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carols

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“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire

Worth Dying For - Lee Child Three and a half stars. While sticking to the basic formula of Reacher kicks bad guys' butts, Child manages to change it up a little. In some ways, Reacher's an anachronism, and if serious modern technology was used with strategy against him, he'd be in trouble. It starts to look as though he will be outnumbered when professional enforcers get added into the mix of local thugs, but part of the problem is solved by them turning on each other. There's no honor among thieves, I guess. The mystery was only moderately engaging. Childs went to great pains to demonstrate how local and federal officials had done their utmost to track down a missing girl, yet Reacher comes to the conclusion of a fifth involved man. He doesn't even have to follow the lead, since the fifth man is lying in wait to kill him. I felt like that was somewhat of a hollow discovery; more like the solution presented itself without any real work. As for the barn being the site of the house of horrors--really? No child since then has snuck into the barn? Local law enforcement didn't check abandoned wells and structures? It seemed more like it was a prop to justify Reacher's killing; these people were so awful that no judge, jury or trial was needed, since anyone would agree they were evil. I think the extreme evilness Child describes and Reacher's cold-blooded targeted assassination left me with an unsettled feeling at the end instead of the "Hoo-rah" that one hopes for.