Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York : Delacorte Press, c2011.
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Everything starts somewhere. For elite military cop Jack Reacher, that somewhere was Carter Crossing, Mississippi, way back in 1997. A lonely railroad track. A crime scene. A cover-up. A young woman is dead, and solid evidence points to a soldier at a nearby military base. But that soldier has powerful friends in Washington. Reacher is ordered undercover to find out everything he can and then to vanish. But when he gets to Carter Crossing, Reacher meets local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux, who has a thirst for justice and an appetite for secrets. Uncertain they can trust each other, they reluctantly join forces. Finding unexpected layers to the case, Reacher works to uncover the truth, while others try to bury it forever. The conspiracy threatens to shatter his faith in his mission�??and turn him into a man to be fear… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member cameling
Although it's the 16th in the series, The Affair takes us back to the beginning when Jack Reacher enters into a voluntary separation from the army, and becomes the vagabond vigilante that we are familiar with.
A woman in Mississippi has had her throat viciously slashed and despite the lack of
Reacher uncovers a conspiracy within the Pentagon and certain political figures, and finds himself having to consider if the truth is more important than the institution.
A woman in Mississippi has had her throat viciously slashed and despite the lack of
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evidence, it is believed that this could have been a crime committed by someone at the Kelham military base. Reacher is sent undercover to try and glean information from the local population while his peer is sent into Kelham to investigate within the military base. When Reacher discovers that there were 2 other women in Carter Crossing murdered with the same MO, and when a couple of men are killed with what appears to be military issued weapons, the suspicion that someone in the military was involved grows stronger although evidence to the identity of the killer or killers remain elusive.Reacher uncovers a conspiracy within the Pentagon and certain political figures, and finds himself having to consider if the truth is more important than the institution.
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LibraryThing member YogiABB
The Affair is another one of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels. Jack Reacher is big mean Military Policeman who doesn't take much crap from anybody. Jack Reacher books are my brain candy. This book is a prequel to the very first Reacher novel The Killing Floor. I hadn't read it so I guess I have
In this one Reacher is sent down to Mississippi by the Pentagon to go undercover to make sure that a murder investigation is being conducted properly. While there he hooks up with the local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux. Well poor Elizabeth falls head over heels for the handsome Jack Reacher. One feature of the town is that there is a freight train that roars through town exactly at midnight every night and is so big and fast it shakes everything in town. Well guess what, Jack's hotel is right next to the train and Jack and Liz time their "peak expression for the affection they have for each other" to coincide with the arrival of the train at midnight.
I thought that was hilarious, but they are so good at it they start using the expression "catching the train." I just rolled laughing. I can do that you see, it is my brain candy.
Plot, what plot, oh yeah, Jack figures out eventually that he has been played, crossed, and double crossed and well of course he has to take corrective action and he does in true Billy Jack style.
I give this book four stars out of five. Don't you judge me!
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something to look forward to reading.In this one Reacher is sent down to Mississippi by the Pentagon to go undercover to make sure that a murder investigation is being conducted properly. While there he hooks up with the local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux. Well poor Elizabeth falls head over heels for the handsome Jack Reacher. One feature of the town is that there is a freight train that roars through town exactly at midnight every night and is so big and fast it shakes everything in town. Well guess what, Jack's hotel is right next to the train and Jack and Liz time their "peak expression for the affection they have for each other" to coincide with the arrival of the train at midnight.
I thought that was hilarious, but they are so good at it they start using the expression "catching the train." I just rolled laughing. I can do that you see, it is my brain candy.
Plot, what plot, oh yeah, Jack figures out eventually that he has been played, crossed, and double crossed and well of course he has to take corrective action and he does in true Billy Jack style.
I give this book four stars out of five. Don't you judge me!
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LibraryThing member creighley
Fast-paced military mystery...and cover up. Two MPs are sent to investigate...one to investigate on the military base and one to investigate under cover within the town. Higher ups are involved and may cost Jack Reacher his military career as he learns the truth and acts on it.
LibraryThing member dickmanikowski
Lee Child is a remarkably consistent author. And Jack Reacher is possibly my favorite character in crime fiction.
All the previous Reacher novels I'd read portrayed Reacher as a loner who had gained his skills as an Army MP, but this one tells the story of the series of events that led to the end of
All the previous Reacher novels I'd read portrayed Reacher as a loner who had gained his skills as an Army MP, but this one tells the story of the series of events that led to the end of
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his military career. As always, it's a great read. Show Less
LibraryThing member dekan
i like the reacher novels and this is another retro. interesting to see him try to be who he is now as the bricks start piling up. (in hindsight anyway). kept you guessing a bit. you'll like it if you're a reacher fan.
