#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Lee Child returns with a gripping new powerhouse thriller featuring Jack Reacher, “one of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes” (The Washington Post).BONUS: Includes a sneak peek of Lee Child’s new novel, Past Tense. Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough … ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not?
So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness.
The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Turns out the ring was just a small link in a far darker chain. Powerful forces are guarding a vast criminal enterprise. Some lines should never be crossed. But then, neither should Reacher.
Praise for The Midnight Line
“Puts Reacher just where we want him.”—The New York Times Book Review
“A gem.”—Chicago Tribune
“A timely, suspenseful, morally complex thriller, one of the best I’ve read this year . . . Child weaves in a passionately told history of opioids in American life. . . . Child’s outrage over it is only just barely contained.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A perfect example of Lee Child’s talent . . . Lee Child is the master of plotting. . . . This is Child’s most emotional book to date. . . . This is not just a good story; it is a story with a purpose and a message.”—Huffington Post
“I just read the new Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. . . . It is as good as they always are. I read every single one.”—Malcolm Gladwell
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I haven’t met a Jack Reacher book I haven’t liked.
Great story that really makes you feel for disabled veterans who gave so much for their country. Full of action and suspense. I feel like I know Jack Reacher. He’s such an awesome and well-developed character. Definitely recommend!
I started reading the Jack Reacher books after going to the first Jack Reacher movie. I loved the movie, but enjoy the books so much more. Jack Reacher is a unique character with a unique way of interacting with whatever is tossed into his path. This book was no different. Reacher enters a town with no expectations, but trouble always finds him and the adventure begins.
Not my favorite Jack Reacher book of the series.
So, another Jack Reacher book. Number 22 in the series. As I’ve said before, Lee Child taps into the human psyche well. Men want to be him, women want to be with him. The idea of being a large, hard man with no ties is appealing to most men, at least in a fantasy sense. No mortgage, no bills, no responsibilities – just the ability to drift around having ‘adventures’ is an attractive daydream for many, including me. As far as what women think of Reacher, I’m not really qualified to comment on that part, but I sense that he is appealing to them in a different way.
The Midnight Line is, to an extent, a traditional Reacher novel. He arrives somewhere, discovers an issue, and uses all the tools at his disposal to investigate and ultimately resolve the issue. But this is a subtly different novel to most of the others. The setup is that Reacher finds a West Point ring in a pawn shop, obviously a woman’s. Knowing how difficult it is to get one of these rings, he sets out to uncover it’s provenance and to ultimately try to return it to it’s rightful owner. That’s the premise of the plot – not that different to the other Reacher novels, but perhaps rather softer.
Cue bad guys who need to beaten up, a vaguely organised network to be uncovered and taken down, and a damsel or two in distress. Compared to some of the other Reacher books, this one is toned down a fair bit, and rightfully so. There’s no presidents to defend for example, it’s a much more realistic ride, and it’s set against a realistic and sympathetically portrayed background of drug addiction, pain, and ultimately despair.
For a bloke from Birmingham (in the West Midlands in the United Kingdom, not Alabama), Lee Child absolutely nails the scenery, and this is a key component in the narrative – almost a character in itself. Neighbours are twenty miles away, the landscape is bleak and inhospitable, and also perfect for the plot.
Reacher swaggers his way through the book in the way that we’ve all come to love, but at the same time he shows us a different side to his usual self. There’s an unusual tenderness about him that we’ve not really seen before, and it’s a welcome insight into his character. There is a ‘thing’ right at the end of the book – obviously I’m not going to go into it here – that feels almost required or formulaic, and isn’t something that I thought was required, but other than that this was a fantastic addition to the Reacher series.
Would I recommend this book? Definitely. 4 stars, only the ‘thing’ at the end stops a fifth star.
I’ve read all Chi!d’s Reacher novels, this one left me wanting. Something seemed to be lacking. Sorry Lee..
I have read a number of Jack Reacher books and have enjoyed every last one of them. Midnight Line did everything I asked of it: a page turner, highly entertaining and unpredictable.
Typical Reacher yarn but with some great psychological twists. Chili’s has moved the Reacher character from pure adrenaline reaction to a more mature thinking analyzing before he reacts person. In this tale, his search for a ring owner turns into a complicated nest involving the Army, Ex FBI, and DEA, as well as two beautiful sisters. The villains as always are smart but flawed. Loved the tumble dryer.
I always enjoy reading Lee Child. Great characters .
Not his best, but okay.
How can you not like Reacher? Child has another hit to his lengthening list. His style is unique and this one does not disappoint.
Lee Child writes a potent novel about a damaged wanderer and the mysteries he undertakes to solve. This novel also speaks to the current opioid epidemic.
Gripping read!
Lee Child keeps the Jack Reacher series going with another great book! I really enjoyed it.
Another great Jack Reacher story
Once again Lee Child has turned out a good one! This is the first one I read since Tom Cruise played Reacher on the big screen. I guess I was boycotting because Tom Cruise has nothing in common with Jack Reacher. Reacher is 6’5” with hands bigger than most peoples heads. Too bad John Wayne wasn’t available! The book was good, the characters had personality and I was happy!
All books of series very good.
Not up to the typical Reacher standard. Always far fetched but this one was beyond the stretch. Can’t keep laving the dead bodies and drug trail without some consequence.
Typical beloved Reacher roaming the country and helping out those in need.
This dark story gripped me in ways I can’t explain. I’m anti-drugs, but Lee Childs has a way of turning my world upside down and opening my eyes to issues in ways I’ve never thought of before. This is a powerful narrative. Kudos to one of my ‘must read everything he writes’ authors!