Publishers Weekly
★ 08/30/2021
The Child brothers’ superb second collaboration (after 2020’s The Sentinel) opens one night at a remote spot on the U.S.-Mexico border, where “the stranger,” a large, tall man many will assume is Jack Reacher, has arrived for a meeting. A car drives up, and four men get out. When the driver asks the stranger if he has the money, he pats his back pocket. Then the driver orders the stranger into the car, to take him to someone named Michael. The stranger refuses, saying the deal was for him to be told where Michael is. The stranger gets the best of it in the ensuing fight, until a woman shows up and guns down the stranger. At the morgue, the victim, identified as Reacher, is confirmed dead by the coroner, to the satisfaction of Waad Dendoncker, “the second coming of Al Capone, only with added craziness.” Flashbacks explain what led up to the violent confrontation. Smart writing, vivid action scenes, and dramatic twists mark this seamless effort. Even those for whom this is their first Reacher novel will be clamoring for more. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary (U.K.). (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Better Off Dead
“The mixture of brute-force and intellectual problem-solving is just right.”—Booklist
“Smart writing, vivid action scenes, and dramatic twists mark this seamless effort. Even those for whom this is their first Reacher novel will be clamoring for more.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Lee Child and Andrew Child return for another jointly written Reacher adventure. . . . Andrew Child smoothly slips into the signature minimalist prose of the iconic series, picking up just where his brother leaves off, for a book that should please old stalwarts and new fans alike.”—CrimeReads
Praise for the Jack Reacher series
“The truth about Reacher gets better and better. . . . This series [is] utterly addictive.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Jack Reacher is today’s James Bond, a thriller hero we can’t get enough of. I read every one as soon as it appears.”—Ken Follett
“Reacher is the stuff of myth. . . . One of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes.”—The Washington Post
“I’m a fan.”—James Patterson
“The Reacher novels are easily the best thriller series going.”—NPR
“Reacher is a man for whom the phrase moral compass was invented: His code determines his direction. . . . You need Jack Reacher.”—The Atlantic
“I pick up Jack Reacher when I’m in the mood for someone big to solve my problems.”—Patricia Cornwell
“[A] feverishly thrilling series . . . You can always count on furious action.”—Miami Herald
Library Journal
10/01/2021
Reacher is back in the 26th entry in the long-running crime thriller series (the second collaboration by Lee and Andrew Child, after The Sentinel), and so are many tropes that fans know and love. A strong woman in need of help; a dastardly villain with an underground lair and multitudes of killable minions; fight scenes galore, clinically described; crafty rescue operations; staccato sentences; and plenty of "Reacher said nothing" moments (though this novel is written in first person, so readers get a lot of "I said nothing" instead). The woman is disabled veteran—turned—FBI agent Michaela Fenton, who meets Reacher in the Arizona desert. She's searching for her twin brother, who might be involved with a weapons smuggler named Dendoncker, and she convinces Reacher to help her. They concoct a wild plan to flush Dendoncker out of hiding, but things go wrong and Fenton is captured by Dendoncker. It's Reacher to the rescue, aided by wary locals and friends in high places. VERDICT The writing is more seamless than in the Child brothers' previous collaboration, but the action is often perfunctorily described, and the supporting cast is thinly written. There's less humor than in previous entries, though Reacher's notorious Luddism is played for a few laughs. Fans of the series will enjoy.
OCTOBER 2021 - AudioFile
Scott Brick returns to portray the justice-seeking iron man Jack Reacher. Brick’s voicing of Reacher in this first-person narrative brings listeners right into Jack’s thoughts; however, his performances of the female characters are less credible. Making his way to the West Coast, Reacher gets distracted on the Arizona-Mexico border when he helps an Army veteran rescue her brother. Listeners will be immediately engaged by the dramatic opening. The middle is filled with one graphically described violent confrontation after another. The ending is thriller-worthy. Brick is a master at ratcheting up the tension. While those looking for character development and a bit of romance may be disappointed, “Reacher-creatures” who value Reacher’s fighting skills will be elated. E.Q. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-09-01
Jack Reacher goes on an energy-packed tear in this latest adventure by Child & Child.
Killing off your protagonist nearly from the get-go is a hell of an attention-getter, even if the reader knows it can’t be true. Ex–military cop Reacher watches Michaela Fenton kill two men as she searches for her twin brother, Michael, and of course Reacher can’t not get involved. Michaela feels responsible for Michael’s apparent death and says, “I’d be better off dead,” a sentiment Reacher discourages. The criminal she fears most “only breaks cover when someone who was a threat to him is dead,” so Reacher stages his own fake murder and is shipped to the morgue. But fans of his fists needn’t fret, as he has plenty of occasion to whale the bejesus out of the bad guys. Michael has been caught up in a scheme to build bombs of a curious nature. Maybe they’re harmless devices designed to release red, white, and blue smoke in a “swirling patriotic cloud” in homage to Old Glory. Or perhaps the agenda is to wreak havoc on Veterans Day, because said smoke could be laced with the deadly VX nerve gas. So the plot’s a bit wacky, but at least it’s not trite. Reacher dispenses plenty of knuckle justice and cranium cracking, and wounded vet Michaela gets in some well-placed kicks. The writing is unmemorable, with loads of short, declarative sentences. Incomplete ones, too. No reader is going to say omigod, I wish I could write a sentence like that. Maybe Reacher should repeat high school English to remember that it’s OK for tough guys to express complex thoughts now and then. He could use a love life, too. You’d think Michaela’s titanium boot would be a turn-on for him, but no. Yet all of this—plausible plot or not, Pulitzer-level prose or not—won't mean much to readers just looking for an exciting escape.
A fun read for the right niche of thriller readers.