I typically wait for the release date for Jack Reacher, but this year my impatience got the better of me and I requested an ARC. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me early access in exchange for my honest review.

Reacher's head is carved up there on my Mount Rushmore and is in absolutely no danger of being blasted and cleared away to make room for a new face. At this point I'm convinced that the transition between Messrs. Child is complete and Andrew is fully in charge of the story and writing...I could be mistaken, but it's been what? 4 books?

The story is tight, the action is great, the suspense is right in line with what I've come to expect from a Reacher novel. I love military Reacher. Present-day vagabond/vigilante Reacher is good, but military Reacher is the Reacher I like to read about and this story does not disappoint. Very enjoyable, 5 stars.

Well done Andrew, this long-time Reacher fan is excited for the future of the series.

Early Reacher

Army military police Jack Reacher is paired with members of other government departments to try to find out who is after scientists who worked at an Indian chemical plant in 1969; The scientists are being killed one by one. Reacher partners with FBI, CIA and Treasury officers to solve the crimes.

This was a refreshing change for the Reacher series. Instead current time with him traveling around the country and fighting crime all alone, this was set in an earlier period, where he was still Army police with a living brother.

Some of the recent books got a little too far-fetched for me. This has Reacher fighting numerous people at once, but it was (relatively) believable.

The writing was good and I liked the characters, especially the flawed or damaged partners. But the plot didn't capture me. It wasn't bad, but just did not compel me to keep reading, hence the 4 stars rather than.5. I am a fan of the authors and read everything they write, so I was happy to read this even with the less than stellar plot.

There was also what was basically a short story at the beginning of this book where Reacher finds out what happened to missing gun parts. That was a very good story.

I've been a fan of Jack Reacher for many years, they are a fun read and highly entertaining. When I found out that his novels would be taken over by an author I enjoyed reading, I was curious as to how it would turn out. I'm glad to discover that I had nothing to fear because my good friend Reacher was in excellent hands. This story starts off with Reacher in the army in the mid 1990's, still in uniform as a captain in the MP's and investigating a gun theft in Illinois. He takes care of the problem with his usual style, and is sent to DC to help investigate the murders of a group of scientists involved with a secret project from 1969 in India. Naturally, the story becomes complex and Jack and his fellow investigators become neck deep in a conspiracy involving the Secretary of Defense. It's a very good read, like others in this series. The pace is easy and luckily the order you read these books doesn't matter, which is nice because it means you're not hindered by trying to remember what happened in the last book which you read over a year before. I liked the throwback to the 90's, the use of beepers and fax machines which are completely foreign in the current day and age. I'm glad to know that one of my favorite characters is in very good hands, and I will hopefully be able to continue to read these novels for as long as Reacher continues to knock heads together.

People connected to a defunct top secret project are turning up dead. Could be accidents. Or suicides. Or murder. One death gets the attention of the Secretary of Defense, who promptly forms a task force to investigate, and Jack Reacher is assigned to the case.

Reacher knows that they may be getting set up to take the blame if this isn't solved soon, but who can he trust to help him figure it out?

Filled with signature Reacher moves, this latest installment in the Reacher franchise will keep old and new fans engaged and turning pages. Highly recommended. #TheSecret #NetGalley #SaltMarshAuthors

This was interesting, and certainly kept you reading to the end. I found it interesting that Reacher was back to being a representative of the Army again in present times and that his brother was still alive. Hmmmm. No explanation, but maybe I just missed the dates it took place. Anyway, the story was good, enjoyed it and had a hard time putting the book down. I do question why the girls were trained like they were just to avenge? Oh well, without spoilers, I will not go further. On the whole, another great book by Lee and his brother Andrew. Keep 'em coming! Highly recommended.

Thank you Random House,NetGallery and both Mr. Childs for allowing me the opportunity tor read the ebook,The Secret. I enjoyed this newest Reacher novel because he was back to being an investigator for the Army instead of bussing all over the country helping those in need. The mix of characters were quite interesting but the underlying story involving them not so much. I was able to figure out who the main culprit was early on in the book. It was a quick read and thought it deserved five stars.

