Nothing to Lose: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

" シリーズも第11作目となるととかくマンネリ化しやすいものですが、さすがシナリオライターの経験豊かなチャイルドさん、状況設定、登場人物ともにユニークな世界を作っています。本作では彼の過去に関する物事、人物が一切出てきません。チャイルドとしては標準的に面白い作品とは言えますが、これまでのリーチャ―ものの、ひねったプロットと血沸き肉踊る面白さとはかなり趣が違う作品です。小生の個人的な好みからすれば、（１）リーチャ―が暴れるシーンがもっと欲しかった、（２）前作までのようなあからさまな犯罪者達とは異質な悪玉の犯罪を暴きだす過程がいまいち納得性に欠けるし、宗教のおどろおどろしさも心に迫って来ないという恨みを感じます。チャイルドさんも意識してこれまでとは違うものを書こうと相当に苦労しているんでしょうかね...." " Two small towns in the middle of nowhere: Hope and Despair. Between them, nothing but twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher can’t find a ride, so he walks. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets are four hostile locals, a vagrancy charge, and an order to move on. They’re picking on the wrong guy. Reacher is a hard man. No job, no address, no baggage. Nothing at all, except hardheaded curiosity. What are the secrets that Despair seems so desperate to hide? With just one ally—a mysterious woman cop from Hope—and many enemies, Reacher goes up against a whole town, hunting the rich man at its core, cracking open his terrifying agenda, asking the question: Who has the edge—a man with everything to gain, or a man with nothing to lose ............"                                 from Amazon

Jack Reacher 가 등장하는 11번째 작품이다. 미스터리적 요소가 강하고 복선이 많은 편이지만 작품이 끝날 때까지 이야기의 방향을 확신하기 힘든 작품이었다. 크게 두 가지의 이야기가 서로 엮이면서 미스터리적 요소가 더 강해지고 독자들이 긴장감을 유지하면서 계속 읽게 만드는 매력을 보여주는 작품이다. 핵심어는 Fugitives와 End Times가 아닌가 싶다. Reacher 식의 현학적이고 장황한 묘사를 제외하면 문장이나 표현은 난해하지 않아서 읽을 만하다. 이 시리즈를 22권 정도 읽어서 그런지 작품을 읽는데 부담이 많이 줄어든 거 같다. "Pay it forward instead....... It means years from now you'll be in a diner somewhere and you'll see someone who needs a break. So you'll help them out..... Don't thank me. Thank whoever helped me way back. And whoever helped him before that. And so on...."라는 문장들이 본문에 등장하는데 액션장면들보다도 인상에 남는다.