No Plan B: The unputdownable new Jack Reacher thriller from the No.1 bestselling authors

Product Information

Lee and Andrew Child team up again in the 27th thriller of this series, the third for Andrew. As with any long-running series like this, the plot scenario never varies too far from what has always worked well. Here, Reacher has stopped in Gerrardsville, CO, to spend time in a museum that interests him. Right in broad daylight in the downtown, he sees a woman pushed to her death. But the official ruling is suicide so Reacher feels compelled to figure out what's really going on and who would want her dead. The search leads him to a privately-owned prison in Mississippi. this is the worst reacher book I’ve read, and I’ve read them all twice. I kept putting it down for days at a time. bored me to tears. I usuaally stay enthralled and finish one in a single reading. very disappointed!

The Child team proves to be master storytellers as they weave into the narrative two other sub-plots that move parallel to the main plot until they all collide and coalesce into an unexpected and explosive denouement. We learn about fifteen year old Jed, while living with foster parents, learns that his birth mother is dying of stage four pancreatic cancer and on her death bed finally tells him the truth about his father. Suddenly he departs from Los Angeles, intent on making a long journey that will necessitate many Greyhound buses. At the same time No Plan B is not to be missed. A perfectly plotted, fast paced thriller, with bigger twists than ever before. The tragic tale of a wrongly convicted man. He wondered what it had to do with Angela. Which made him think of another tragic tale. One that was just beginning. For the little girl in the wallet photo. Angela's daughter. Who would now have to grow up without a mother.The evil corporate conspiracy trope has become cliche--variations of it have become too common in the series. Painted as a target who might know too much, Reacher could find himself in a great deal of danger, but he refuses to stand down from trying to get to the root of the murder. Little does he know, but the killing is part of a larger conspiracy by a group who have even more nefarious plans that span across the country.

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. This review is based on an uncorrected advance review copy, not the final copy for publication. So, perhaps the editors will make a few changes before the book’s release. But one thing I noticed worth criticizing is the copy I read contains more than a few blatantly British colloquialisms and manners of speaking that feel a little jarring because they don’t fit with a story set in America with only American characters. Even given Reacher’s history growing up on Marine Corps bases all over the world as a military brat, it’s unlikely he would have adopted specifically British ways of speaking into his speech. There’s nothing wrong with two British authors writing a book set in America and filled only with American characters, but they should avoid the use of terms and colloquialisms almost only ever spoken and written in British English. As only one example, “fishmonger” is a mainly British term for a storekeeper who sells fish which in my entire life I’ve never heard uttered in the United States, though Americans may have used the term in the colonial days. This is clearly not a traditional Reacher book and that is NOT a good thing. This Reacher is a thug who continually looks forward to violence. It’s not the amount of violence, it’s the attitude. Then at the end, he becomes righteous –“I’m not going to kill anyone in cold blood”– tell that to the warden he choose to kill. Undoubtedly, Andrew Child will continue to live off of his brother’s reputation, but I will no longer be reading them.Having been dissatisfied after listening to the first 'official' collaboration between Lee (Grant) Child and his brother, Andrew (Grant) Child, "#25, The Sentinel" (3-Stars, but on re-reading my review, I think I was being generous), I decided to skip "#26, Better Off Dead" and see what delights awaited me in "#27, No Plan B". Lev Emerson, who specializes in making accidents happen, to solve other people’s problems. Learns his twenty-two year old son has died, while in rehab ….. his liver and other body organs have failed. His next mission is that of revenge… for those he holds responsible. But Reacher is unaware that these crimes are part of something much larger and more far-reaching: an arsonist out for revenge, a foster kid ontherun,a cabal of powerful people involved in a secret conspiracy with many moving parts. There is no room for error, but they make a grave one. They don’t consider Reacher a threat. “There’s too much at stake to start running from shadows.” But Reacher isn’t a shadow.He is flesh and blood.And relentless when it comes to making things right.

There is a noticeable difference in style of writing, now that Andrew has joined the writing team, perhaps a bit less warmth about our hero, but I'm happy to see there is still an occasional bit of humor to lighten things up.The truth about Reacher gets better and better. . . . This series [is] utterly addictive.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times If it isn't careful, PRH is going to milk this cash cow dry with an annual publishing schedule that takes the loyal reader for granted (Now there's a corporate conspiracy plot line Reacher should investigate). I'd rather wait 18 months for a well-conceived story line than get another "No Plan B" threadbare "Reacher" story in a year.