Lee Child, Bad Luck and Trouble

Good book, from page one to the end. Lee Child does not write Jack Reacher novels fast enough. Great story line, excellent characters. A must read.

Bad Luck and Trouble

Lee Child

Delacorte, May 2007, $26.00, 384 pp.

ISBN 0385340559

Ex-Army, ex-M.P. Jack Reacher has a debit card, a bank account and very little else. He is a drifter who takes off on a whim but doesn't even own anything. When he checks the bank statement he finds a significant amount of money has been deposited in his account. This is a signal from Frances Neagley, one of nine in his army unit, so he calls her office and her assistant tells Jack she is in L.A. They meet at a Denny's where she tells him one of their own, Calvin Franz, was tortured, his legs broken and thrown out of a helicopter. She called all of the eight in their special unit and only Jack has answered so far.

At Frances' office they figure out he had a post office box so when they open it there is a thumb drive in it. When they place it into a computer and get the password they find a spread sheet with numbers on it. It also has five names on it and they believe the person's real name is Azhari Mahmoud and the other four names are aliases. Two other team members arrive while three others are murdered but when they figure out what the numbers mean, they realize they are dealing with a danger international in scope and whoever is behind the murders must be stopped at all costs.

Jack Reacher is one of the most interesting anti-heroes in thrillerdom. He stays under the radar but is a believer in justice and that idealism makes him a warrior who fights when necessary. He is a survivor in a world that doesn't understand him yet he has friends that are totally loyal to him. There is adrenaline-pumping action in this enthralling thriller but it is the unity of the group that that makes BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE a special reading experience.

Harriet Klausner