Better Off Dead by Lee Child & Andrew Child
Better Off Dead by Lee Child & Andrew Child Book Summary
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • THE BLOCKBUSTER JACK REACHER SERIES THAT INSPIRED TWO MAJOR MOTION PICTURES AND THE STREAMING SERIES REACHER
Digging graves had not been part of my plans when I woke up that morning.
Reacher goes where he wants, when he wants. That morning he was heading west, walking under the merciless desert sun—until he comes upon a curious scene. A Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. A woman is slumped over the wheel.
Dead? No, nothing is what it seems.
The woman is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent trying to find her twin brother, who might be mixed up with some dangerous people. Most of them would rather die than betray their terrifying leader, who has burrowed his influence deep into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. The mysterious Dendoncker rules from the shadows, out of sight and under the radar, keeping his dealings in the dark.
He would know the fate of Fenton’s brother.
Reacher is good at finding people who don’t want to be found, so he offers to help, despite feeling that Fenton is keeping secrets of her own. But a life hangs in the balance. Maybe more than one. But to bring Dendoncker down will be the riskiest job of Reacher's life. Failure is not an option, because in this kind of game, the loser is always better off dead.
Better Off Dead Book Details
Book Name | Better Off Dead |
Genre | Mysteries & Thrillers |
Author | Lee Child & Andrew Child |
Published | 26 October 2021, Tuesday |
Price | $7.99 |
E-Book Size | 2.97 MB |
Better Off Dead by Lee Child & Andrew Child Book Reviews
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Still love Reacher…. It just felt like amateur hour. But it’s not the second author’s fault. I’m just so used to reading Lee Child’s style that I could tell it was being written by someone else. It was too simplistic. Reacher has always had very educated thought processes and this just didn’t have that.
Don’t waste your time and money on this book!. This was the worse Reacher book I’ve ever read! It was boring and if I hadn’t read all the other books I would not have finished it! It was a waste of time and money! None of the other Reacher books were bad, in fact I liked them all, some better than others, but this book was just ridiculously bad!!
NOT in keeping with the Jack Reacher series. And I thought it couldn’t get worse than casting Tom Cruise as Reacher but it has. Lee’s kid can’t write. This book shows it. This series is dead, stick a fork in it.
Intricate plot, bogs down occasionally. Fascinating and intricate plotting, but the pacing could have been better. Lots of gawdawful first-person narratives and limited, often redundant action. Felt more convoluted than other Reacher outings, but still a good read.
I should have known better.. Junior didn’t inherit his father’s writing skills. A bit of the old Jack Reacher is transparently forced in. The plot is a shamble. I bought the book only because the free sample was good enough at a moment in time when I was too lazy to look for quality fiction. This book is not quality fiction.
Really bad.. So disappointed. It wasn’t even close to the other books in series.
Absurd. Or silly, take your pick - I don’t the Lee Child had much to do with this one.
Not as good. I thoroughly look forward to a new Jack Reacher book, always! While I wasn’t disappointed in this one, it certainly wasn’t as good as most of the others. Not as much detail, the story wasn’t as engaging as usual and I thought the character development was weak. I didn’t care about Sonia. I didn’t care about Michaela. That’s not usual with a Reacher book.
Excellent Read. As usual, the standard Reacher novel. Definitely recommend this book.
Reacher does not drive. This series is going downhill fast. Reacher does not drive. He always has someone with him that drives. You expect us to believe he drives a big rig Truck? Huh. There is no “story” here. Oh wait, there is, in the last 20 pages of the book. The rest of it is boring. Let’s read one more to finish this series. It’s a true shame these books are not what they used to be.
Best Reacher novel yet. A good puzzle. And a great story the entire way thru.
Reacher rolls on. Pure entertainment.. Dialogue and fighting are staples of typical Reacher adventure and this one is no different. “I’m Jumpin Jack Flash it’s a gas, gas gas!”
Ruined the reacher series. Nepitism at its finest, Andrew Child has come in and ruined the legend his father built.
Horrible. Worst reacher ever.
Riveting. Lots of details, great story. You won’t want to put it down.
First Reacher book I didn’t finish. Sucked from the beginning until I quit reading this pig.
Another Great Reacher. Good read. Difficult to determine the outcome until you got to the end. Can’t wait for the next in Reacher in line.
