August 15, 2011
Child’s compelling 16th thriller featuring incorruptible vigilante Jack Reacher (after Worth Dying For) rewinds the clock to 1997 when Reacher was still a military cop and working on the case that led to his eventual break with the Army. Reacher must figure out whether the shocking murder of 27-year-old Janice May Chapman in Carter Crossing, Miss., has any connection with nearby Fort Kelham, where Army Rangers are trained. Reacher soon learns that two other women had their throats slit in the same way as Chapman, and the leading suspect is a Fort Kelham captain, whose father is a U.S. senator and diehard Army supporter. Reacher knows all too well the case has political trouble written all over it—and he and his Army bosses quickly butt heads over how it should be handled. Readers expecting new insight or details into Reacher’s background will be disappointed, but they’ll find all the elements—solid action, wry humor, smart dialogue—that have made this series so popular.

August 15, 2011

Ever wonder why Jack Reacher left the Military Police and became a one-man freelance vigilante squad? Child goes back 14 years to show how it all happened.

His commanding officer, Col. Leon Garber, clearly doesn't want to send Maj. Reacher to Carter Crossing, Miss., any more than Reacher wants to go. But Fort Kelham is a particularly bad place for a murder because Capt. Reed Riley, who commands Bravo Company there, is the son of Sen. Carlton Riley, the chair of the Armed Services Committee. And the rape and murder of Janice May Chapman in a nearby bar's parking lot rings so many alarms that Garber needs someone to work undercover, basically spying on the local cops, as Maj. Duncan Munro heads the official investigation. No sooner has Reacher hitched into Carter Crossing than he makes several surprising discoveries. Janice May Chapman wasn't killed in that parking lot. She was only the latest in a series of Carter Crossing murders. The first two victims, equally beautiful but African-American, poorer and less headline-worthy, have been forgotten by everyone but their families. Sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux orders Reacher out of town but then relents far enough to take him into her confidence and her bed. Reacher, who excels as both a lover and a fighter, has his early moments as a hard-nosed sleuth and a junkyard dog (after he taunts an aggrieved local family who've sent only three hulking guys to beat him up, he's faced with six next time around). But the meteor shower of potential enemies coming at Reacher from every side—Sheriff Deveraux, Maj. Munro, Senate Liaison Col. John James Frazer, Sen. Riley and his son, a militia calling itself the Tennessee Free Citizens and that family of hulking yahoos—work against the action-driven inevitability of Child at his best (Worth Dying For, 2010, etc.). And he's not as good as his competitors at devising the riddle-wrapped-in-a-mystery-inside-an-enigma structure he uses instead.

The best thing we discover here is the explanation for why Reacher left the Army. By the end of this adventure, he certainly has his reasons.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2011

Who was Jack Reacher before he became a vigilante hero? That's the story Child answers in this 16th Reacher thriller. Having won Anthony, Barry, and Nero awards, sold rights in 50-plus territories, and sold film rights to all the books, Child achieved the pinnacle with two No. 1 New York Times best sellers last year. He's on top; buy multiples.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2011
Jack Reacher fans know the basics about their herocareer army MP suddenly transformed into the ultimate lone wolf (Have Toothbrush Will Travel)but they don't know the backstory. Finally, Child fills us in on what drove Reacher, a good soldier above all, out of the army. The basic structure resembles most Reacher novels: Jack turns up in an out-of-the-way locale (small-town Mississippi here), confronts a clutch of evildoers, takes them down, packs his toothbrush, and hits the road. But this time hitting the road means leaving the army, which becomes necessary because certain of the evildoers are soldiers, too, and to bring them down, Reacher must discard the MP's manual altogether. For fans of the series, much of the fun comes in spotting Reacher's now-familiar idiosyncrasies at the moments they were born (the habit, for example, of owning only one set of clothes, wearing them until they get dirty, and then buying replacements). The plot itself involves a serial killerpossibly a soldierwreaking havoc among the locals living near an army base. Teaming up both professionally and romantically with the town sheriff, a comely former marine, Reacher simultaneously attempts to find the truth and protect the army. As usual, plenty of eggs get broken in spectacular style on the way to making a Reacher omelet. Child's mastery of high-octane plotting remains remarkable, as does his ability to inject what, in other hands, might have been cartoon characters with all the sinews that power human beings.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

November 28, 2011
As usual, veteran narrator Dick Hill does a masterful job of evoking world-weary investigator Jack Reacher, this time in the prequel to Child’s bestselling series. In this installment, the author finally spells out the circumstances surrounding Reacher’s departure from his job as a military cop: the investigation into the murder of a young woman in a small Mississippi community. As the truth slowly unfolds, Hill delivers a nuanced performance of a character he’s voiced for some 14 years. While the introduction of a potential love interest spices up the homicide inquiry, Hill’s rendition of her dialogue may remind some listeners of Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie—and that takes some getting used to. Nonetheless, Hill’s gifts as an actor are evident throughout, and he shines during the book’s final confrontation in which Reacher explains how he put all the pieces together. A Delacorte hardcover.