Book Reviews and More: Better off Dead - Lee Child and Andrew Child

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Better off Dead - Lee Child and Andrew Child - Jack Reacher Book 26

Better off Dead
Jack Reacher Book 26
Lee Child

Andrew Child (Andrew Grant)

Delacorte Press
Penguin Random House Canada
ISBN 9780593505038

eISBN 9781984818515

ASIN B08SBMCSQQ

Last year I read the first collaborative effort from Lee and Andrew Child, two years ago I read the 24 previous Jack Reacher novels, and also the Jack Reacher short stories, novellas and crossovers. In fact, I had to make sure I read other books in between. So it was a long wait of almost a year for this volume to be released. When it came out I was very busy with work and some other books on the go. But once I started I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. I just could not put it down! It is one of my favourites! And how the story ties in some pieces of previous stories, just masterful. That is how I would describe this book a masterfully written suspense thriller! I read this the weekend after binge watching the new Amazon Prime Series, and I could just picture the action in a whole new way. But let us get back to this specific story.

Reacher has a soft spot for fellow veterans, as we have seen before and as we see in this story. And in this case it is a female veteran, Michaela Fenton, who is trying to rescue her brother Michael, also a vet. But things go sideways right from the start. And Reacher as intrigued as he is a couple of times has thoughts about walking away. But that is now his way. When Reacher is hiking towards the coast, specifically the Pacific Ocean, he comes across a scene that is odd, and it is not what it appears to be. Just outside Los Gemelos, a tiny Arizona town near the border. Soon Reacher is vested in figuring out what is really going on, and to do that he will need to crack some heads. And the game is one.

Once Reacher gathers some of the intel he knows he needs more, so he reaches out to Jefferson Wallwork of the FBI, who owes Reacher. And as Reacher and Wallwork both work the case they soon realize this is much bigger than either of them expected, and could have major national and international repercussions. And Reacher cannot leave a man behind, or in this case a women.

In this story many things are not what they appear. But Reacher has a knack for finding the truth, and for finding people who do not want to be found. And in this case his Lizard mind keeps getting pinged and the question is can he catch what it is trying to warn him about before it is too late?

Once Reacher discovers a large cache of ordinances, and starts to realize the scope of the work. He cannot back down. In this volume Reacher does not end up in a relationship. The story takes place over just a few days. We have no incidents of Reacher getting new clothes. Cleaning up, or pressing his clothes between the mattresses. But we do have some decent fights, a mystery to be solved, and some big risks taken.

It is another great volume from the Child brothers. And will leave readers desperate for the next instalment ‘No Plan B’. After I read the last one Lee and Andrew wrote together I planned on starting to read some of Andres works published as Andrew Grant, I started the first as soon as I finished this one. A good book in an always entertaining series!