Very slow build makes the payoff unsatisfying

I think I could have skipped the first 8 chapters and made this book more enjoyable. it's such a long, slow build laying the foundation for the actual story. I enjoy the series and the Reacher revelations as the story unfolds were enjoyable, but the time list in the beginning made the fact the book was coming to an end the best part.

27 people found this helpful

Save Yourself! Pass this one up!

I have loved the 10 Reacher books that I have listened to so far, so I was excited to start this one. Boy was I in for a disappointment!

The female protagonist may be the most whiney and irritating character I’ve encountered in my 500 plus books from Audible. The story is so slow to develop that it feels like hours of slow torture. I kept expecting it to pick up, but 10 hours in and I feel foolish for sticking with it this long.

As a Texan, I alternated between laughter and outrage at the completely false narrative on almost every subject. The hot weather became a major character in the plot, as it was mentioned every few paragraphs, which might be fascinating if it had any ring of truth. Child describes weather conditions of a make believe area with the temperatures of Phoenix and the humidity of Florida. Summer in Pecos might see some low humidity, 90 degree temperatures in the daytime with 60’s at night. It’s hard to continue interest in something so false when an hour of weather research before writing would have prevented the situation. Then, more dangerous, is the false narrative of prejudice, and even worse of Border Patrol Officers murdering teenagers. The attitudes and comments about “beaners” might have occurred in the 1950’s or 1960’s, but there are very few vestiges of such attitudes in modern Texas. I know that fiction is not reality, but please don’t try to sell books by defaming millions of people and attempting to create tensions between races that happened in the past and are healing now.

16 people found this helpful

Nothing to excite or surprise anyone here.........

Hate to say it - but if you have heard one you have heard this one. It's time to get some fresh ideas from Lee Child. Dick Hill was awesome as always.

15 people found this helpful

fantastic story except for "he said nothing"

Whew! Tremendous story! This one has prejudices and injustices still current even 15 years since the book was published. Lee Child manages to create a mystery with numerous complications; you think you know who done it, then you have to change your mind, then again. Everyone says the others are lying, so you just don't know. You might figure out one aspect of the mystery, but you can't get them all! Reversals and changes in your thinking, but Jack Reacher figures it out in the end! Excellent, realistic twists and turns. I love Jack Reacher because he is so different from most other Good Guys.

17 chapters, 17 hours of listening, at least 200 iterations of "he said nothing". Then there are the variations-- "she said nothing," "Alice said nothing," "Ellie said nothing," "Reacher said nothing," and the surprise variations like --wait for it-- "Reacher remained silent!" There was so much NOT being said you wonder how anyone communicated at all! Repetition can have a literary effect, but this just became ludicrous and should have been edited out because it did become quite annoyingly distracting, but then it moved into humorous--"let me guess, he said nothing, right?" And some of the people were so awful, I burst out laughing when Reacher said, "I hope you get a tumor." I am still chuckling and wondering if I could ever use it. Seemed like an author joke.

I haven't been able to find out how old Dick Hill is but he looks younger than me (I) yet sounds 20 years older. I don't mind his reading of the Nathan McBride books by Andrew Peterson, but everything else I have heard from him has been disappointing. He wheezes and squeezes out words to the last molecule of air in his lungs, and makes women sound like crying 6-year-olds. He does old fat men really well and his Spanish is good until he makes a gringo mistake (no HIGH day kay/ no hay de que). Other readers really love his narration, but I shy away.

I am sorry I have to listen to Dick Hill, but I am hooked on Jack Reacher and will continue "reading"; I just can't re-listen.

11 people found this helpful

Skip this one and move on.

I decided to go through all of the Reacher novels. Every one has been great. Then this book stopped me like a boat anchor. Slower than quicksand. I actually set my speed to 1.5 and couldn't tell it was on fast speed.
I'll keep reading Reacher, but wish this one hadn't slowed me down.

To be fair, I'm half way. So far, no action. No deductive reasoning, no skills from his past. Where is the kick ass?
I'm ready for the next book now.

19 people found this helpful

Dick Hill did fabulous, and story kept me guessing

Would you listen to Echo Burning again? Why?

I definitely would listen to this book again. Dick Hill's ability to do all the voices with precision really made this a slam dunk for me. He not only was able to soften his voice to get the inflexions right for the women, but nailed the little girl's voice too, and as always, was hard and ruthless when doing Reacher's voice, especially in the action spots.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the humanization of Jack Reacher in this story. In other Reacher books, we've seen Reacher have some sympathy for others but mostly just agression for those who are doing bad things. In this story, we get both sides, his sympathy and understanding when dealing with a small child, and other innocent people, and his ruthfulness when dealing with the bad guys. Reacher is the perfect example of a man in this story, I feel, protecting those who need protecting, and dealing with those who need dealt with.

Which character – as performed by Dick Hill – was your favorite?

Interestingly enough, my favorite character was Ellie, the little girl. The book did a fantastic job at describing her character, and making her really come alive, and Dick Hill did a fantastic job of making her come alive as much as possible with his voice inflexions and getting all of her emotions spot-on. When she's scared, you hear fear in Dick's voice; when she's happy, you can hear the joy and excitement too. Dick Hill became one of my favorite narrator's from this story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes it was.

Any additional comments?

I have listened to about 3 Reacher books now, and all of them were narrated by Dick Hill. I started out just kind of tolerating Dick Hill as the narrator, because it seemed he was not able to really change his voice in ways that made each character come alive...but as soon as I heard him describing the action spots in these 3 books, I began to really like him, as he made them come alive for me. Then he did this book, and just absolutely knocked it out of the park as far as I'm concerned. He has become one of my favorite narrators now, and I don't think I could listen to a Reacher story he didn't narrate, as Reacher and Dick Hill have become synonymous for me.

16 people found this helpful

Detective sleuthing in Texas

Echo Burning is Lee Child's 5th Jack Reacher volume. This time out Jack is wandering through Texas when he comes to the aid of a domestic violence victim eventually accused of murder. Although the original release was 15 years ago, the illegal immigrant issue plays prominent. This time out, the classic Reacher insight and deductive reasoning comes much later in the tale as Jack must navigate corrupt officials, a naive attorney, riff-raff bigotry, and a professional hit squad.

Rather than mixing in Jack's various skillsets throughout the story, Jack begins trying to stay uninvolved, followed by fighting, then deciphering all the clues, and finally his shooting skills are called into action. One unique feature is the denouement where Reacher expounds on all the clues to all the parties with the killer included.

Dick Hill reprises Jack in his typical excellent style with solid pacing, tone and mood.

15 people found this helpful

Dick Hill is annoying

I think I’m going against the crowd with this but Dick Hill has a great voice for a 60 year old film noir detective that just had a dame walk in his office and smokes 3 packs a day but Jack Reacher is 30 year military dude. The guy doing the 2 previous books was a far better fit

4 people found this helpful

An Under Reach(er) for Jack

What did you love best about Echo Burning?

That it was a Jack Reacher novel. I am a big fan of the entire series.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

There were way too many slow segments during the the character and plot development. At the end of the day, it was a a pretty good story, but it took way too long to get there. This would have been better as a well edited novella.

What about Dick Hill’s performance did you like?

Dick Hall is perfect for the Jack Reacher stories, even when "Reacher said nothing".

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, unless I had known which segments to skip.

Any additional comments?

Not his best, but I'll keep on reading.

11 people found this helpful

great writer even better narrator.

this,narrator. dick hill makes the book and characters come alive. it's another hit for sure

11 people found this helpful