The Secret is the 28th book in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child and Andrew Child. Eight upstanding people have been found dead across the United States. It is not until a victim takes a fatal fall from a hospital window that a connection is loosely made. The Secretary of Defense organizes a task force and enlists the help of Jack Reacher.

We all know Jack Reacher is an exceptional soldier. He is strong, dominating, intuitive, a sharp shooter and skilled. He races to find the killer and link between the deaths before moving into the dangerous line of sight. The best part of The Secret is knowing that Reacher will get the mission done like no one else can.

It's not uncommon for a long-standing series to drift off. The Jack Reacher series has almost 30 books so my expectations are not as high as the first few books in the series. But I still expect some type of plot to hold my interest. Where is the suspense? Where is the character development? Where is the originality?

I am disappointed but not enough to stop reading the Jack Reacher series. I will continue reading the earlier books that are more compelling. Loyal Reacher readers and those watching the TV adaptation may be interested in The Secret.

The Secret is available now.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

The Secret (First published October 24, 2023) is the latest novel in the long-running Jack Reacher series. Opening it up though, a fan of the series might find it a little confusing because chronologically it takes place many years earlier in 1992 while Reacher was still working as an MP investigator and before he takes to wandering the world. It is, of course, well-written and engaging. The theme here is someone is going after government scientists who worked on a project in India some thirty years earlier and going after them in a professional way that confounds the best and the brightest. Reacher is pulled from duty investigating missing rifle parts to work with two others from other agencies and figure out what is going on an stop the killer before all the scientists are murdered in various ways. Little does he realize where the trail will lead.

Jack Reacher is back and beset by mysteries in every direction. Not sure of who or what he can trust, Reacher must unravel several murders to find the cause or causes. And at the same time, he must work with individuals who he also has trouble trusting. I'm not quite sure where this book falls in the Reacher story arc - it seemed out of order - as well it was lacking the usual military focus.

It's hard to picture Reacher anything other than a lonely drifter. In The Secret, Jack Reacher is still in the US Army and a MP Captain. He has been assigned to a task force headed by the secretary of defense after a series of mysterious deaths of a number of scientists.

You can see a difference in the writing since Andrew Child has taken over the reins of this series but overall, Reacher has the same character traits. The storyline was complex and interesting. However I was a little letdown with the ending. It was anticlimatic.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Lee and Andrew Child for an ARC of "The Secret".

Once again Jack Reacher kicks butt and takes names. Lee Child wrote one of the most iconic characters in fiction history and I thought it may fall of a bit when his brother took over. I was wrong... completely wrong. Andrew Child has the same tenacity and ferocity of a writing style as his brother had. If you enjoyed the beginning of this series you will really enjoy this book as it goes back in time to when Reacher was younger. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the what is next for the series!

Not a favorite Jack Reacher read for me. I’m not saying it was a bad read. It just didn’t seem to catch me like the previous books in the series have.
All in all, a ok read but definitely not a favorite Jack Reacher novel.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This new Reacher adventure is set early in Reacher's career, when he was an Army MP. He is asked to join a task force investigating a series of murders that center around a secret project in India years before. Reacher has a hard time working well with others and this leads to some conflicts but the bad guys are defeated as usual in a Reacher story. This was not as good as many of the earlier books in the series but it certainly kept me reading and I look forward to the next installment. Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

The Secret by Lee and Andrew Child
In this adventure, Jack Reacher is actually working officially albeit on a secret task force. Scientists from a long ago program under US auspices were taking place in India. These same people are being eliminated one at a time. Reacher and others in the select group are looking for the killer and motive. Reacher plays by the rules but just barely.
Not as initially action packed as usual fare but not sedate either. Reacher uses his knowledge as much as his physical skills which as always are on display.
All in all a good read a worthy of your attention. Jack Reacher never disappoints nor does the story.
Thanks to the authors, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This book starts out with two different story lines and you know who the main character is supposed to be and you keep reading to see when he’s going to show up. This was very well done! Another great book!