This book takes us back to the days when Reacher was in the Army. He is working with a task force investigating the deaths of scientists who were involved in a top secret project in the 60’s. Reacher knows he isn’t being told everything and uses his sources to try and get the whole story. Fans of this series won’t be disappointed, this will hold your interest and keep you turning the pages. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

This story harkens back to when Reacher was demoted to Captain. Suddenly a few upstanding citizens begin to die and things look a bit suspicious. Reacher is sent to be part of a multidisciplinary task force to try and identify who is behind these killings and things go downhill from there. Soon it becomes readily apparent that these dead people had a past together, back in the 1960s in India. Reacher now need to figure out who is friend and who is foe in this thrilling pager turner. I simply could not put it down.

I recently came upon a quote which definitely pertains to my relationship with Reacher stories — I read a Reacher book in a day and then wait a year for the sequel. I suppose I could try drawing out the reading experience but Reacher adventures demand to be inhaled at top speed.
This book is a little different in that it draws from his days as an MP, in 1992, before cell phones and super connectivity changed the world. It started a little slowly as we are introduced to Reacher working on and solving a somewhat pedestrian army warehouse theft . Then the focus switches to a widespread mystery of the deaths of a number of law-abiding citizens, and Reacher becomes part of a multi department task force. Since anyone familiar with Reacher knows he does not play well with others, the enjoyment becomes two fold — watching Reacher untangle the puzzle while remaining true to his personal code. Of course, as in any good mystery, even that inconsequential introductory case has a bearing on the rest of the story.
In general the pace didn’t flag, and there were several excellent scenes of Reacher being Reacher, but I still prefer Reacher the paladin, traveling through life at his own pace, defending the defenseless, However, even Reacher the military man gives a good account of himself and provides an entertaining read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of “The Secret” in exchange for an honest review. Jack Reacher is back, with another installment that goes back in time to Reacher’s previous army days. Reacher joins a task force under the direction of the Secretary of Defense, where he works closely with agents from the FBI and CIA to track down those responsible for several murders staged as suicides, with victims that are connected through participation in a classified project many years ago. As usual, Reacher takes charge, kicks a$$ (quite violently), and “says nothing” (actually quite a few times this in this installment). The story progresses in a fairly predictable manner with “surprises” that can be figured out ahead of time, but is also very entertaining, fast-paced, and action-packed. Recommended for all Reacher fans. Four stars.

Why are a group of people who worked together back in 1969 having suspicious, deadly accidents?

In 1992, Jack Reacher has just successfully completed an assignment as MP when he is summoned to Washington DC to represent the Army on a task force. The Secretary of Defense is concerned about these mounting deaths, and wants the assembled team to figure out if these are in fact not accidents but murder and if so, who is doing the killing and why? Without knowing why the SecDef is so concerned, the group needs to figure thing out soon, because if they don’t they will be the perfect fall guys when things go wrong. Each has some baggage that made them ideal for this investigation….they are expendable, and with the exception of Reacher would actually be expected to fail. But Reacher is not about to let office politics and bureaucratic CYA-ing derail his career. He doesn’t know which, if any, of his team members can be trusted, so sets out to do what he is so good at doing: bulldozing his way through obstacles to figure out the truth and deliver his own brand of justice.
This is not the most difficult of Reacher’s cases to figure out, but it is a solid outing in the series. If you’re a fan, you are going to read this latest installment, and you’ll enjoy it. There is plenty of chicanery by those in the upper echelons trying to cover up their mistakes, and Reacher’s usual lack of tolerance for those antics. If you have ever been given an assignment that was almost guaranteed would not work out as planned, wouldn’t you have liked someone like Reacher on your side to balance out the odds? If for some reason you have yet to read a Reacher novel, please start now….you don’t know what fun you’re missing! Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing/Ballantine Books for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy….as always, I enjoyed the ride and look forward to the next installment in the series!

