Lee Child began writing Tripwire in spring 1997. [4] The book was published on 15 June 1999 in the United Kingdom [1] and the American publication followed on 28 June of the same year. [2] Reacher, as written here, is a character that I simply can’t invest my time in. In another life, he was an army cop, yet his deductive skills seem to come out of nowhere, without reason, logic or a clue as to how a conclusion was drawn. He’s a mannequin that I just hoped would do something – beat on thugs or get in a shootout, instead, I get bogged down in Child’s lifeless prose. Reacher grew up as the son of a Marine officer so always lived in military housing. This continued when he joined the Army. He started his wandering right after he mustered out, so has never "owned a house" - until now.

of the time Reacher is indeed "the smartest guy in the room". The other 1% is when he's with those competent associates - then they communicate in a kind of shorthand that shows Reacher is with his kind of people. The second thing that seemed to define this book was Reacher not having full confidence about everything. He seems more human in this and at the same time even more awesome than regular humans. It looks like he's wrong about a lot of things and he still keeps at it, like a sledgehammer. The provisional title for Tripwire was The Hook, but that name was scrapped as Putnam believed the title was not "punchy" enough. [5] Putnam also believed The Hook would remind people too much of Peter Pan. [6] Reception [ edit ] Reacher is living as a swimming pool digger and minding his own business, when a private detective comes looking for him. And very soon – yes, you have guessed it! – the detective is tortured to death, and thus begins the adventure. Jodie Garber-Jacob, 30, is the daughter of General Leon Garber. She met and fell in love with Reacher when she was 15 and was off-limits to him. In Tripwire, she is divorced, using her married name, working as a corporate attorney and reunites romantically with him after her father's funeral. She and Reacher lived together in New York City and upstate New York in Leon's house which was left in his will to Reacher, his surrogate son. She is mentioned in Echo Burning as having moved to Europe. She appears in Tripwire, and The Visitor ( Running Blind in the United States).A notable example was when he permitted himself to be captured without a fight by the bad guys as they also abducted a blond FBI agent - reason being that if they'd started shooting on that busy Chicago street others might be shot. (view spoiler)

The novel opens in Florida where for several months he has built up a stake by working as a casual laborer digging swimming pools. He is thus in better shape than he has been in some years. The details have faded, but the presumption is that he has a cheap flop and, as always, he eats at diners so he can put away a little before he catches a bus to resume his long-established See America Plan. The prologue describes Victor Truman "Hook" Hobie's carefully planned escape route in the event of somebody discovering his "really big, well-guarded secret". His "early-warning system" consists of geographically-located "tripwires" that will warn him that he has been discovered. The first is eleven thousand miles from his home in the United States and the second is six thousand miles out. His response to their activation would be to tie up loose ends, cash in, transfer his assets, and disappear without trace. Over thirty years of quiet success have made him feel somewhat secure. But he did not expect both alerts to arrive on the same day. Okay, more like it. I have found myself running hot and cold in the Reacher series. There can be a huge eye roll factor in some of them...and there is a bit of that here. However...this one is very well constructed and the story pulled me in and wouldn't let go.Reacher disdains executives both civilian and military - unless they are also competent, with a "proper" disposition to break military law when such violates a higher moral authority - his best commanding officers and underlings honor the law "in the breach" when it would cause unjust results - or just render their efforts ineffective.

This isn't a review, because I just started reading this book, but I couldn't help sharing my irritation. I have seen self-described conservatives object to Child's "liberal" leanings. This is manifested by Reacher's predilection for competent women in the military and law-enforcement. Other "objections" accrue to Child/Reacher's occasional comment on US foreign policy and perhaps to Child's general critique of the police and the military. I think Child's view, as an Englishman and as expressed through his hero, is more subtle. So the guy who made another person fly from Dallas to Honolulu to New York just to meet with an old friend of his for four hours suddenly realizes that telephones exist and that he can call up people to get information on them, particularly if you actually know the person at the other end of the line. So we come to this show stealer, Marilyn Stone. With enough lines to garner her a nod from the Academy, she did more than steal a scene or two; I began to look forward to her scenes as Child drew her as tough and resourceful as a certain 6’5 former MP. Child’s characterization and dialogue are usually good and with Mrs. Stone, he outdid himself.I will read the next in the series hoping for a bit more of a story but I can guess there will be a bad guy who Reacher doesn't know at first then gets entangled with and defeats whilst bedding a gorgeous female (but not defeating the bad guy whilst bedding the female – just to clear that up). The next book could decide if I continue with the series or not. I will definitely be having a break whatever happens. Jodie has had a “crush” on him since she was 15 & he was 24 reporting to her dad. Hearts & desires are strong. This part of the story’s romance descriptions are strong & can go on.... I don't read thrillers much (except The Executioner and The Destroyer as a teen), but like those pulps, Reacher often beds an off-the-charts beautiful woman. "Spectacular" seems to be Child's favorite feminine superlative. All are uber-competent. She is often ex-military or has a current career in law enforcement. As in other Reacher novels, there is a fair amount of unbelievability, but we’re having fun so where’s the harm? In this one, most veterans will have a few eye roiling moments and there was one military scene that was almost laughable and made me consider that maybe British writer Child was confusing English bureaucracy with ours.