Echo Burning
| Echo Burning | |
|---|---|
 2001 Hardcover edition |
|
| Author(s) | Lee Child |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jack Reacher |
| Genre(s) | Thriller novel |
| Publisher | Putnam; Bantam |
| Publication date |  April 2, 2001 June 25, 2001 [1] |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 384 pp |
| ISBN | 0-399-14726-8 |
| Preceded by | Running Blind |
| Followed by | Without Fail |
Echo Burning is the fifth novel in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. It was published in 2001 by Putnam in America and Bantam in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
In a Texas bar, Jack Reacher breaks a local police officer's nose and finger after being provoked, so when the officer and three of his colleagues turn up the following day to arrest him, Reacher decides it's time to move on. He manages to hitch a lift with a Californian of Mexican heritage named Carmen Greer, but she reveals to him that the only reason she picked him up is because she has a problem - her tax-evading husband Sloop is coming out of prison soon and he will beat her up. Carmen needs somebody to kill him, and she thinks Reacher's military background may help her get rid of him. Reacher initially refuses, and even gets out of the car into the 110 degree heat, but he eventually agrees to go back to the ranch where Carmen, her husband Sloop and the rest of Sloop's family live, to keep an eye on her. Reacher and Carmen then proceed to pick up the daughter of Carmen and Sloop: Ellie, who gets on well with Reacher.
During this time, we also see the introduction of two hired teams: the first team, named "The Watching Team" or "The Watchers", is composed of two men and a boy and have been watching the ranch where the Greers live. This team is later killed by a second, called "The Killing Team", who have also killed Sloop's lawyer Al Eugene.
Carmen and Reacher arrive back at the ranch, but Reacher does not receive a warm welcome from Sloop's mother, brother or the two ranchers that work there. Nonetheless, Reacher begins works there. In the days leading up to Sloop's release, Reacher helps teach Carmen how to fire a gun and also beats up both ranchers in a bar fight. Sloop comes home and takes a dislike to Reacher, and eventually gets the State Police to take Reacher away.
The State Police do take Reacher away, but the troopers are called back to the Greer Ranch - or the "Red House" - whilst Reacher is still in the car. Sloop has been shot and killed, and the authorities think it was Carmen. Whilst she is incarcerated, she confesses to the murder and denies legal help from Alice Amanda Aaron, the attorney Reacher hires for her.
Reacher and Alice work on trying to prove Carmen's innocence, despite being thrown off the track by the claims of Hack Walker - Pecos County's district attorney and Sloop's oldest friend - that Carmen is a well-known liar, and by the kidnapping of Ellie by "The Killing Team". Eventually, however, Reacher draws out and kills two members of "The Killing Team". He proves it was Walker who hired the team to kill Al Eugene and Sloop after Sloop threatened to make public information about what the threesome used to do in their youth - kill illegal immigrants attempting to cross the border between America and Mexico. After tracking down the third "Killing Team" member and finding Ellie, the kidnapper gives a confession, leaving Carmen to be set free.
[edit] Production
Child finished writing Echo Burning in March 2000. The book was released in the United Kingdom and its territories on April 2, 2001, and the American publication followed on June 25 of the same year.[1]
The original idea for Echo Burning came from two sources. The first was an idea he had in which he wondered what it would be like to a woman whose husband was returning home from jail, but she didn't want him to return. He also took inspiration from seeing the grave of the gunfighter Clay Allison who "never killed a man that did not need killing." He wondered what it would be like if Reacher was confronted by a man he had been told needed killing.[2]
Child wanted Carmen Greer to appear as a character whom readers would not know whether or not to trust. He has also said how we wanted Alice Amanda Aaron, the vegetarian, lesbian, attorney Reacher hires, to be a reflection of how diverse America is; he can be quoted as saying "she's totally normal in New York, but a freak in Texas." There is no record of Lee Child ever actually visiting Texas.[2]
[edit] Reception
Echo Burning was well received by critics. In a starred review, book review journal Kirkus called it "Smashingly suspenseful," and said "Child builds tension to unbearable extremes, then blows it out in sharply choreographed violence." The Denver Post called it "...a story you can sink your teeth into." Many critics considered this as one of the best books of the year, with the Boston Globe even calling it "The best mystery I [the reviewer] have read this year." In the United Kingdom the book was also well received, with the Daily Mail saying: "In the space of less than five years, Child has established himself as one of Britain's most successful commercial novelists. [Echo Burning is] Child's breakthrough book into the mega-sellers. He is that good." [3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b ""Reacher Report" archives on Lee Child's official website.". Lee Child Official Website. http://www.leechild.com/newsletters.php. Retrieved June 2009.
- ^ a b "Internet Writing Journal interview with Lee Child". Internet Writing Journal. http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/aug01/child.htm. Retrieved June 2009.
- ^ "Echo Burning information page on Lee Child's Official Website". Lee Child Official Website. http://www.leechild.us/echoburning.php. Retrieved June 2009.
[edit] External links
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