. So yeah, I loved the fact that I was able to learn a whole lot about guns thanks to Reacher's smart evaluations every now and then in the book.
Well, as much as I loved this particular novel, it was really disheartening that the two characters I had envisioned to end up together could not end up together for very justifiable reasons. And we only got to know they weren't going to make it about two pages to the end of the book. It was really saddening.
In all, I would rate the book a 3.9/5. Lesser points due to the above stated reason. The author broke my heart😂. It was a nice read actually and I'll definitely go back to reading it again in about a year or so.
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