In Too Deep

Your next guilty pleasure has arrived. The voice of our beloved hero, Jack Reacher, lives on in another action-packed, suspenseful thriller penned with the emerging prominence of Andrew Child, with his older brother Lee taking a back seat. The torch is being successfully passed to Andrew, as Lee plans to retire.

Reacher’s inimitable style of conflict resolution, complete with action and violence in support of the victim, continues to shine with mystery and intrigue. This novel can be devoured as a standalone, with the necessary backstory seamlessly laid in.

Reacher awakens disoriented, shackled to a table, with an obvious broken right arm and no recollection of how he got there. He’s told that “they” suspect him of being an FBI agent. Upon waking, he is confronted by the leader of a crime organization. With his usual guile and skill, Reacher tricks Fletcher, overpowers him, and frees himself from the shackles. While attempting to escape, he meets Ivan Vidic, who offers his help and provides background on the situation. Vidic reveals that he wants to “jump ship” from this criminal enterprise, which has become a dangerous fiasco. What started as making copies of paintings for collectors has escalated into creating forgeries for unscrupulous art gallery owners. Under the new leadership of Fletcher, the operation has become more dangerous and violent, drawing the attention of the FBI. A previous member, O’Connell, was killed in a heist where a guard was unnecessarily murdered by their muscle, the psychotic Kane. Another member, Bowery, has gone missing while trying to retrieve a payment, and Gibson died in a car accident where Reacher was found at the scene, though he has no memory of what happened. Reacher also suspects Vidic isn’t telling him the full story.

After escaping, Reacher learns through investigation and gathering information from Vidic that the criminal cabal has multiple planned activities. They are rushing to complete “the Russian job,” obtain the contents of a safe worth more than two million dollars, and sell a stolen document (referred to as “the Report”) to a foreign government, which will likely net them millions. As Reacher skillfully evades confrontation with the group, he teams up with an off-duty female detective, Knight. Her father was senselessly killed while working security, and she has a personal vendetta to either apprehend or kill Kane. With Reacher’s help, Knight begins to unravel the subtleties of this complex criminal plot. Knight proves to be a badass complement to Reacher’s “take-no-prisoners” violence.

Once again, the Childs prove to be excellent storytellers, weaving together a complex and twisted tale with many surprise reveals as they steadily ratchet up the suspense and intrigue. Reacher delivers the expected action and violence, leading to a barn-burning denouement. I eagerly await the next thriller penned solely by Andrew Child.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.