Awful. The most boring of all Reacher books. The author spends way too many words describing meaningless objects large and small. This book was so boring I will hesitate to buy another Reacher.
It’s lousy. I think it’s all over for the Reacher books.
Not the same as when only lee. Way to much no sense detail before getting to the point
Better iff Dead. Boring, too much detail, no character building. From long time Reacher fan. Disappointed
Better off dead. Not a great Reacher read Lots of filler material Disjointed plot Disappointed
Horrible. Writing.. Utterly awful. Goodbye Jack Reacher, it was good while it lasted.
I am a big Lee Child Fan, but this was awful. Do not recommend it for even the biggest Lee Child fans
RIP Reacher. Reacher 2.0 is less
All good thing come to an end. Year after year I have been a 5-Star Reacher fan. The Jack Reacher character in this book has NO connection to the character developed by Lee Child’s. It’s not different, it’s just VERY BAD. The new TV Reacher seem to understand the character, he should starting writing.
Pass on this one. No character building - I had no investment in the story line.
Can’t get enough of Jack!. Write faster, please!
Not as good as originals. Huge jack reacher fan and this novel fell short. Plot lines that conveniently fell into place and little character development. Storyline felt rushed, confusing and barely plausible. Save your money and reread one of the original stories.
Better Off Dead. This book is better off in the trash.
Better off unread. The collaboration of father and son or more likely son writing and dad editing has not turned out well. Over described scenes and a Jack Reacher who no longer would recognize himself on the page. Jack should have gotten a eulogy instead of this treatment. Reacher fans be forewarned Jack is dead Andrew Child killed him.
Not up to Reacher par. Maybe too much Andrew and not enough Lee?
Terrible Read. I’ve read all the Jack Reacher books multiple times and continue to enjoy rereading them. This books was awful. Perhaps worst of all was the writing style—machine gun sentences of three to 10 words, lots of phrases thrown out, no doubt trying to suggest Reacher’s thought process. It hurt my head to read it. I’m glad there were so many good ones written that I can reread.
Disappointing. I am a fan but this story was not believable. Just off in plot, descriptions, every part of writing he is so good at. Actual boring which is never a word you would use for Lee Childs previous books.
Typical Reacher, you get what you expect. Classic Reacher novel. Nice flow and pace with a couple of twists and turns. Easy to read and a page turner. I skipped over some of Lee’s descriptions as he can tend to get a little too descriptive for my taste and attention span but, overall, I enjoyed it.
Interesting. Mesmerizing.. Could not stop reading.
Better Off Dead. Althought a bit talkative, it is Classic Reacher, Glad to see(read) him back. One to ride the river with. Couldn’t connect the title to the plot 100% (ok not even 75%), but who cares. The plot is superb. I could re-read it again… 7 stars (my max for anyone). Welcome Andrew.
Review. Ok not great
Good read. Enjoyed this one. Lots of bad reviews but I disagree. Had some over-details about various things but I enjoyed the story line. Was better than some of the recent Reacher stories.
Disappointed. I have read many Lee Child books. Always interesting and engaging. This book nothing like the others. So many chapters full of words to “fill” a page. Rather boring and predictable. I had to force myself to finish expecting a surprise at the end. Not~
Good. The book is a little complicated, hard to follow
Not one of authors best. Story just to slow paced. Character and story development not crisp like I have seen in reading all in the Jack Reacher series.
Larry’s review. Okay read. Story started slow and I nearly stopped reading.
Jack Reacher never disappoints. A great way to send my head on a vacation where the good guy kicks *ss and there are plenty of puzzle pieces to keep me interested in between the conflicts.
Average at best. I’ve never put a Jack Reacher book down as many times as i did this one. The flow was rough
Better off dead. Lee’s writing seems to have more rhythm that’s fairly pleasing. The books coauthored just kinda drone on and on.
This book saddens me. This is the only Reacher book, even among the lesser offerings, that required quite some effort to finish. The book begins with a flashback technique that was already used in Persuader. Once was more than enough. From there, it hardly improves. As with Persuader we have Reacher driving the villain’s vehicle and Federal officials examining it while Reacher searches for other villains. And we have another giant like Paulie, and Joey, and Shrago. With a literary style best described as pseudo-Child, the book plods for three-quarters of its length with no plot as such. Reacher merely chases after bad guys, in various streets and buildings described in stupefying detail. Then with one-quarter of the book left we have something of a plot, given us mostly by dialogue not action, like the screenplay of a B-rate movie. I fear this is the sunset of the series that still awaits Reacher and Neagley, who held hands in Without Fail, settling down together.
