Nothing to Lose

1

The sun was only half as hot as he had known sun to be, but it was hot enough to keep him confused and dizzy. He was very weak. He had not eaten for seventy-two hours, or taken water for forty-eight.

Not weak. He was dying, and he knew it.

The images in his mind showed things drifting away. A rowboat caught in a river current, straining against a rotted rope, pulling, tugging, breaking free. His viewpoint was that of a small boy in the boat, sitting low, staring back helplessly at the bank as the dock grew smaller.

Or an airship swinging gently on a breeze, somehow breaking free of its mast, floating up and away, slowly, the boy inside seeing tiny urgent figures on the ground, waving, staring, their faces tilted upward in concern.

Then the images faded, because now words seemed more important than pictures, which was absurd, because he had never been interested in words before. But before he died he wanted to know which words were his. Which applied to him? Was he a man or a boy? He had been described both ways. Be a man, some had said. Others had been insistent: The boy's not to blame. He was old enough to vote and kill and die, which made him a man. He was too young to drink, even beer, which made him a boy. Was he brave, or a coward? He had been called both things. He had been called unhinged, disturbed, deranged, unbalanced, delusional, traumatized, all of which he understood and accepted, except unhinged. Was he supposed to be hinged? Like a door? Maybe people were doors. Maybe things passed through them. Maybe they banged in the wind. He considered the question for a long moment and then he batted the air in frustration. He was babbling like a teenager in love with weed.

Which is exactly all he had been, a year and a half before.

He fell to his knees. The sand was only half as hot as he had known sand to be, but it was hot enough to ease his chill. He fell facedown, exhausted, finally spent. He knew as certainly as he had ever known anything that if he closed his eyes he would never open them again.

But he was very tired.

So very, very tired.

More tired than a man or a boy had ever been.

He closed his eyes.

2

The line between Hope and Despair was exactly that: a line, in the road, formed where one town's blacktop finished and the other's started. Hope's highway department had used thick dark asphalt rolled smooth. Despair had a smaller municipal budget. That was clear. They had top-dressed a lumpy roadbed with hot tar and dumped gray gravel on it. Where the two surfaces met there was an inch-wide trench of no-man's-land filled with a black rubbery compound. An expansion joint. A boundary. A line. Jack Reacher stepped over it midstride and kept on walking. He paid it no attention at all.

But he remembered it later. Later, he was able to recall it in great detail.

Hope and Despair were both in Colorado. Reacher was in Colorado because two days previously he had been in Kansas, and Colorado was next to Kansas. He was making his way west and south. He had been in Calais, Maine, and had taken it into his head to cross the continent diagonally, all the way to San Diego in California. Calais was the last major place in the Northeast, San Diego was the last major place in the Southwest. One extreme to the other. The Atlantic to the Pa

Share your thoughts on the Nothing to Lose ebook with other internet viewers!

From the same series: A Jack Reacher Novel

1

Killing Floor Best price $7.99

2

Die Trying Best price $7.99

3

Tripwire Best price $7.99

5

Echo Burning Best price $7.99

7

Persuader Best price $8.76

8

The Enemy Best price $8.76

9

One Shot Best price $7.00

10

The Hard Way Best price $8.76

11

Bad Luck and Trouble Best price $8.76

Title of ebook: Nothing to Lose
ISBN: 9780440337805
parent-ISBN: 9780385340564
Publisher: Dell Publishing
Pages: 304
Published: 06-2008
Released online for download: 06-03-2008
Author of eBook: Child, Lee
Series: More eBooks from the A Jack Reacher Novel series
Number in this series: 12

Format

Encrypted

Sku

ISBN

File size

Security

Printing

Copying

Read aloud

Devices

Digital Editions

Yes

0440337801

9780440337805

1248 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Mobipocket

Yes

9780440337805

415 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirements

Download reader

Microsoft

Yes

5551837580

9780440337805

420 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

eReader

Yes

5551837599

9780440337805

292 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Nothing to Lose

1

The sun was only half as hot as he had known sun to be, but it was hot enough to keep him confused and dizzy. He was very weak. He had not eaten for seventy-two hours, or taken water for forty-eight.

Not weak. He was dying, and he knew it.

The images in his mind showed things drifting away. A rowboat caught in a river current, straining against a rotted rope, pulling, tugging, breaking free. His viewpoint was that of a small boy in the boat, sitting low, staring back helplessly at the bank as the dock grew smaller.

Or an airship swinging gently on a breeze, somehow breaking free of its mast, floating up and away, slowly, the boy inside seeing tiny urgent figures on the ground, waving, staring, their faces tilted upward in concern.

Then the images faded, because now words seemed more important than pictures, which was absurd, because he had never been interested in words before. But before he died he wanted to know which words were his. Which applied to him? Was he a man or a boy? He had been described both ways. Be a man, some had said. Others had been insistent: The boy's not to blame. He was old enough to vote and ... read full excerpt from: Nothing to Lose ebook

Other Lee Child ebooks:

receive alert on new Lee Child ebooks

Gone Tomorrow

“The ever-resourceful and vengeful Reacher takes on nearly a score of the bad guys in an exciting climax to an enthralling book…complete with cover-ups and ...more

Best price: $23.70

Running Blind

Across the country women are being murdered by a killer who leaves no evidence, no fatal wounds, no signs of struggle, and no clues to a motive. They are, truly, perfect ...more

Best price: $7.99

Tripwire

Reacher's anonymity in Florida is shattered by an investigator who's come looking for him. But hours after his arrival, the stranger is murdered. Retracing the PI's trail back...more

Best price: $7.99

Bad Luck and Trouble

1
The man was called Calvin Franz and the helicopter was a Bell 222. Franz had two broken legs, so he had to be loaded on board strapped to a stretcher. Not a difficult...more

Best price: $8.76

Killing Floor

ex-MP Jack Reacher goes into action to find his brother's killers, after a series of brutal crimes terrorizes tiny Margrave, Georgia, only to uncover the dark and deadly ...more

Best price: $7.99

Die Trying

When a woman is kidnapped, Jack Reacher's in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's kidnapped with her. Now he has to save them both...more

Best price: $7.99

The Hard Way

Lee CHILD is the author of ten Jack Reacher thrillers, including the New York Times bestsellers Persuader, The enemy, and One Shot, which has been ...more

Best price: $8.76

One Shot

"Reacher's back ... gonzo action ... canny plotting, tight prose, swift tempo."--Kirkus
From the Hardcover edition.

Best price: $7.00

The Enemy

Jack Reacher. Hero. Loner. Soldier. Soldier's son. An elite military cop, he was one of the army's brightest stars. But in every cop's life there is a turning point. ...more

Best price: $8.76

See full listing:

Top eBooks in "Thrillers"

Angels & Demons

by Brown, Dan

Review: Put aside the love of chapters and the inaccuracies in the writing, and put aside the often wonky descriptions. Dan Brown's first religious iconography hit is a...more

Best price: $8.76

Broken

by Ayele, Robin

Broken...more

Best price: $9.83

Breakpoint

by Clarke, Richard, A.

Against All enemies warned about how we were conducting the war against terror. The Scorpion's Gate demonstrated what could happen. And now America's preeminent ...more

Best price: $9.99

Deception Point

by Brown, Dan

Review: The plot is well thought-out but the flow seems choppy and the characters aren't up to par. Of all the Dan Brown books, this is my least favorite by far...more

Best price: $8.76

Dark Hollow: A Novel

by Connolly, John

Dark Hollow: A Novel...more

Best price: $4.37

A Self-Portrait

by Bowie, J. P.

Review: Every book that I have read in this series continues to contain mystery, supernatural, romance and thrills. The plots are fast and drive you on. I have yet not...more

Best price: $5.42

Daemon

by Suarez, Daniel

Already an underground sensation, a high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control-a ...more

Best price: $26.95

A Stranger Is Watching

by Clark, Mary Higgins

Ronald Thompson knows he never killed Nina Peterson...yet in two days the state of Connecticut will take his life, having found him guilty via due process of law. But Thompson...more

Best price: $7.76

Along Came a Spider

by Patterson, James

A missing little girl named Maggie Rose.

A family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C.

The thrill-...more

Best price: $13.15

Other Suspense & Thrillers eBooks Categories

Suspense (1401)

Thrillers (1135)

Nothing to Lose

People who bought "Nothing to Lose" ebook also bought: