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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
May 2007, 377 pages
Paperback:
Mar 2008, 512 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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A decade post-military, Reacher has an ATM card and the clothes on his back—no phone, no ties, and no address. But now members of his old team are being killed and when someone targets Jack Reacher's team they’d better be ready for what comes right back at them!
From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent
free-falling into the night…. In Chicago, a woman learns that an elite team of
ex–army investigators is being hunted down one by one.... And on the streets of
Portland, Jack Reacher—soldier, cop, hero—is pulled out of his wandering life by
a code that few other people could understand. From the first shocking scenes in
Lee Child’s explosive new novel, Jack Reacher is plunged like a knife into the
heart of a conspiracy that is killing old friends…and is on its way to something
even worse.
A decade postmilitary, Reacher has an ATM card and the clothes on his back—no
phone, no ties, and no address. But now a woman from his old unit has done the
impossible. From Chicago, Frances Neagley finds Reacher, using a signal only the
eight members of their elite team of army investigators would know. She tells
him a terrifying story—about the brutal death of a man they both served with.
Soon Reacher is reuniting with the survivors of his old team, scrambling to
raise the living, bury the dead, and connect the dots in a mystery that is
growing darker by the day. The deeper they dig, the more they don’t know: about
two other comrades who have suddenly gone missing—and a trail that leads into
the neon of Vegas and the darkness of international terrorism.
For now, Reacher can only react. To every sound. Every suspicion. Every scent
and every moment. Then Reacher will trust the people he once trusted with his
life—and take this thing all the way to the end. Because in a world of bad luck
and trouble, when someone targets Jack Reacher and his team, they’d better be
ready for what comes right back at them
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 maneuver. The Bell was a roomy aircraft, twin-engined, designed for
corporate travel and police departments, with space for seven passengers. The
rear doors were as big as a panel van's and they opened wide. The middle row of
seats had been removed. There was plenty of room for Franz on the floor.
The helicopter was idling. Two men were carrying the stretcher. They ducked
low under the rotor wash and hurried, one backward, one forward. When they
reached the open door the guy who had been walking backward got one handle up on
the sill and ducked away. The other guy stepped forward and shoved hard and slid
the stretcher all the way inside. Franz was awake and hurting. He cried out and
jerked around a little, but not much, because the straps across his chest and
thighs were buckled tight. The two ...
Child's writing style continues to get tighter and more powerful. Little time is wasted on peripheral chat, keeping the plot firmly moving forward. Child offers supremely satisfying, intelligent action - a must read for existing fans and a great starting point for newcomers...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Lee Child was born in the exact geographic center of England, in the heart of the industrial badlands. The sort of place where minor disputes were settled with box cutters and bicycle chains. He's got the scars to prove it. But he survived, got an education, and went to university where he spent most of his time in the university theater; after which he went to work for Granada Television in Manchester. Over eighteen years he was involved with more than 40,000 hours of the company's program output. He also ...
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