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adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I definitely like some Jack Reacher books better than others. This was my 9th one and I really liked it.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
If there was a mass shooting in a very public place, and you were set up for it, what would you do? One Shot by Lee Child is about an ex-sniper James Barr who was blamed for a mass shooting in Indianapolis. He asks to find someone named Jack Reacher, an ex-military cop who once tried to put Barr down for a mass shooting at war- after the war was over. I picked this book because I started to read the Jack Reacher series and I fell in love. I couldn't help but to read all of the books about his adventures of solving crimes and helping to save others, no matter who they are. He is a representation of something similar to what I would like to be when I grow up, and is definitely very interesting.
A seemingly random mass shooting occurs right outside of the NBC tower of Indianapolis. Six shots fired, five people killed. After a few hours, the police already have all of the evidence, a solid case, and their suspect- James Barr. It was the perfect case, all evidence pointed right for him. After staying completely silent for a few hours of interrogation, he finally talks to his lawyer and says “Get me Jack Reacher”. No one was able to find him but there was no need to- after seeing the mass shooting on the news and who their suspect is- he was already on his way. When Reacher arrives, he goes to the prosecutor Alex Rodin, then to the new defense attorney, Helen Rodin. He also meets Rosemary Barr, a private detective named Franklin, and later on, an up and coming news reporter, Ann Yanni. As Reacher got closer and closer to the evidence and the case, the more he realized that the evidence was too perfect. Did someone else pull the trigger six times? Were the shootings really random? Who was pulling the strings?
I think that the ending was pretty good, but then I also think that Lee Child ended it too quickly. I also feel like killing everyone except the Zec and Emerson was pretty action packed, and it had me reading really fast to find out what happened next. The beginning of the book wasn’t as entertaining as I thought it should’ve been, but I think that the ending definitely made up for it. One of my favorite quotes was when there was a conversation between Reacher and a character named Sandy, a redhead who was to set up Reacher for a beating and the inability to help Barr out of prison. “ The green eyes narrowed. ‘Are you a queer?’ ‘Are you a hooker?’ ‘No way I work at the auto parts store’ Then she paused and seemed to think again. She reconsidered. She came up with a better answer. Which was to jump up from her chair and scream and slap him in the face. It was a loud scream and a loud slap and everyone turned to look. ‘He called me a whore,’ she screamed. ‘He called me a damn whore!” This lead to 5 big men who posed as her brothers to take him outside and attempt to beat him up, where instead the tables turned- Reacher beat up 3 of them and the other 2 and Sandy ran for their lives.
In my opinion, I think that this is a really good book and that it is also pretty cool that it was so good to other people that it became a movie. I am not interested in the book because of the movie but it would be pretty cool to see how accurate the movie is compared to the book. Of course this book is very similar to the other Jack Reacher books I’ve read, and I also think that it may be a little like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, because someone is being framed for a crime they didn’t commit, and there was a girl involved who set him up. Not too close, but similar. I recommend this book to people who love to read stories of how someone was falsely accused of a crime they didn’t commit, crime/murder mystery books, and any of the Jack Reacher series (if you’ve started them yet). If you were to read one of the Jack Reacher series I would start with Killing Floor and then work your way up to One Shot. It gives Reacher a history and makes the story make more sense.
A seemingly random mass shooting occurs right outside of the NBC tower of Indianapolis. Six shots fired, five people killed. After a few hours, the police already have all of the evidence, a solid case, and their suspect- James Barr. It was the perfect case, all evidence pointed right for him. After staying completely silent for a few hours of interrogation, he finally talks to his lawyer and says “Get me Jack Reacher”. No one was able to find him but there was no need to- after seeing the mass shooting on the news and who their suspect is- he was already on his way. When Reacher arrives, he goes to the prosecutor Alex Rodin, then to the new defense attorney, Helen Rodin. He also meets Rosemary Barr, a private detective named Franklin, and later on, an up and coming news reporter, Ann Yanni. As Reacher got closer and closer to the evidence and the case, the more he realized that the evidence was too perfect. Did someone else pull the trigger six times? Were the shootings really random? Who was pulling the strings?
I think that the ending was pretty good, but then I also think that Lee Child ended it too quickly. I also feel like killing everyone except the Zec and Emerson was pretty action packed, and it had me reading really fast to find out what happened next. The beginning of the book wasn’t as entertaining as I thought it should’ve been, but I think that the ending definitely made up for it. One of my favorite quotes was when there was a conversation between Reacher and a character named Sandy, a redhead who was to set up Reacher for a beating and the inability to help Barr out of prison. “ The green eyes narrowed. ‘Are you a queer?’ ‘Are you a hooker?’ ‘No way I work at the auto parts store’ Then she paused and seemed to think again. She reconsidered. She came up with a better answer. Which was to jump up from her chair and scream and slap him in the face. It was a loud scream and a loud slap and everyone turned to look. ‘He called me a whore,’ she screamed. ‘He called me a damn whore!” This lead to 5 big men who posed as her brothers to take him outside and attempt to beat him up, where instead the tables turned- Reacher beat up 3 of them and the other 2 and Sandy ran for their lives.
In my opinion, I think that this is a really good book and that it is also pretty cool that it was so good to other people that it became a movie. I am not interested in the book because of the movie but it would be pretty cool to see how accurate the movie is compared to the book. Of course this book is very similar to the other Jack Reacher books I’ve read, and I also think that it may be a little like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, because someone is being framed for a crime they didn’t commit, and there was a girl involved who set him up. Not too close, but similar. I recommend this book to people who love to read stories of how someone was falsely accused of a crime they didn’t commit, crime/murder mystery books, and any of the Jack Reacher series (if you’ve started them yet). If you were to read one of the Jack Reacher series I would start with Killing Floor and then work your way up to One Shot. It gives Reacher a history and makes the story make more sense.
Another good entry in this series. This series is like potato chips, you keep coming back for more.
dark
mysterious
tense
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My summary: A senseless sniper attack occurs in a small heartland town in Indiana. An ex-military sniper open fires on a crowd near a DMV office and a TV station office that leaves five dead. Detective Emerson arrives on the scene immediately and the evidence is perfect to prove James Barr committed the atrocious crime. It’s a slam dunk case with all the textbook evidence a case needs to prove guilt. James Barr won’t talk to the police or his attorney, until he finally says to find Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is a former military police investigator that had a run in with Barr years ago in Kuwait City. Unknown to Reacher that Barr asked for him by name, Reacher hops on a bus to Indiana after seeing the news on CNN. After arriving, Reacher soon determines that the evidence is just a little too perfect and there is more going on in the case than what meets the eye.
My thoughts: Jack Reacher is my palate cleanser when I’ve binged too many romance books, and I have definitely binged too much romance lately. This is one of my favorite Jack Reacher books yet and I can see why this is one of the books that was turned into a movie. That being said, I haven’t seen the movie yet but the fact that it stars Tom Cruise makes me never want to see it. Literally the entire premise around Jack Reacher is that he’s a huge guy—tall, big, strong, imposing—not at all the stature of Tom Cruise. But, I digress, back to the book. It’s action packed from the first page to the last. The plot is fairly easy to follow and it’s easy enough to keep track of who the bad guys are, but it still took some plot twists that I didn’t quite see coming. I enjoy Jack Reacher’s no-nonsense badass-ery and the action sequences. It kept me interested and turning pages the entire book. I’ll definitely be continuing the series over time, and perhaps one day I’ll watch the movies or series—but nothing can ever justify Tom Cruise or anyone under 6’2” (at least) being cast to play Jack Reacher. Sorry, folks, that’s just the facts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No