One Shot: A Jack Reacher Novel    by Lee Child Order:  USA  Can Delacorte, 2005 (2005) Hardcover, Audio, CD, e-Book      Reviewed by Martina Bexte One Shot opens with a bang - literally. A sniper fires into a crowd of government employees on their way home for the day. In seconds, five people are dead and the killer makes a clean getaway. However, within hours local law enforcement has collected enough evidence to build an airtight case against James Barr, an ex-military sniper who served in Kuwait. Once in custody, the only thing Barr says is 'Get Jack Reacher for me'. But Reacher is already on his way, with an agenda of his own. James Barr blew away four civilians in Kuwait City and got away with murder because the military chose to seal the incident. As the lead investigator, Reacher had built a rock solid case against Barr. Afterwards, he warned Barr that if Barr killed again, he'd put him away for good - and Jack Reacher always keeps his promises. Reacher begins asking difficult questions of the lead investigators, the DA and Barr's defense attorney, Helen Rodin, fresh out of law school and the only person willing to touch this high profile case. But Reacher, a crack investigator in his own right, soon sees holes in the DA's slam dunk case. Helen, along with Barr's supportive sister, convinces him to keep nosing around. It doesn't take long for the real bad guys to target Reacher and that's when the fun really starts, because nobody messes with Jack and gets away with it. The best thing about Lee Child's series isn't his crisp style, or his flair for delivering a lean, yet gripping story that's like road map filled with impossible twists and hairpin turns. The best thing about the series is Jack Reacher, one of the most interesting and tenacious investigators around. Jack pretty much makes his own rules, and it's fun to walk beside him as he travels the country and gets drawn into life-and-death situations again and again. I read One Shot in a single afternoon - I double-dare you to put the book down once you turn the first page. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews