Temperance Brennan is being investigated for the murder of a reporter who was re-opening an old suicide case that Reacher investigated. Included in MatchUp, a collection of co-authored short stories by male and female thriller authors (Lee Child and Kathy Reichs). In combination with James Grant’s retirement announcement, he revealed he was turning the series over to his younger brother, Andrew Grant, a thriller author of nine thrillers of his own. To maintain the consistency of the brand, Andrew adopted the pen name Andrew Child to carry the series into the future. Minutes later, Reacher is heading into town. To introduce himself to the shadowy crew who made it happen. Their boss has a terrifying reputation and the stakes are high. Just to get in and meet him, Reacher is going to have to achieve the impossible. This novella, published in 2013, [7] opens on 13 July 1977 [8] with an almost seventeen year old Reacher stopping by in New York in the middle of a heat wave to visit his brother at West Point when he encounters a woman (Jill Hemingway) being assaulted by a man. He drives off the man after a small scuffle, only to learn that the man is Croselli, one of the mob bosses of New York City. Croselli had slapped Hemingway for wearing a wire tape, and from this he deduced that Hemingway was an FBI agent. Hemingway warns him to leave the city before midnight or else Croselli would have his men kill him. They then part ways. I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He's a really, really nice guy. We had a lot of fun. But ultimately the readers are right. The size of Reacher is really, really important and it's a big component of who he is...So what I've decided to do is – there won't be any more movies with Tom Cruise. Instead we're going to take it to Netflix or something like that. Long-form streaming television, with a completely new actor. We're rebooting and starting over and we're going to try and find the perfect guy. [30]

BETTER OFF DEAD | Kirkus Reviews BETTER OFF DEAD | Kirkus Reviews

Culminating the story arc extending from 61 Hours, Reacher makes it to his destination in northeastern Virginia: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. On arriving though, Reacher finds out that the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, has been arrested. Soon he too finds himself taken into custody, pending the trial of two crimes he allegedly committed while he was in the army. Reacher and Turner set out on a journey; Turner in hopes of clearing her name and Reacher to prove the charges fraudulent or if true then atone for them. Reacher is mentioned several times in the Stephen King novel Under the Dome, where he is described by the character Colonel Cox as "the toughest goddam Army cop that ever served, in my humble opinion." [10] Lee Child's endorsement of Under the Dome appears on the cover of at least one edition of the book. [ citation needed] The story features Reacher, still in the Army as a captain, helping James Penney, a Vietnam War veteran who has recently been made redundant at work and had his car stolen. When Penney unknowingly becomes a fugitive (after he accidentally burns down two neighbours' houses in the course of deliberately burning down his own in an act of frustration after being fired), Reacher helps Penney obtain a new identity so he can start a new life. The story has appeared in Fresh Blood 3 (1999), an anthology of mystery short stories edited by Mike Ripley and Maxim Jakubowski, [6] and in Thriller (2006), a short story anthology of thrillers written by International Thrillers, Inc. members and edited by James Patterson. [ citation needed] "High Heat" [ edit ]

Reacher is always going to be my favorite character in this series. He’s the whole point of reading the books. But, in this one, I really liked Michaela Fenton. She’s no damsel in distress but a strong female character capable of holding her own when the numbers are reasonable. But facing an army of bad guys, she needs help as anyone would. We meet other fascinating characters along the way. Traveling from the town of Hope, Colorado to the neighboring town of Despair, Reacher finds that he is an unwelcome visitor, which fuels his curiosity. Reacher decides to investigate the mystery behind the town's unwelcoming disposition towards visitors, unraveling in the process the secrets of Thurman, a powerful businessman who has employed the majority of the population of Despair to work in his recycling factory. The stranger didn’t move. He didn’t relax his grip. The woman hesitated. The other guy was between her and the stranger. Not an ideal position. But he was six inches shorter. And slightly to the side. That did leave her a target. An area on the stranger’s chest. A rectangle. It was maybe six inches by ten. That was big enough, she figured. And it was more or less in the right position. She took a breath. Exhaled gently. And pulled the trigger. To get answers will be even harder. There are people in this hostile, empty place who would rather die, than reveal their secrets. But then, if Reacher is coming after you, you might be better off dead. Reacher makes a stop in an agrarian town called Mother's Rest. There a woman, Michelle Chang, enlists his help to find a missing colleague.

Better Off Dead by Lee Child - Penguin Books New Zealand Better Off Dead by Lee Child - Penguin Books New Zealand

Because I’ve been there. It’s another way of saying Yankee Stadium. And the guy used a false name, too. He signed the register as John Smith.’ Reacher then meets a brunette, Chrissie at a coffee shop and they agree to go CBGB together using Chrissie's car. Inside the club they find Hemingway along with one of Croselli's henchmen, who promptly calls his boss on seeing Reacher. Meanwhile, Reacher gets to know that Jill Hemingway had been suspended from the FBI, pending review as part of the deal cut by Croselli with the FBI and that she was planning to bring him down. Reacher takes care of the henchman, just before a power outage strikes, before making his escape with Chrissie. Dr Houllier was seventy-two years old. He had served the town his whole life. Once he was part of a team. Now he was the only physician left. He was responsible for everything from delivering babies to treating colds to diagnosing cancer. And for dealing with the deceased. Which was the reason for that day’s early start. He’d been on duty since the small hours. Since he received the call about a shooting on the outskirts of town. It was the kind of thing that would attract attention. He knew that from experience. He was expecting a visit. Soon. And he needed to be ready. Chrissie and Reacher then make out in her car, when they encounter the Son of Sam, a serial killer who killed couples making out in cars. Son of Sam couldn't see Chrissie and leaves, but not before Reacher gets a good look at his posture and mannerisms.

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This anthology includes a novella, "Too Much Time", and the short stories"Deep Down", "Everyone Talks", "Guy Walks into a Bar", "High Heat", "James Penney's New Identity" (the original version which is longer), "Maybe They Have a Tradition", "No Room at the Motel", "Not a Drill", "Second Son", "Small Wars", and "The Picture of the Lonely Diner". A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. Reacher goes where he wants, when he wants.That morning he was heading west, walking under the merciless desert sun—until he comes upon a curious scene.A Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. A woman is slumped over the wheel. Tom Cruise to attend charity movie premiere in Knoxville". WBIR ( Knoxville, Tennessee). 13 September 2016. Reacher visits a hollowed-out town in Maine, where he witnesses a random bag-snatching but sees much more than a simple crime.

Extract: Better Off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child Extract: Better Off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Reacher hitches a ride in Texas. Carmen, the driver, is a mother of a young girl and is trapped in an abusive marriage. She requests Reacher's help. After some deliberation Reacher consents. However, at her remote ranch in Echo County Reacher encounters lies, prejudice and hatred climaxing in Carmen being arrested for the murder of her husband. With Carmen's true motives cast into doubt, Reacher finds himself investigating the truth. To get answers will be even harder. There are people in this hostile, empty place who would rather die than reveal their secrets. Reacher arrives late one night in a rural Nebraska town. In the town's fading motel bar he overhears a drunk doctor's refusal to attend a victim of domestic abuse. Reacher intervenes, getting the doctor to attend to the victim while breaking the nose of the husband responsible for the abuse. It turns out that the husband is the scion of the powerful and rich Duncan clan, which maintains authority in that part of Nebraska. Reacher's intervention causes him to end up embroiled in a smuggling ring and an unsolved disappearance from twenty-five years prior. Still, I wasn’t ready to call it quits with Reacher without trying the second Andrew co-authored book. Sometimes, a new author of an existing popular series grows into the role and finds their footing. So, when I had the opportunity to snag an advance copy of Better Off Dead from the publisher, I jumped at the chance.

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Just as Reacher helps Holly Johnson, an attractive young woman struggling with her crutches on a Chicago street, they are both kidnapped at gunpoint. Reacher and the woman are thrown into a dark van and taken 2,000 miles across America, completely unaware why they were kidnapped and where they are going. Finding themselves trapped in a seemingly remote place, they must work together to find the answers. Other people followed suit. The shanty became a village. The village became a town. The town split in two like a cell, multiplying greedily. Both halves flourished. One to the south. One to the north. There were many more years of steady growth. Then stagnation. Then decline. Slow and grim and unstoppable. Until an unexpected shot in the arm was delivered, in the late 1930s. An army of surveyors showed up. Then labourers. Builders. Engineers. Even some artists and sculptors. All sent by the WPA. No one local knew why those towns had been chosen. Some said it was a mistake. A bureaucrat misreading a file note and dispatching the resources to the wrong place. Others figured that someone in D.C. must have owed the mayor a favour. But whatever the reason, no one objected. Not with all the new roads that were being laid. New bridges being constructed. And all kinds of buildings rising up. The project went on for years. And it left a permanent mark. The towns’ traditional adobe arches became a little more square. The stucco exteriors, a little more uniform. The layout of the streets, a little more regimented. And the amenities, a lot more generous. The area gained schools. Municipal offices. Fire houses. A police station. A courthouse. A museum. And a medical centre.

Better Off Dead | Jack Reacher Wiki | Fandom

A damsel in distress who's a former member of the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Group is too much for Reacher to ignore. She is searching for her twin brother, who has gone missing after becoming involved with a known drug and arms dealer. Reacher ends up on a slab in the coroner's office but that doesn't stop him from helping to reunite the brother and sister. The truth about Reacher gets better and better. . . . This series [is] utterly addictive.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

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Reacher is the stuff of myth. . . . One of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes.” — The Washington Post Reacher is in Key West, digging pools by hand and moonlighting as a bouncer for a topless bar. He discovers the body of a New York investigator hired by "Mrs. Jacob" to find him. He finds out that she is attorney Jodie Garber, daughter of General Leon Garber, Reacher's recently deceased mentor and surrogate father in the Army. She wants his help investigating her father's last project, a search on behalf of the elderly parents of their military MIA son. Having inherited a house and gained a steady girlfriend, Reacher contemplates a sedentary life as he and Jodie find themselves hunted by a psychopath businessman and military criminal crippled in the Vietnam War, who has a shadowy business and other secrets to protect. Baldacci, David, ed. (2014). FaceOff. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781476762074 . Retrieved 31 December 2016.