Better off Dead. Another great Jack Reacher book.
Better Off Dead. Like other authors I enjoy(James Lee Burke comes to mind) writing talent doesn’t automatically pass to a child. This was disappointing, and short. You can almost see when they switched writing, and it’s not pretty. I hope he lets his son spread his wings on his own and doesn’t mail the next one in. Burke probably recognized that.
Better Off….. Worst Reacher book ever and I have read them all. Total bore until the last 30 pages. Shame
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Better Off Dead. A disappointment compared to earlier Lee Child / Jack Reacher books, with outlandish plot devices and weak, superficial writing. Sorry I wasted the money to purchase and will not make the same mistake again.
Worst Jack Reacher Yet. Not sure what happened here but I was stunned how different this was from previous JR books which I have thoroughly enjoyed. Poor character development, irregular and implausible plot, Jack himself seemed like he was phoning it in. ? Fonzy on water skis?
Not the Jack Reacher you like. Lee Child has to go back to writing or end the series. Not worth the read
Better Off. I’ve been a Jack Reacher fan for over a decade. I’ve watched him go from one adventure to another, always anxious for the next book to read. “Better Off Dead” left me feeling disappointed, not because it was the end of an excellent read, but because, for the first time, the writing just didn’t feel ‘right.’ It certainly wasn’t Lee Child putting pen to paper. I will of course, continue reading Reacher novels, but I do feel the time is coming to allow Jack to retire.
Definitely not a Lee Child written book. The dialogue was very hard to read, no flow.
Good Reacher read. I saw some negative reviews about this book and the author. That gave me pause but I decided to purchase it anyway. I have read every Reacher book and seen all the movies and now the TV series. I enjoyed this book and thought it fell right in with the way reacher talks and acts and I was very happy with it. So I am unsure what others saw negatively about it because I thought it was fine.
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Outsourcing does not work. I loved all Reacher stories, have read them over and over. This book was a disaster, following closely on the heels of Sentential Feels like Lee has outsourced this work to Andrew and it is severely lacking, in comparison to classic Reacher Plots are convoluted, hard to follow, almost no action, no suspense, just dull. I skipped most of the pages to get to the end. It had to happen, nothing lasts for ever. RIP Reacher. I am not spending another $0.01 on Andrew Child
Better off unread. I have read them all, huge Reacher fan but these collaboration books, not a fan.
Miss the real Reacher. Starts ok, a few good Reacherisms. No good original mental problem analysis. Too much dumb luck.
Not as good. I thoroughly look forward to a new Jack Reacher book, always! While I wasn’t disappointed in this one, it certainly wasn’t as good as most of the others. Not as much detail, the story wasn’t as engaging as usual and I thought the character development was weak. I didn’t care about Sonia. I didn’t care about Michaela. That’s not usual with a Reacher book.
This book is better off dead. Probably one of the worst Jack Reacher books I have read
A Waste of Time!!. Very, very disappointing. I didn’t even recognize this Reacher!
The Child Team Recovered from The Sentinel. Look, I love the Reacher books, but when Lee brought on Andrew I felt like Reacher was responding with Reacher-cliches. And I’ll-timed Reacher-cliches. I was going to give up the whole franchise. But I cannot give up that easily. This is Reacher we’re talking about. Well, I feel rewarded. This book works. And that’s something special. I recommend this book without reservation. Is it the best Reacher book? No, not in my opinion, but it’s a good one. Robert Gavila Riverhead, NY 11/18/2021
Better off dead. Worst reacher book ever. Wish zero stars was an option.
Maybe it’s me…. I love the Reacher books, but for some reason, this one just didn’t work for me. Too much exposition and not enough dialogue? Put it this way: not enough Reacher and too much scene setting. Maybe the threat was too esoteric? I had to force myself to keep going. Finally there was some action, but way too late.
The Title works. Reacher is back! I wish they’d make move Reacher movies, but please don’t cast Tom Cruise. He couldn’t carry Reachers lunch.
