Night School by Lee Child

Night School: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child --- 369 pages

Child's 21st Reacher novel takes us back in time to 1996. Major Jack Reacher, U.S. Army MP, is awarded his second Legion of Merit for the precision strike that took out two war criminals from the 1992-1995 Bosnian Genocide. Swift, summary justice, Reacher style, 

Meanwhile, recently reunited Germany is experiencing a resurgence of Fascism amid the first stirrings of Islamist extremism among its growing immigrant population. A double agent embedded in a terrorist cell sends a warning: an "American" is negotiating the sale of something to the leaders of a group that sounds like Al Qaeda hiding out in remote tribal country in Afghanistan. Whatever the American is selling, he wants one hundred million dollars for it and the mujahideen are willing to pay his price. 

Reacher is part of an elite team the National Security Council is hoping can identify the American and stop the sale, Hamburg is where the transfer will occur once the money has been deposited in the American's Swiss bank account. Unfortunately the local neo-Nazis are also keen to snatch the prize. And of course in 1996 secret agents still have to operate without benefit of the World Wide Web or cell phones, much less smart phones or CSI technology.

Night School is a little subdued at the start but the story grows on you as it unfolds. Child keeps his style lean and sharp, his hero bigger than life, 

Click HERE for a feature story on Lee Child from the New York Times.

Click HERE for a review from the London Evening Standard.

Click HERE for a review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE for a review from the Washington Post.