THE SECRET by Lee and Andrew CHILD
Publication: October 24, 2023 by Delacorte Press
Page Count: 304


Not to worry Reacher fans. The torch is being successfully passed from Lee Child to his younger brother, Andrew. The voice of our beloved hero Reacher lives on …. although somewhat more loquacious his inimitable style of conflict resolution with action and violence in support of the victim shines on. This is the 28th installment of “Reacher” and the fourth and last co-written novel by the brothers. Lee Child at sixty-nine years old is retiring and totally turning over the series to Andrew. This latest adventure takes place in 1992 and finds Jack Reacher still an Army MP …. kind of a prequel.
We jump into the action with Roberta and Veronica Sanson throwing recovering heart attack survivor,Keith Bridgeman, out the window of a Chicago hospital. He would not supply the name of the eighth person on a list of seven scientists involved in Project 192, from 1969 India.
The killer sisters were on a mission. The string of suspicious murders of retired scientists were originally deemed accidental or the result of a suicide. Only Charles Stamoran, Secretary of Defense realized they were murders. He established a multidisciplinary team of operatives from the Army, CIA, Treasury Department … chaired by a high ranking member of the Department of Defense. Reacher represented the U.S. Army. They were tasked to find out who was murdering the scientists and why? (Although Stamoran certainly knew). Project 192 was a joint Army / CIA covert operation. Although it was stated the objective of the project was to develop effective antidotes to the developing Soviet Union’s chemical and biologic weapons … obviously there was more to this than what was stated.
The Child’s once again prove to be excellent storytellers and weave together a complex and twisted tale with many surprise reveals, while they inexorably ratchet up the suspense and intrigue. Reacher supplies the expected action and violence that escalates into a barn-burning denouement. I look forward to the next thriller penned alone by Andrew Child. Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for a honest review.

I think it was wise of whoever is writing these books now to return Reacher to 1992, when he was still in the Army. It was getting ridiculous to have an aging Reacher still beating up everyone. He does a fair amount of beating up in this book, and there is a high body count since a pair of avengers are going around killing a bunch of people who share a secret from 1969. I enjoyed the underlying plot of this book more than its execution.

In the beginning of the book, Reacher is introduced in a storyline that has nothing to do with the rest of the plot. The book constantly (and confusingly) kept switching back and forth between this irrelevant Reacher story and the main plot. Then it finally settled into the single storyline. It felt like the author was just padding out this short book. Maybe it’s time to end the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Oh yes, Reacher is back. This time in a story that harkens back to his career as an MP. I really enjoyed this book. In fact, it is the best of the last group of Reacher stories which seemed very artificial and poorly constructed. I had been disappointed in the series so I love the rejuvenated Reacher.

Reacher is brought in to be part of a team seeking a killer who has targeted scientists involved in a secret government project. This was compelling and exceedingly fascinating.

Thank you Netgalley for bringing the real Jack Reacher back to us fans.

THE SECRET is another decent entry into the Jack Reacher series. It’s not a great book when compared to the ones that came before it, but it’s not bad either. It’s just a bit better than ok. Enjoyable, but not spectacular.

This is the second book if you go in chronological order. It takes place in 1992 while Reacher is till in the army, sometime after he has been busted down from Major to Captain. He is given what is supposed to be a bottom of the barrel assignment, one that can be blamed on him and his team if things go wrong. Assassinations happen, Reacher investigates, a few heads get busted along the way. Pretty standard Jack Reacher stuff. I was a bit disappointed that this story provided no new insight into what his military life was like. Why set it in 1992 but then not take advantage of the time to show us something of Reacher we haven’t seen a hundred times before? Seems like a missed opportunity.

Overall I enjoyed the book but it felt a bit like a filler episode.

The Secret by Lee Child and Andrew Child is another great Jack Reacher thriller. It tells the hold-on-tight story of one of Jack Reacher's earlier cases. The intrigue will keep you reading late into the night.

This is the 28th book in the Jack Reacher series, the 4th co-authored by brothers Lee and Andrew, and once again, goes back to the time when Jack was in the Army. Captain Reacher and three others from various government agencies (CIA, FBI) are summoned to Washington and tasked with finding who is killing members of a highly secretive government operation from 1969 - purportedly research to counteract any biological weapons of the USSR. Something went wrong and several people died and the operation was shut down, Fast forward to 1992 - the scientists working on the project are methodically being killed and the task force must figure out who is behind the plot. I think I like the current day Jack Reacher rather than the “old” one, but his character remains one of my favorites. This was a more cerebral Reacher - still using his basic instinct of doing the right thing but less violence than we have come to expect. He is still a loner though. This is a quick, well-paced read and leaves open what the future holds in the series. My thanks to Random House/Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

It is 1992 and eight people have been found dead. They are in many places in the United States and don’t seem to be connected. One of the victims gets the attention of the Secretary of Defense and he calls for an inter-agency task force. Reacher is assigned to this task force. He is a great soldier, but he doesn’t believe in hiding the truth to protect others. What is the link between these victims? Will this end with official justice or Reacher justice?

