Reacher does it again in Better Off Dead, the second outing co-authored by brothers Lee Child and Andrew Child. For fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, you will be glad to know that this book is as action-packed as previous ones in the Reacher series. Reacher is still the man who never walks away from a fight whether it’s his fight or someone else’s.
Opening with a scene in a small-town morgue, this book is off to a surprising start when it is revealed that Reacher is lying on a slab, dead. Reacher had been headed to the Pacific coast when he was dropped in the Arizona desert near the Mexican border by his ride who had to suddenly return home. He walks to the nearest town, and this is where he ends up in the morgue. Now we jump back into the past to find out how Reacher ended up dead.
On his walk into the town, Reacher is confronted with the craziest thing: there is only one car on the road and it manages to hit the one tree for miles around. Thus, he meets Michaela Fenton, an Afghan veteran who was badly injured by an IED. Now she is in the FBI but she is on a personal mission. Her twin brother is missing, and Michaela is on the hunt to find out what happened.
Her brother was working with Waad Dendoncker, who pretty much owns the small town. No one seems to know what Dendoncker is really up to and how Michaela’s brother was involved. Reacher is recruited to find out, which leads to a confrontation with four men who don’t take to heart Reacher’s warning to back down. Reacher takes the first man down, but as the fight ensues a lone figure with a gun suddenly appears from nowhere. The plot is set, and plenty of action follows.
There is an abundance of twists and surprises in this book along with loads of action. Jack Reacher fans will be delighted.