1 of 2

Write now Article Tools

There's a line in Lee Child's tenth Jack Reacher novel, "The Hard Way," that sums things up perfectly:

"Reacher, alone in the dark. Armed and dangerous. Invincible" [page 420]

Former US Army MP Major Jack Reacher has been wandering among us for eleven years now, since "The Killing Floor" from 1997. Lee Child's debut novel and first in this series, earned both the Anthony and Barry Awards for Best First Novel. Reacher is a tough guy to know, much less to love. But he's the one person you'd want by your side in a showdown; that much is certain.

The man travels light:

"...Reacher had long ago quit carrying things he didn't need. There was nothing in his pockets except paper money and an expired passport and an ATM card and a clip-together toothbrush. There was nothing waiting for him anywhere else, either. No storage unit in a distant city, nothing stashed with friends. He owned the things in his pockets and the clothes on his back and the shoes on his feet. That was all, and that was enough. Everything he needed, and nothing he didn't." [excerpt from "Nothing to Lose," installment 12, 2008; page 6]

Writers of mystery thrillers have been inventing big, tough, self-reliant protagonists like Jack Reacher for decades, maybe longer. Robert Parker's Spenser, John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, and James Patterson's Alex Cross are all equally larger than life. They also have homes; Jack Reacher does not. He's a wanderer who charts his own course - and always manages to find trouble, of course.

Trouble finds Reacher this time in an outdoor cafe in New York City. He sees an unremarkable man approach a parked Mercedes, get in and drive away. Reacher learns, the next night, that the car contained a million-dollar ransom. Edward Lane, commander of a small force of ex-military mercenaries, desperately wants his wife and her daughter back; and he asks Reacher, accidental witness, to help find them. $9.5 million in fruitless ransoms later, our hero is deeply entangled in an intriguing web of conflicting signals.

All the signs say that Lane's wife, Kate and step-daughter, Jade will never be returned alive. That's when the wealthy general-for-hire offers Reacher $1 million to track down the kidnappers. Reacher accepts, but not for the money. He wants justice for Kate and Jade. He teams up with former FBI agent Lauren Pauling to dig out the truth. Their investigation leads them first to London, then deep into rural England beyond Norfolk, and finally to an explosive confrontation between good and evil.

"Reacher, alone in the dark. Invincible."

Lee Child has

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Book reviews: The Hard Way, by Lee Child?
We want to hear your view. Write now!