One Shot

Six hours after a sniper killed five passersby coming out of an office building in the Indiana heartland, the police had James Barr in custody. It was a slam dunk, an open-and-shut case. But Jack Reacher doesn't think so. It was too neat. Reacher has reasons for wanting to see Barr in prison or worse, so why does Barr ask for Reacher's help? Before Reacher can get any answers, Barr is beaten and left in a coma. Dick Hill's reading is tight and crisp, giving characters fully fleshed personalities and believable accents. As the case evolves into a full-fledged conspiracy, Hill puts tension into his reading to make this audiobook the ultimate disc-turner. S.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award 2006 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

May 23, 2005
The final sentence of Child's ninth suspenser (after The Enemy
)—"Then he could buy a pair of shoes and be just about anywhere before the sun went down"—is quintessential Jack Reacher, the rugged ex-army cop who practically defines the word "loner" and kicks ass with the best of 'em. In the book's gripping opening, five people are killed when a shooter opens fire in a small unnamed Indiana city. But when ex-infantry specialist James Barr is apprehended, he refuses to talk, saying only, "Get Jack Reacher for me." But Reacher's already en route; having seen a news story on the shooting, he heads to the scene with disturbing news of his own: " done this before. And once was enough." Nothing is what it seems in the riveting puzzle, as vivid set pieces and rapid-fire dialogue culminate in a slam-bang showdown in the villains' lair. (And what villains: a quintet of Russian émigrés, the stuff of everybody's worst nightmares, led by a wily 80-year-old who makes Freddy Krueger look like Little Lord Fauntleroy.) As usual, Child makes the most of Reacher's dry wit, cut-to-the-chase psychology and stubborn taciturnity—in short, this is a vintage double play for author and leading man. Agent, Darley Anderson
.