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Another great Reacher, harking back to 1997 just before he left the army, in fact his final case. He's dispatched to a one horse town in deep Mississippi which is totally reliant on a nearby army base, undercover, to find out if one of the base personnel is responsible for a brutal murder of a
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beautiful local woman. As always nothing is quite as it seems and Reacher is quickly making waves which reach to the highest levels in Washington, who foolishly try their best to stifle Reacher's investigation. Cracking read which keeps you reading long after you should have gone to bed! Show Less
LibraryThing member Jarratt
This is the second Jack Reacher book I've read and I enjoyed it better than the first ("Killing Floor"). The story was tight, the dialogue well done and witty, and the characters were nicely fleshed out.
"The Affair" is about a murder that's occurred outside a high security army base in rural
My only real complaint was the violence Reacher commits during the investigation. He took steps that seemed unnecessary and others seemed ok with it. This didn't seem plausible, but I think the story was good enough to allow me to give Child a pass on this.
"The Affair" is about a murder that's occurred outside a high security army base in rural
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Mississippi. An MP is sent to the base to investigate in case the culprit is a solider, but Jack Reacher, an MP himself, is sent to oversee the police investigation as well (since the murder didn't actually occur on base). Little does he know that the local sheriff was a former Marine MP, so she recognizes what she's dealing with in Reacher. This is a well-written who-done-it that keeps you guessing until the end.My only real complaint was the violence Reacher commits during the investigation. He took steps that seemed unnecessary and others seemed ok with it. This didn't seem plausible, but I think the story was good enough to allow me to give Child a pass on this.
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LibraryThing member nbmars
Fans of Lee Child may have wondered why Jack Reacher, Child’s popular protagonist, left the army. (Even in the first book in the series, Reacher was already an ex-Army M.P.) Child answers that question in The Affair, by going back in time to 1997 for the termination of Reacher’s military
Most of the action takes place near Fort Kelham, a fictional army ranger base in Northern Mississippi, where Reacher has been sent to make sure the army is not implicated in the murder of a beautiful young townie. The young lady in question, who happened to be Caucasion, was the victim of a grizzly throat slashing, just the sort of killing a well-trained army ranger might be able to accomplish. It then transpires that two other local beautiful women were recently killed in an identical modus operandi, but being black, their murders caused hardly a ripple.
While in Mississippi, Reacher encounters some tough [but not nearly as tough as Reacher] Good Ol’ Boys, a beautiful ex-marine sheriff named Elizabeth Deveraux, and a sinister plot that extends high into the Pentagon. As one who has read Lee Child novels can expect, Reacher goes on to beat up the Good Ol’ Boys (six of them at one time), make passionate love to the ex-marine, and foil the sinister plot. In the process, the reader learns the extent of damage that (1) a freight train can do to a car; (2) a hunting knife can do to a throat; and (3) a well-timed head-butt can do to an unexpecting combatant.
Child is an expert at describing macho wise-cracking, verbal intimidation, and hand-to-hand combat. He is awful at describing sex. Unlike most of his books, this one contains several sex scenes, none of which is erotic, all of which could have been truncated. During the first and most explicit sex scene, I kept wondering and asking myself, “When is he going to finish?!” That scene was probably more painful because I was listening to an audio book and could not easily skip to the dénouement.
The reader of the audio version, Dick Hill, does a decent job of changing voices for the male characters; but when he indicates that a female is speaking, it is just painful. I’d have trouble being attracted to any woman who sounded like him even if she were gorgeous and intelligent.
Nevertheless, when he sticks to his knitting, Child can be very good, and this book is no exception. Child knows how to withhold just enough information from the reader to keep one off balance without being too gimmicky. The plot is nicely complicated, and the action outside the bedroom is fast-paced and handled with aplomb. Child uses repetition of verbal themes very effectively. For example, when Reacher says, “I said nothing,” you can almost hear ominous theme music playing in the background.
Evaluation: This isn’t the best Jack Reacher novel I’ve read, but it is not bad. Recommended for airport reading.
Note: This is the 16th book in the Jack Reacher series. I listened to the unabridged audio version on 11 compact discs.
(JAB)
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career, when Reacher was 36.Most of the action takes place near Fort Kelham, a fictional army ranger base in Northern Mississippi, where Reacher has been sent to make sure the army is not implicated in the murder of a beautiful young townie. The young lady in question, who happened to be Caucasion, was the victim of a grizzly throat slashing, just the sort of killing a well-trained army ranger might be able to accomplish. It then transpires that two other local beautiful women were recently killed in an identical modus operandi, but being black, their murders caused hardly a ripple.
While in Mississippi, Reacher encounters some tough [but not nearly as tough as Reacher] Good Ol’ Boys, a beautiful ex-marine sheriff named Elizabeth Deveraux, and a sinister plot that extends high into the Pentagon. As one who has read Lee Child novels can expect, Reacher goes on to beat up the Good Ol’ Boys (six of them at one time), make passionate love to the ex-marine, and foil the sinister plot. In the process, the reader learns the extent of damage that (1) a freight train can do to a car; (2) a hunting knife can do to a throat; and (3) a well-timed head-butt can do to an unexpecting combatant.