Headed in the wrong direction. These books aren’t much fun to read anymore. The characters have all become one-dimensional, and the situations thoroughly implausible. If you want to be entertained, go back and read the early stuff before they turned Reacher into a indestructible killing machine.
Better off Dead. Thought I was reading a screen play. Book had very little drama but tremendous amount of details on how Jack Reacher fights and walks through tunnels. Boring with bad ending.
By the Reacher numbers…. This seemed a bit flat and predictable. The “wandering into a corrupt town” motif is getting overdone with Reacher. And the fights are seemingly just repeats of old books. There is nothing special or engaging in this book. I’m a fan so I read it and finished it…and was under-whelmed.
One of the better stories in the series. After a few stale titles recently, I really enjoyed this new Reacher story.
Meh.. Don’t like the first person narrative.
A bit lame. The joint writing team fell flat. This misses the essence of Reacher. All about the moves, which isn’t what made previous Reacher books great.
Terrible. Im glad I read all the other Reacher books before this one. I am sorry to say that this does not measure up to the books written by Lee Child. Lack of content. Failure in context to connect to past Reacher novels. Frankly it was boring.
Ok. Not Great.. There is a quality in Reacher that cries out for justice. An avenging angel type justice. Sadly, that quality is not demonstrated in this tale. But a mediocre book written by superb authors is better than most. Hence, three stars.
Disappointing. Reacher is one of my favorite characters and Lee Child a master storyteller. Unfortunately, this book was difficult to follow. I had to reread sections hoping to bridge the gap and process the details. It wasn’t fun to read or one that kept me reading. It was easy to put down. Not what I expect from this series.
Children, children. Lee Child has delivered outstanding Reacher stories and it’s sad to see the format upended with a first-person narrative. Disastrous. Please don’t listen to your son: go back to the original storytelling magic.
Reacher always evolving. Same great storytelling. Reacher character gets better with every book. Would like to like to see him in a city environment instead of the small town. Might make it more interesting and different.
Good as Ever. This latest edition of the Reacher chronicles is back in the zone. The first versions with Lee and Andrew left me wanting. This one is back in the groove. Good on ‘ya Mates!
Shallow. No bigger Reacher fan than me, but this was a very disappointing book. The gimmick beginning that led to no real useful purpose later to Reacher jumping aboard the cause with no thoughtfulness were inconsistent with the series. I will go back to an earlier book to relive a truer Reacher, thoughtful and far more reluctant to kill so indiscriminately.
better off dead. worst reacher back by miles … please get back to writing in the 3rd person
I’m through. Honestly, I kept reading, thinking that surely things would get better. I was sadly disappointed. The old Reacher books were intelligent, well crafted entertainment. Reacher was tough, strong, and articulate. The homeless drifter fought for the underdog, and won. In “Better Off Dead”, our hero meanders aimlessly, never quite deciding whether to step up or leave town. The dialogue, (awkwardly in first-person) makes Reacher sound like a simpleton. My biggest complaint is that this formerly bright hero seems to have lost the ability to form a complete sentence. “Got to the top of the ladder. Turned around. And gone down.” Really? This wouldn’t pass muster in a seventh grade English class. So, just like I did with my seventh grade heartthrobs, I’m going to kick Reacher to the curb and find a better hero.
Change of person. Not sure I like the switch of writing style but the story thread is good.
Meh. Meh…yeah, meh…
Disappointing. Definitely not what I expect from Lee Child. Not close to other Reacher series novels.
Seems be a different Reacher. Not a bad story, but seemed like a different Reacher, at least compared to the previous novels. For me, this new Reacher was not as compelling or as an interesting character
Terrible. The new collaboration is not working. The plot was disjointed and difficult to follow. Reacher seems to have undergone a personality transplant. I’ve read every book in the series, multiple times, and the character was barely recognizable. I will not be buying anymore of the series if the author collaboration continues. This was like reading a third rate book by an unknown author. There were maybe two or three sections where you could sense Lee Child’s style and presence, but they were far too fleeting to redeem this hot mess of a story.
Too choppy. Different style….wasn’t impressed.
Just bad. First person doesn’t work. Just one crisis after another. Very confused plot. Doesn’t work! Miss the old Reacher. Don’t waste money or time on this one.
