Release date: October 27, 2020
One of the perks of being a librarian is getting access to advance reader copies of upcoming books from the publishers. So I got to read the new Jack Reacher book early - yay! This book marks the introduction of Lee Child's younger brother Andrew as a co-writer. The addition of Andrew will help keep the series alive as Lee transitions towards retirement. The overall tone of the book remains classic Reacher with all the elements we know and love: blowing into a random town, seeing a person in crisis and intervening, and the resolution of the crisis through violence and also a stellar understanding of human motivations. Reacher does use a cell phone in this book, gasp! So we may be seeing a new era of technology entering into his adventures.
Reacher hitches a ride into a small Tennessee town and foils a kidnapping while trying to get a cup of coffee. The kidnap victim is at the center of a ransomware plot that has taken down the town's computer infrastructure. The ransomware attack is just the most obvious part of a plot that reaches further into both the past and the present than initially thought. This book is very timely in its look at the threat that hackers pose to our critical infrastructure.