Another good Jack Reacher book. This goes back in time to his military service. Good story development and character interaction

It’s the 1990’s, and Jack Reacher—still in the U.S. army but having been demoted to captain—is sent to participate in a multi-agency task force investigating the suspicious deaths of scientists who all had been involved in a secret project in 1969. The setting in this era removes reliance on smartphones, Google, and other modern conveniences, meaning that we get to see Reacher approach an investigation using nothing more modern than hit wits and a fax machine. He spends less time beating people up (though that happens when necessary—as Reacher himself would say, this is no kind of a cozy) and more time reasoning, using a combination of intellect and expert knowledge of how people tend to act. As always, he maintains a healthy and amusing cynicism about the motives of the higher-ups giving the orders. The ending is predictable but nonetheless satisfying, because the fun of these books is watching how Reacher will get to the bottom of things, not the resolution to a puzzle per se. I was happy to see him in more of a traditional investigative mode instead of the pattern of some recent books, in which he freely roams the country killing disturbingly large numbers of bad guys without apparent consequence. Itinerant investigator and righter of wrongs was great until the body count per book started to get ridiculous. Here, both Reacher's skills as an investigator and his real-world abilities to deal with bad guys (not to mention his marksmanship) are featured, to excellent effect.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for a digital advance review copy.

I love every Jack Reacher book! The mystery of The Secret was easier to solve than most, but I still really enjoyed reading it. I like Reacher’s methodical process and the way he is thinking two steps ahead as layers of the problem are revealed. It’s fun to be brought back to the pre-cell phone and Internet era to see how the crime is solved. The Secret felt clunkier than other books in the series and I’m not sure if that is due to Andrew Child’s writing. Overall, these thrillers are so intelligent but not farfetched and I hope they continue that way.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

Another fun Reacher book. This is not the best Jack Reacher book, it was a little predictable, but it's still Reacher and part of one of the best series around. This was an action packed, quick read, page turner and I read it in one setting. This continues the recent trend of presenting Reacher in the 1990s when he was still an army captain and I really enjoyed how it filled in some of the blanks of his history. Highly recommended for fans of action thrillers.

Another page-turner, unleashed on an eager fan base. Child and Child know how to engage the reader with action and cliffhangers. I always look forward to Reacher novels. This one was especially fun because it was retro, set in time 30 years ago.

You'll recognize a younger Reacher, a man who travels lightly, shows up with unexpected solutions, and fights evil with good intentions and a hard punch. When you want an adventure to take your mind off your boring job, pick up this novel.

Reacher is back in The Secret by Andrew Child

"Several seemingly unconnected people across the US have died. One more death makes the Secretary of Defense call for an inter-agency task force to find out who is behind it. There are secrets going back decades.

Reacher is tasked to join this group. He knows the leadership is holding something back. But he knows justice finds a way..."

This takes place right after Reacher was demoted to Captain. (something about slamming his superior officer's head into a desk for almost getting people killed - the dent makes appearances in several books) Child continues to get the feel of the Reacher character in this book. There's very little technical description of fighting techniques and more of Reacher being Reacher.
This is a revenge/conspiracy story with some great bad guys. Reacher finds a way to dig out the secrets and mete out his brand of justice.

This can be read as a stand-alone. Great addition to the Reacher story.

The Secret by Lee Child & Andrew Child
Thriller • Government Conspiracy • Mystery
Multiple POV • Asynchronous
Pub Date: 24 October 2023 (eARC)

I was looking for something not extremely deep, but action packed & this hits the mark. The Jack Reacher series is a broadly popular series, as evidenced by this novel, the 28th(!) in the series. I was introduced to Reacher when my hubby and I watched the 2022 television series of the same name. [Sidenote: the tv series was renewed and Season 2 is filming and set to air this December.] Since we enjoyed the show, obvi I needed to read the books it was based upon.

This series can be read out of order, as each subsequent novel does not build on or depend upon the priors. In this latest edition, we are taken back to when Jack is still an Army Captain Military Police. For those who watched the series, you know Jack gets his results by going rogue, often, off-the-books. In The Secret, he is assigned to a special task force convened by the SecDef. FBI, CIA, DOD (Reacher), and DOT round out the interagency team. They are tasked to figure out who is assassinating a group of retired scientists associated with a government bioweapons defense program. The conspiracy theories run deep and the team must work fast and loose to learn who they can trust - lest they themselves end up the scapegoats, or dead.

