Delacorte Press, May 2007; Bantam Dell paperback edition April 2008
I realized about 5 pages in that I had read this book once before. But I couldn’t recall how it ended. Being unable to remember critical plot elements of a book does not speak well of it. I knew it wasn’t one of the best of the Jack Reacher series because I remember the plot details of most of them vividly. But even a mediocre Jack Reacher book is better than most, so I finished it.
No, not one of the best Reachers. But fun anyway.
The plot begins with the disappearance of four of his old Army “special investigators” unit. They are all long out of the army and haven’t seen each other in years, but, as they used to remind everyone, no one messes with the special investigators. If someone has messed with the four, then it was the responsibility of the other four to make them pay.
One of the reasons why this is a lesser Reacher novel is that about two-thirds of the book deals with the time the remaining four spend thrashing around in the dark, trying to figure out what caused the disappearance of the other four and who might be responsible. The final third is devoted to making the culprits pay.
But before the payback could get underway, two more are captured and are headed to certain death. That leaves just Reacher and one other investigator – a woman – to deal with a team of 8 vicious assassins. They were clearly outnumbered. The assassins, that is, because 8-to-2 is right in Reacher’s wheelhouse. It was just a matter of time, really, but some of the fun is seeing how Reacher makes it happen.
Oh, just to make things more interesting… the reason the investigators were killed is they had uncovered a plot to steal 650 high-tech shoulder-mount anti-aircraft missiles that a terrorist was planning on using to bring down commercial aircraft, at a likely cost of thousands of lives and a complete disruption of air travel in the USA. Just a little detail, really; Reacher was primarily focused on saving his two colleagues and getting payback for the death of the other four. If he happened to save the US air industry in the process, then all the better.
Naturally it all comes out right in the end, with a body count of 9 bad guys, 7 dispatched by Reacher and 2 by his lady friend.
Not a great plot, but great fun.
8 out of 10.