Synopsis
Settling into a peaceful life in Key West, Reacher's world is turned upside down when a stranger comes looking for him, a man who turns up dead in the Old Town cemetery and who leads him on a perilous trail to New York, where he confronts an elderly couple mourning a dead son, an alluring woman from his past, and a deadly opponent. Lit Guild Feat Alt.
Reviews
Jack Reacher, the hulking ex-soldier readers will remember from Child's first two thrillers, Die Trying and Killing Floor, can kill with his bare hands, and sports chest muscles thick enough to stop bullets. He's actually a dynamo of a character, wily in an innocent sort of way, and the anchor to one of the best new series in thriller fiction. Here, Reacher is incognito, living the life of a drifter and digging swimming pools in Key West. When a PI from New York comes looking for him, and shortly afterwards turns up dead with his fingertips sliced off, Reacher flies north and discovers that the instigator of the search is Leon Garber, his former army commanding officer. But Garber has died the day before Reacher arrives. As Reacher finds out from Jodie Jacob, Garner's beautiful attorney daughter, Garber was helping an elderly couple to locate their son, who supposedly died in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War. The military won't confirm the death, however, or even classify the soldier as missing in action. Pursuing the search together, Reacher and Jacob narrowly escape murder attempts by a pair of dark-suited thugs who work for an evil corporate loan shark named "Hook" Hobie, who has a hideously disfigured face and a metal hook for a right hand. Hobie is harboring a terrible secret linking him to the couple's vanished son, and he'll kill anyone who tries to discover his diabolical past. A showdown between the two men is inevitable, and when it happens, it's a beautAalmost as good as Child's skillfully laid surprise ending and the crisp and original dialogue throughout. Reacher is a complex, contemplative brute whose aversion to social and material entanglements entail very peculiar habits and ideas. He never cleans his clothes, preferring to buy new ones (going to a dry cleaner implies a commitment to return); and he's spellbinding whether kicking in doors or just kicking around a thought in his brain. Literary Guild featured alternate; feature film rights for Killing Floor and the character of Jack Reacher optioned by Mark Johnson/Polygram; rights to Jack Reacher series sold to 18 countries. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A good guy outsmarts a venomous viper, outguns a gazillion villainsand falls in love with a nice gal. Continuing at loose ends after being separated from the Army (the peace dividend, you know), former MP Major Jack Reacher (Die Trying, 1998, etc.) is down in Key West rather enjoying irresponsibilityuntil a private investigator shows up looking for him. The following day the p.i. turns up dead, fingertips sliced off for the purpose of preserving his incognito. Something nefarious is going on here, Reacher concludes, stirred by a burst of the old action-hero adrenaline. All he knows for sure, however, is that the detective was hired by a Ms. Jacob. Pause for a deductive leap or two, then on to New York to track down the mysterious Ms. Jacob. But what's in a name? It soon develops that Ms. J isn't mysterious at all. In fact, she's an old friend. Before she was married, the Ms. J., now divorced, was a J alreadyJodie Garber, daughter of General Garber, Reacher's erstwhile commanding officer and mentor. Reacher last saw her when she was 15 and in the throes of a violent crush on him. Now she's 30, and as gorgeous as you might have guessed. Among other things, she needs Reacher to finish a task begun by her recently deceased father. Reacher accepts the mission, of course, and is immediately in confrontation with a sadistic demon, obligatorily brilliant, whose intricate scam has roots in Vietnam and whose pleasure in killing and maiming is unconfined. But love (for Jodie) has not blunted Reacher's martial capabilities, and from a climactic one-on-one with Hook (the sadistic demon) Hobie, he emerges scathed but triumphant. Unabashedly mindless but fun: Reacher swashbuckles with the best of them. (Literary Guild featured alternate) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Child's newest Jack Reacher thriller is his best yet. It's as if the author, a former TV scriptwriter, actually took note of the scattered criticisms that appeared in the largely favorable reviews of his earlier books, Killing Floor and Die Trying. This time the plot does not rely on unlikely coincidence, the antagonist (a psychopathic, disfigured Vietnam vet with a secret) is a worthy opponent for the ex-military policeman- turned-drifter hero, and Reacher becomes multi-dimensional: he finds love and confronts his own fallibility. The story begins when the retired general who was Reacher's mentor seeks him out and draws him into a humanitarian task turned deadly. Meanwhile, Reacher is reunited with the general's daughter Jodie, his forbidden love 15 years earlier. In the end, forensic anthropology provides the key to the mystery, as the atmosphere of menace builds to a bloody climax. Child's crisp prose, intriguing protagonist, and skilled storytelling should win fans. Suspense fiction doesn't get much better than this.AMichele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Arlington, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
After spending 13 years in the military police, Jack Reacher is perfectly content to dig swimming pools by day and bounce at a Key West strip club by night. A man named Costello comes looking for him but is found dead the next day. Tracking Costello's employer takes Reacher to upstate New York and Jodie Garber Jacobs, the daughter of Jack's old commanding officer, Leon Garber. His dying request was to meet with his protege. Why Leon needed to see Jack so desperately is a mystery, but an attempt to kill Reacher and Jodie clarifies the situation. People serious enough to commit a daylight double murder want Reacher and Jodie dead. The question is why? The motive lies in a $100 million Long Island land swindle, and Reacher's opposition is wealthy, ruthless, and as cunning as Reacher. The third entry in the Reacher series is a solid thriller that brings to mind the knight-errant adventures of John D. McDonald's Travis McGee. Edgy, exciting reading. Wes Lukowsky
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