Not even close. Save your $
Better off not reading. This was a huge letdown. 500 pages of blah blah blah..(how many times do we need to read the structure of every room Reacher goes into?) I think the new authors are way off the mark. Even the ending was boring. I won’t be buying any more ever.
Not Our Reacher. This book and the previous one are not what we used to know as Jack Reacher stories. In the previous book, you won’t even read the line, “Reacher said nothing”, nor in this one…a trademark line if there ever was one. And then there is this story…disjointed, hard to follow, lackluster. I found it almost impossible to follow…not the clear, concise, accurate Reacher that we all know and love…or loved, I should say. It looks as though Lee Child has grown bored and let his kid take over…but basically what he has done is kill off Reacher once and for all. Sad that the Reacher era is over. I agree with the title of this disastrous book, Reacher is “Better Off Dead”. May he Rest In Peace.
Better off dead. Too wordy with descriptions to the nth detail…Beginning’s classic Reacher but then you start to skip ahead a little then 60% through you skip a lot and haven’t lost anything. The ending is good but not enough of the nasty vengeful Reacher. I know it’s lee’s brother …….close but no cigar….. disappointed but will try again next year. I want a 40% discount on this one…….
Better Off Dead. This book was DOA and plodded along to an uninspiring but welcome ending. I have read all of the Reacher series but will not waste my time on another of the Child collaborations. Ex Child Fan
Not the Same Reacher. The first person narrative doesn’t work. Also the plot gets impossible to follow, as if it’s been poorly edited so much that it’s lost its thread. Armand Es
Terrible. Completely different voice and tone than from other Reacher novels. First person doesn’t work. A complete waste of time.
Jack Reacher is dead. Long live Reacher.. I have read and reread Lee Child’s series of Reacher books for decades. They have provided countless hours of enjoyment. This last is such a deep disappointment. Reacher has lost his voice, his tone, his style. On every page there is a mis-step in language: an odd word like dollop or refectory shaken from the Thesaurus; “I guessed…” from a guy who never guesses; a “whisker” of time from a guy of precision with a clock in his head; loose, inaccessible descriptions of spaces and long paragraphs of speculation. May he Rest In Peace. I grieve the loss and will move on.
Horrible. I have read all of the Lee Child books and this was by far the worst in the series. Doesn’t the author know that there’s such a thing as a full sentence? Why does the repetition of how to smash someone’s brains all over the floor have to be so long. How about occasionally a compound complex sentence instead of all of the sentence fragments. Very poor writing and an unnecessarily complicated plot with Swiss cheese jokes!
Reacher is confirmed dead. This book is beyond horrible. Stay away from this pile of garbage.
Better Off Dead. A worthwhile read for entertainment. Not However the best or even a measurable replacement for Mr. Child’s depth and detail of character. Almost too much descriptive narrative of set. It was just not a total Reacher book
A shadow of his former self. I started to read with an open mind, hoping the usual high standard would be maintained. I was, sadly, extremely disappointed. The decision to use first person was initially interesting, but confusing, and didn’t work. The past few books have become increasingly violent, in contrast to Reacher’s averseness to fighting unless absolutely necessary. But this felt like a new series, with a different protagonist, by an inferior author. It will take a great deal to convince me to read a sequel. So sad.
Close, but choppy. Andrew Child comes close to the master (Lee) but fails in his style of writing with short, choppy sentences and sentence fragments. Ex: “Which was fortunate for me. Because the guys were each holding a gun. An Uzi. An interesting choice.” This choppy narration is used through the book. Few sentences are even a single line long. Often, there are four or five in a single line. But the story is still good and the plot has some muscle.
Snooze. Doesn’t really grab you. Had to work to finish it.
5 Books like Better Off Dead (Lee Child & Andrew Child)
James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his Jack Reacher novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American military policeman, Jack Reacher, who wanders the United States. His first novel, Killing Floor (1997), won both the Anthony Award and the 1998 Barry Award for Best First Novel. Early life and education Grant was born in Coventry. His Northern Irish father, who was born in Belfast, was a civil servant who lived in the house where the singer Van Morrison was later born. He is the second of four sons; his younger brother, Andrew Grant, is also a thriller novelist. Grant's family relocated to Handsworth Wood in Birmingham when he was four years old so that the boys could receive a better education. Grant attended Cherry Orchard Primary School in Handsworth Wood until the age of 11. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham.In 1974, at the age of....
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