There is often at least one glaring plot hole or significant deus ex machina in the Reacher books, such as Reacher getting arrested for murder in a remote location when the victim turns out to be a brother he hasn’t seen in years.
“Persuader” is no exception. The very idea that the person he is undercover to investigate had been “murdered” by him ten years earlier, and yet didn’t recognize him—despite Reacher using his real name—is beyond ludicrous. Child tries to gloss over this by Reacher not being involved in the historic investigation. However, that gloss doesn’t hold up: they looked into his records when he first arrived, which would have included photographs. Quinn would have recognized him. The flimsy two-second exchange of “No, I don’t know you; oh, wait, now I do” is, at best, lame. The situation isn’t helped by the boy Richard suddenly acquiring a Beretta and the balls to use it, which he uses to prevent Reacher from killing Quinn in the dining room. This leads to an unnecessarily drawn-out sequence where Reacher fights against the sea before ultimately finishing the job with a chisel.
Additionally, why did the dinner party guests drive him off a cliff instead of just shooting him? This decision seems to exist solely to add five pages of Reacher gasping for breath underwater.
In my reading of other Reacher novels, I found room to forgive similar examples, recognizing the books as light relief and the plot holes as mere distractions.
That said, the frequent, unsignalled flashbacks in this story threw me off. Flashbacks are fine as long as the reader knows when they start and end. In “Persuader,” I had to stop multiple times and rewind to realize we were once again in the past. I also found a lack of research somewhat irritating. It doesn’t matter how many steroids a bodybuilder consumes; a kick in the kidneys from anyone—especially a 6-foot-5-inch monster like Reacher—is going to hurt. Rasputin’s legendary resilience has raised many eyebrows, but it pales in comparison to Quinn surviving two headshots, a shot to the heart, and a fall of 120 feet onto rocks, only to be swept away by the tide. A shotgun shell, even a Brenneke, won’t cut a man in two. While it may create a mess, this level of gratuitous gore is inaccurate.
Finally, there’s the issue of padding. While I suspect other Reacher novels may have the same problem, I didn’t notice it as much because I wasn’t continually distracted by unmarked flashbacks. However, at times, “Persuader” reads more like specifications in a Jane’s catalogue of light arms—details that no reader really needs or wants.
Recommendation
I gave “Persuader” 2 out of 5 stars. I can overlook the plot holes, but not when so many other issues exist. If you’re a Reacher fan, you might not notice.
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