My 61 Hours Journey

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61 HOURS

A Jack Reacher thriller by Lee Child

I picked up this book for my reading by glancing at the line on its cover page “A JACK REACHER THRILLER”. I was neither aware of the author Lee Child nor the protagonist Jack Reacher.

Jack Reacher, a former US military cop enters South Dakota as a victim of a bus accident and later ends up staying there for the next 61 hours. By some intervention, he was pulled by the local cops to crack a complex drug deal case. Being involved in the case investigation Reacher volunteers to protect the witness for the case.

The Storyline goes by the countdown of 61 hours for a deadly incident. When it was 51 hours to go, the story gripped me into it. At the 31st hour, I had started predicting the culprit. Not bad!! my prediction was proved right at the 60th hour, just an hour left when Reacher confronted the culprit. A thought struck me suddenly as to why the intelligent Jack Reacher did not predict the culprit when it was still 31 hours? If the prediction was made by Reacher at that hour, then the book would have been named 31 HOURS instead of 61 HOURS. Even though I felt bad for the murder of lovely and loyal souls, I consoled myself. I had dived deep into 61 hours that sometimes I had to come out of it and realize that I was into a story.

I could imagine most of the scenes and characters passing through my mind. Of course, the credit goes to Lee Child for building it so well with his comprehensive narration. Though I felt it was repetitive sometimes, maybe it was necessary to visualize the scene. The countdown of every hour excited me and accelerated my reading. On the go, I started loving the character of Janet Salter. She was an old lady who was a teacher and a librarian, bold and highly principled. I liked her, especially for her kindness, firm decision and the library setup she had in her house.

In every book we read, there will be some unknowns turning into knowns. My takeaway in 61 HOURS was some information on dealing with icy and colder weather, a drug named methamphetamine, how weapons could be disguised as books (vice versa), and just trusting yourself when in danger.  

My Favorite lines from the book:

  • Based on bitter experience. A fast and easy resolution to a major problem was too good to be true. And things that were too good to be true usually weren’t. A basic law of nature.
  • Plans go to hell as soon as the first shot is fired.
  • Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
  • Never forgive, never forget.

If you are a person who likes the thriller genre then 61 HOURS should be one on your list.

- Priya Karjigi

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