Lee Child - 61 hours - question about ending

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Read no further if youve not yet read it unless you want to know the ending




at the end, our hero Reacher is down the bottom of a deep, 200 odd foot, shaft accessed via spiral staircase with two ventilation shafts leading down.
The baddies start pumping kerosene down into the enclosed space via the shafts and then throw a lit flare down to kill everyone.
The novel then ends with no more mention of our hero but he appears unscathed in the next book in the series.

So did I miss something on how he managed to get out and escape the resulting fireball that was so large it was visible on anti nuclear missile monitoring systems?
Very lame I thought.

Many thanks.
 
He didn't appear unscathed and if you read the next book, it does get mentioned. It did feel a bit deux ex machina but he's Reacher. I've read the entire series of books at least twice and I'm now on my third run. Coincidentally, I finished 61 hours last week.
 
omens said:
He didn't appear unscathed and if you read the next book, it does get mentioned. It did feel a bit deux ex machina but he's Reacher. I've read the entire series of books at least twice and I'm now on my third run. Coincidentally, I finished 61 hours last week.
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:agree:
 
Bit poor having to wait until the next book, each one ought to be stand alone. I'm sticking with very lame then I think.
 
cliff hanger innit - tv does it all the time

btw he climbs out against the air rushing down , and f***s his shoulders up in the process - the doc says its like the injuries you'd receive in a hurricane - this doesnt stop him from taking out about 15 bad guys in unarmed combat in the next book though
 
It's one of those things.....Lee Child goes to extraordinary lengths to make you know that there is no possible way Reacher is getting out of there. Then the answer is pretty mundane (I can't TBH remember how he escaped but was kind of glad he had - just as long as he doesn't let Cruise mess up another film). Isn't there also another book between the 2? One of the flashback series - or was it just a short story?
 
First time he's (Lee Child) done that in the series though isnt it. Naughty. and how does he (reacher) escape the 2 mile fireball on foot in 3 seconds. Like I say its pretty lame. And why didnt he ring the 110th CO he'd been ringing all through the book. And how did he survive the deadly cold at surface level. Cr4p.
 
He calls her 2 books later IIRC.

Reichenbach Falls, innit? In the end, nobody really cares how Holmes makes it out alive.
 
JonathanRyan said:
One of the flashback series - or was it just a short story?
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Flashback series? Eh? Short story? Didnt know there were any and Ive read about 10 of the novels up to now.

AFAIK Worth dying for is the next in the series and is a bit of a return to form after the disappointing ones before, and including, 61 hours.
 
DorsetDude said:
Flashback series? Eh? Short story? Didnt know there were any and Ive read about 10 of the novels up to now.
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There are a number of short stories available on "Kindle Singles". Also, the books are historically out of order - it's a big thing in Reacher Fandom - do you read them in published order or chronological order....?

Also, check out "Don't know Jack" by Diane Capri - very entertaining and interesting twist.

Yes, I'm a Reacher geek......
 
DorsetDude said:
First time he's (Lee Child) done that in the series though isnt it. Naughty. and how does he (reacher) escape the 2 mile fireball on foot in 3 seconds. Like I say its pretty lame. And why didnt he ring the 110th CO he'd been ringing all through the book. And how did he survive the deadly cold at surface level. Cr4p.
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As i said above he climbs up a shaft that air is rushing down drawn by the fire - presumably a different shaft from the one the fireball goes up - tbh worth dying for is better than 61 hours but its still overly convenient and not very realistic

imo there's not been a really good reacher book since without fail - though most of them are readable in a sort of pick it up read it donate it to charity way
 
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JonathanRyan said:
Also, the books are historically out of order - it's a big thing in Reacher Fandom
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Disagree, the only "out of order" bits are when they regress back to when he was in the army, i.e the enemy, the affair and those ones. From killing floor to Personal, excluding the ones in the army, Im certain they are in chronological order as they were published.
 
Well yes, apart from the ones out of order they are all in order....

It gets more complicated as you try to blend the short stories in.
 
I think a few of the Reacher books have had disappointing bits where I've felt cheated - like in Tripwire where a bullet to the chest meant Reacher lived because of a "weak load" and "thick chest muscles". That one really peed me off. In 61 hours, the "genetic mutation" thing was another one that just made Reacher out to be a "super" man rather than just an ordinary man.
 
The short stories are well worth reading, add some context to the series, especially the ones where he is growing up. I did feel the last book was a bit of a let down, I came up with quite a basic "If Reacher had done this earlier, there would be no story" so was disapointed. However, am looking forward to the next one, becoming a bit of an annual event.



Lee Child is doing a book tour to promote the new one in September, is in Manchester at least, so now is the chance to book tickets (though Manchester Waterstones event is not on their online booking system). If you just fancy something to compliment your novels, if you drop an email to his website they will send you a signed bookplate to stick in the front of your FOC. And they come from New York.
 
And there is supposed to be another film, with the short one, which is a let down, but I am sure in a few years they will become like Bond and Bourne and swap actors.
 
omens said:
I think a few of the Reacher books have had disappointing bits where I've felt cheated - like in Tripwire where a bullet to the chest meant Reacher lived because of a "weak load" and "thick chest muscles". That one really peed me off. In 61 hours, the "genetic mutation" thing was another one that just made Reacher out to be a "super" man rather than just an ordinary man.
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i thought he took a framing nail to the head in tripwire and survived because thick skull

in worth dying for he pulls a sump plug out of a pick up truck from below with just his fingers - while its trying to run him over , which i thought was a bit crap because a) an engine wouldn't seize that fast, there'd be easily enough residual oil on the pistons to keep it running long enough to turn him into an omelette, b) I struggle to get the sump plug out of my car with the right tools especially if its rusted in and c) wouldn't a truck like that have a sump shield anyway...
 
Early Reacher, as in Killing Floor through to about the 7th book were pretty good, then seems to be rinse repeat method of changing a few names and cashing in on everything by Child.

Typical of what I have seen in the last half a dozen books is say a contract for 440 pages, gets to page 420, and then think.. only another 20 pages to go, and lame week ending...

If one book a year Reacher must be knocking on 60ish by now! Used to be good with lots of twists and things... but now formulaic dross.
 
I do think that the way forward with the series is more flashback books. More into his Army days and I would like a story with his Brother in it, as I think the dynamic between the two that we have seen has room to be explored. Lots of people would like more with the characters he worked with in the 110th too.
 
IMO child should write a non reacher book - it might break the fomulaic dross mold
 
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I thought he might, I am sure people have suggested spin offs with characters that are in Reacher novels, but IIRC he said he would only write Reache.
 
JonathanRyan said:
It's one of those things.....Lee Child goes to extraordinary lengths to make you know that there is no possible way Reacher is getting out of there. Then the answer is pretty mundane (I can't TBH remember how he escaped but was kind of glad he had - just as long as he doesn't let Cruise mess up another film). Isn't there also another book between the 2? One of the flashback series - or was it just a short story?
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Cruise has carte blanche....he owns the rights.
 
I actually enjoyed the flashback/army stories the most. But at the same time there's only so many stories to tell. Lee Child should stop and just let it stand.
 
omens said:
I actually enjoyed the flashback/army stories the most. But at the same time there's only so many stories to tell. Lee Child should stop and just let it stand.
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As should Bond...but they won't. Cash cows.
 
Dumbledore dies!
 
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