The Secret is the twenty-eighth Jack Reacher novel, and it transports us back 30 years during his Army career. Readers who have followed the series will enjoy seeing new insights into an event that shaped who Jack became and readers who just picked this book up will enjoy a one-off story and then feel compelled to find the first in the series. The adventure isn’t as intense as some of the other books, yet the story almost seems to read itself.

What can we say it’s Lee Child. Anything I may want to say has been said before about this talented writer. From the get go we are captured by the writing and plot line, in the end we are just as equally invested. Another win by the fantastic Child duo.

With Lee Child finalizing his transfer of the writing of his Reacher series to his younger brother Andrew, the addictively taut “what happens next!? plotting continues. The fun part here is that we go back in time to when Reacher serves as a captain and investigator in the military police. But he’s been pulled from his regular duties to join a multi-agency investigation team to look into the suicides/ murders of a group of scientists who worked together decades earlier in India in secrecy on the development of cures for Russian chemical weapons and perhaps on the development of new chemical weapons for the U.S. to deploy proactively in the event of war.

Reacher, usually a lone ranger, joins peers who all view this assignment as some kind of punishment from their superiors as if things go South in not solving the case they will bear the blame. Their team ultimately ladders up to the Secretary of Defense whose CEO wife now heads the pharmaceutical company in which the India had been based.

Tensions ratchet up as more scientists get killed in what clarifies to murders. Two sisters, both martially trained, are out for vengeance for their father who wrongly got blamed for an explosion in the India chemical plant at the time the scientists were in residence. Reacher has to use his brawn as well as his anti-hierarchy smarts to get to the bottom of what’s really going on.

As Andrew Lee fully takes the reins, I’m curious and excited to see his own iteration emerge of Reacher’s determined and rebellious inner self.

Thanks to Random House, Ballentine, Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

It's 1992. Reacher has been assigned to an interagency task force by the secretary of defense after a series of mysterious deaths around the country. The murders don't seem to be connected and all appeared to be the result of either an accident or suicide but a nefarious actor couldn't be ruled out completely. The murders seem to be under the secretary's paygrade and raises Reacher's hackles. As he and his partners begin investigating, the danger and complexity begin to balloon. In order to solve the case Reacher is going to have to deal with office politics, trust issues and a pair of creepy, deadly killers. All while finding a woman to bed.

Andrew Child has hit his stride taking over Reacher. Going back in time was a smart move. Young Reacher and Old Reacher are essentially the same man with some minor differences. Young Reacher isn't as cynical and violent as Old Reacher. He's just as menacing and deadly simply more judicious in his application of it.

I really enjoyed The Secret and hope we see more of Young Reacher in the future.

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Secret.

The Secret is the 28th book in the “Reacher” series. This book is another prequel as it takes place in the 90’s while Reacher is still an Army MP. Scientists from a secret military project decades beforehand are suddenly dying. The first died of cancer, but the rest are all dying by “accident or suicide”. Reacher is ordered to join a task force to determine the killers. As the book progresses, we discover that there are several secrets to be uncovered.

In recent years, there has been an unfortunate trend for thriller series to be cowritten. Although the character of Reacher is Lee Child’s brainchild, the books are now being written by nephew Andrew Child (who has also written under the pen name Andrew Grant). That writer is very good; I enjoy his work. But his style is completely different from his uncle’s. Reacher was established as ex GI who wandered the country and lived by his own rules, delivering vigilante justice whenever and wherever it was needed. The thrillers always include a lot of action with several fistfights and a few casualties along the way. In this book, Reacher is still an MP and although there are a few action scenes, the book is mostly a mystery solved by committee with the team plodding through the clues. The other main difference is in the narration. Usually, we are inside Reacher’s head for most of the novel. The reader is treated to Reacher’s mentally talking to himself, copious statistical calibrations, internal alarm clock and playing memorized record albums in his head. Most of that is completely missing or glossed over without detail. Instead, this novel is written from multiple points of view, including those of the victims and killers, thus removing a large portion of the mystery. I enjoyed the book, but to paraphrase a certain science fiction character, “This is not the Reacher you are looking for”.

Although the book was not typical Reacher, it is still enjoyable. I recommend this book to mystery-thriller fans.

I received an advance copy of this novel from Random House Publishing – Ballentine through Netgalley.