The story is told from multiple perspectives so the reader is clued in to different pieces of information and facts along the way. I guessed parts correctly while other angles took me by surprise. Joe, Reacher's brother who works at DOT makes a cameo, which was fun for those who've seen the show. This was fun, fast, and furious. There's nothing that will stick in the long term memory cells, but that's what I like about this type of novel. It reminded me of The Lincoln Lawyer, but interchange the legal bits with spy & law enforcement bits. Definitely grab this one when you need a quick high action fix. Releases Oct 24!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing / Ballantine for this eARC.

TW: Violence, Death, Murder, Light Torture

As with James Patterson, I had taken a break from Jack Reacher novels. Thanks to NetGalley I was rewarded with his 28th outing and enjoyed a good read. Reacher fans will not be disappointed with our hero always on top of the situation and using his intellect and considerable skills to solve the problem. Shades of creepy politicians, greedy corporate CEOs and two sisters out for revenge. What more could you ask for?

Recommended.

Reacher #28.

1992. An earlier case that didn’t go well got Reacher busted back to Captain and assigned to the minor leagues. He’s investigating the sale of M16 firing mechanisms that can turn a civilian version into a fully automatic weapon that only the military should have. Small operation. A couple of clerks at an Illinois arsenal processing Desert Storm surplus for demolition remove the devices and sell them on the black market. Reacher and a female FBI agent take down this little operation barely breaking a sweat.

That’s just the preamble. It may be 1992, but his next assignment has its origin in 1969 at a chemical plant in India. The Russians were concentrating efforts on the development of chemical weapons. The response by the US was to double their efforts at finding defensive antidotes. Thus, this plant in India.

Morgan Sanson was a mid-level administrator at the plant whose assignment was safety. He unearthed some cost-cutting to swindle money and was preparing to send his findings up the chain of command. When his findings are ignored, he decides to go public. Apparently filled with guilt or remorse at the lack of action, he takes his own life leaving behind his wife and four children to be shipped back to Germany to fend for themselves.

While the India plant was doing what was advertised, there was another lab doing its own weapons development. Seven scientists worked in secrecy, but it was their work that was what Sanson uncovered. An accident at the plant happens and about a half dozen people died. Sanson is a convenient patsy now that he’s not around.

Back to 1992. Four respected and mostly retired scientists have died. Mostly by accident or suicide. The next one to die was in a hospital and found below his window from a long fall. That one doesn’t sound like the others.

The deaths were those scientists who worked secretly at the India plant. The Defense Dept is now interested. A task force is assembled with a rep from the Army (Reacher), FBI, CIA, and Treasury with the purpose of developing a list of names of whomever might be behind these deaths/murders. One of the first, and most interesting questions, is why were these four selected for this task force? Because of they are investigative terriers or because each has some black marks on their record. If anything goes wrong . . . the chances for further demotions loom large.

This isn’t the rambunctious street fights we are used to with Reacher. More of a research procedural. Doesn’t take long to figure out who is behind the deaths or their motivations. Think of this as the Child’s version of a Lt. Columbo story. Everyone knows who’s guilty and the story is not the ‘who’. Rather the story is the search and just how will this task force.

The addition of Andrew (Lee’s son) to the mix (this is maybe the 3rd or 4th collaboration) indicates that the dad (Lee) is moving closer to full retirement. While Andrew is a publish author, he is still learning how to present a Jack Reacher story. I see improvement, but it’s still not there yet, but I’m hopeful.

Two things I liked about this outing. First is that the story investigates Reacher’s history. I seem to remember one earlier book (with Reacher in the former Yugoslavia, can’t recall the title) and would like to see more. Second is purely coincidental. This is the first Reacher book to come out since the casting of Alan Richson as Reacher by Amazon Prime. Was always kind of hard to picture Reacher as Tom Cruise. Not so now. Each page turned brought a new image of Richson in my mind’s eyes. That works so much better.