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Better Off Dead
Cover of Better Off Dead
Better Off Dead
by Lee Child
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher

Digging graves had not been part of my plans when I woke up that morning. 

Reacher goes where he wants, when he wants. That morning he was heading west, walking under the merciless desert sun—until he comes upon a curious scene. A Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. A woman is slumped over the wheel.
 
Dead? No, nothing is what it seems. 
The woman is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent trying to find her twin brother, who might be mixed up with some dangerous people. Most of them would rather die than betray their terrifying leader, who has burrowed his influence deep into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. The mysterious Dendoncker rules from the shadows, out of sight and under the radar, keeping his dealings in the dark.
 
He would know the fate of Fenton’s brother. 
Reacher is good at finding people who don’t want to be found, so he offers to help, despite feeling that Fenton is keeping secrets of her own. But a life hangs in the balance. Maybe more than one. But to bring Dendoncker down will be the riskiest job of Reacher's life. Failure is not an option, because in this kind of game, the loser is always better off dead.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher

Digging graves had not been part of my plans when I woke up that morning. 

Reacher goes where he wants, when he wants. That morning he was heading west, walking under the merciless desert sun—until he comes upon a curious scene. A Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. A woman is slumped over the wheel.
 
Dead? No, nothing is what it seems. 
The woman is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent trying to find her twin brother, who might be mixed up with some dangerous people. Most of them would rather die than betray their terrifying leader, who has burrowed his influence deep into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. The mysterious Dendoncker rules from the shadows, out of sight and under the radar, keeping his dealings in the dark.
 
He would know the fate of Fenton’s brother. 
Reacher is good at finding people who don’t want to be found, so he offers to help, despite feeling that Fenton is keeping secrets of her own. But a life hangs in the balance. Maybe more than one. But to bring Dendoncker down will be the riskiest job of Reacher's life. Failure is not an option, because in this kind of game, the loser is always better off dead.
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  • From the cover Chapter 1

    The stranger got into position under the streetlight at 11:00 p.m., as agreed.

    The light had been easy to find, just like he’d been told it would be. It was the only one in the compound that was still working, all the way at the far end, six feet shy of the jagged metal fence that separated the United States from Mexico.

    He was alone. And unarmed.

    As agreed.

    The car showed up at 11:02. It kept to the center of the space between the parallel rows of lockup garages. They were made of metal, too. Roofs warped by the sun. Walls scoured by the sand. Five on the right. Four on the left. And the remains of one more lying torn and corroded ten feet to the side, like something had exploded inside it years ago.

    The car’s lights were on bright, making it hard to recognize the make and model. And impossible to see inside. It continued until it was fifteen feet away then braked to a stop, rocking on its worn springs and settling into a low cloud of sandy dust. Then its front doors opened. Both of them. And two men climbed out.

    Not as agreed.

    Both the car’s back doors opened. Two more men climbed out.

    Definitely not as agreed.

    The four men paused and sized the stranger up. They’d been told to expect someone big and this guy sure fit the bill. He was six feet five. Two hundred and fifty pounds. Chest like a gun safe and hands like backhoe buckets. And scruffy. His hair was coarse and unkempt. He hadn’t shaved for days. His clothes looked cheap and ill-­fitting, except for his shoes. Somewhere between a hobo and a Neanderthal. Not someone who was going to be missed.

    The driver stepped forward. He was a couple of inches shorter than the stranger, and a good fifty pounds lighter. He was wearing black jeans and a black sleeveless T-­shirt. He had on black combat-­style boots. His head was shaved, but his face was hidden by a full beard. The other guys followed, lining up alongside him.

    “The money?” the driver said.

    The stranger patted the back pocket of his jeans.

    “Good.” The driver nodded toward the car. “Backseat. Get in.”

    “Why?”

    “So I can take you to Michael.”

    “That wasn’t the deal.”

    “Sure it was.”

    The stranger shook his head. “The deal was, you tell me where Michael is.”

    “Tell you. Show you. What’s the difference?”

    The stranger said nothing.

    “Come on. What are you waiting for? Give me the money and get in the car.”

    “I make a deal, I stick to it. You want the money, tell me where Michael is.”

    The driver shrugged. “The deal’s changed. Take it or leave it.”

    “I’ll leave it.”

    “Enough of this.” The driver reached behind his back and took a pistol from his waistband. “Cut the crap. Get in the car.”

    “You were never going to take me to Michael.”

    “No shit, Sherlock.”

    “You were going to take me to someone else. Someone who has questions for me.”

    “No more talking. Get in the car.”

    “Which means you can’t shoot me.”

    “Which means I can’t kill you. Yet. I can still shoot you.”

    The stranger said, “Can you?”

    A witness would have said the stranger hardly moved at all but somehow in a split second he had closed the gap between them and had his hand on the driver’s wrist. Which he pulled up, like a proud fisherman...
About the Author-
  • Lee Child is the author of twenty-five New York Times bestselling Jack Reacher thrillers, with sixteen having reached the #1 position, and the #1 bestselling complete Jack Reacher story collection, No Middle Name. Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in one hundred territories. A native of England and a former television director, Lee Child lives in New York City and Wyoming.

    Andrew Child, who also writes as Andrew Grant, is the author of RUN, False Positive, False Friend, False Witness, Invisible, and Too Close to Home. Child and his wife, the novelist Tasha Alexander, live on a wildlife preserve in Wyoming. He is the co-author of the #1 bestselling Jack Reacher novel The Sentinel.
Reviews-
  • AudioFile Magazine Scott Brick returns to portray the justice-seeking iron man Jack Reacher. Brick's voicing of Reacher in this first-person narrative brings listeners right into Jack's thoughts; however, his performances of the female characters are less credible. Making his way to the West Coast, Reacher gets distracted on the Arizona-Mexico border when he helps an Army veteran rescue her brother. Listeners will be immediately engaged by the dramatic opening. The middle is filled with one graphically described violent confrontation after another. The ending is thriller-worthy. Brick is a master at ratcheting up the tension. While those looking for character development and a bit of romance may be disappointed, "Reacher-creatures" who value Reacher's fighting skills will be elated. E.Q. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
  • Publisher's Weekly

    Starred review from August 30, 2021
    The Child brothers’ superb second collaboration (after 2020’s The Sentinel) opens one night at a remote spot on the U.S.-Mexico border, where “the stranger,” a large, tall man many will assume is Jack Reacher, has arrived for a meeting. A car drives up, and four men get out. When the driver asks the stranger if he has the money, he pats his back pocket. Then the driver orders the stranger into the car, to take him to someone named Michael. The stranger refuses, saying the deal was for him to be told where Michael is. The stranger gets the best of it in the ensuing fight, until a woman shows up and guns down the stranger. At the morgue, the victim, identified as Reacher, is confirmed dead by the coroner, to the satisfaction of Waad Dendoncker, “the second coming of Al Capone, only with added craziness.” Flashbacks explain what led up to the violent confrontation. Smart writing, vivid action scenes, and dramatic twists mark this seamless effort. Even those for whom this is their first Reacher novel will be clamoring for more. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary (U.K.).

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