Child is an expert at describing macho wise-cracking, verbal intimidation, and hand-to-hand combat. He is awful at describing sex. Unlike most of his books, this one contains several sex scenes, none of which is erotic, all of which could have been truncated. During the first and most explicit sex scene, I kept wondering and asking myself, “When is he going to finish?!” That scene was probably more painful because I was listening to an audio book and could not easily skip to the dénouement.
The reader of the audio version, Dick Hill, does a decent job of changing voices for the male characters; but when he indicates that a female is speaking, it is just painful. I’d have trouble being attracted to any woman who sounded like him even if she were gorgeous and intelligent.
Nevertheless, when he sticks to his knitting, Child can be very good, and this book is no exception. Child knows how to withhold just enough information from the reader to keep one off balance without being too gimmicky. The plot is nicely complicated, and the action outside the bedroom is fast-paced and handled with aplomb. Child uses repetition of verbal themes very effectively. For example, when Reacher says, “I said nothing,” you can almost hear ominous theme music playing in the background.
Evaluation: This isn’t the best Jack Reacher novel I’ve read, but it is not bad. Recommended for airport reading.
Note: This is the 16th book in the Jack Reacher series. I listened to the unabridged audio version on 11 compact discs.
(JAB)
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LibraryThing member TheJeanette
Welcome back, Jack!
You can enjoy this one without having read any of the other Reacher novels. It's a prequel to the entire series, revealing how Jack came to be that big guy on lonely stretches of road with his thumb out in the wind.
The Affair is set in 1997, when Jack Reacher is still an MP in
This one was slow to warm up, but by the second half I had a hard time putting it down. A good mystery, a weird redneck town, some great humor, a little marathon sex. What's not to like? As a bonus, you get to find out how freight trains can work as an aphrodisiac. It's all about timing.
You can enjoy this one without having read any of the other Reacher novels. It's a prequel to the entire series, revealing how Jack came to be that big guy on lonely stretches of road with his thumb out in the wind.
The Affair is set in 1997, when Jack Reacher is still an MP in
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the Army. Someone is killing women in the tiny town of Carter Crossing, Mississippi. The Army suspects that the killer may be a Ranger at the base near town, and Jack is sent to investigate. Then two men are killed. Is the same person committing all these murders? Why? And what is the Army hiding? Do they really want Jack to find the killer? This one was slow to warm up, but by the second half I had a hard time putting it down. A good mystery, a weird redneck town, some great humor, a little marathon sex. What's not to like? As a bonus, you get to find out how freight trains can work as an aphrodisiac. It's all about timing.
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LibraryThing member Randall.Hansen
Another great Jack Reacher novel, by Lee Child. This story is set in the late 1990s, at the tail end of Reacher's stint in the Army, when he is called upon to help solve a murder near an Army base that has classified activity. Always enjoy Lee's style of writing. Not quite a page-turner, but a good
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story. Reacher #16. Show Less
LibraryThing member jepeters333
A young woman is found murdered by a railroad track in Carter Crossing, Mississippi. Top military cop Jack Reacher has plenty of evidence that indicates a soldier at a nearby base is the killer, but this soldier has some powerful friends at his disposal. Reacher is sent undercover for answers, but
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things quickly become complicated. He reluctantly teams up with local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux in an effort to find the truth, a truth that some will hide at any expense. Show Less
LibraryThing member Franby
what can I say? I love, love, love this series, and I've yet to read one that hasn't been a real page turner.
LibraryThing member martinhughharvey
Hey, it's a Reacher book however, excellent as usual and one of the better ones.
LibraryThing member redheadish
This Reacher novel includes a short story by Child written in the kback about Reacher as a child 13 yo and his family moving from one military base to another in Okinawa, Reacher encounters a bully who he puts in he hospital and its one of the first times he solves two issues/crimes with is logical
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thinking and basically saves his brother and dad from trouble.. Show Less
LibraryThing member jamespurcell
One of Child's best, as he is sent to monitor an investigation looking into the death of a woman in a small Mississippi town. The prime suspect may be one of the elite Rangers at a nearby base. The problem compounds when the father of the suspect, a U. S. Senator, gets involved. Reacher assembles
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an excellent support cast to bring about an appropriate finale. Show Less
LibraryThing member LaurieGienapp
Nice surprise ending. And as a long-time reader of Reacher novels (or rather, listener)... I enjoyed getting backstory that explained Reacher's quirkiness.
LibraryThing member jfe16
In a story set in 1997, Jack Reacher goes undercover for the army, traveling to Carter Crossing, Mississippi to determine if a woman’s brutal murder could have come at the hands of a soldier stationed at nearby Kellum army base.
Sixteenth in the Reacher series, this narrative provides the
This intriguing glimpse into Jack Reacher’s past is certain to please fans of the series; new readers will find much to appreciate in Reacher’s exploits. As the story unfolds, readers discover Jack’s personal code, his own self-doubts, his straightforward approach in dealing with injustice despite the possible repercussions. As with all Reacher tales, suspense builds as the pages turn and readers are likely to find it difficult to set the book aside before reaching the final page.
Highly recommended.
Sixteenth in the Reacher series, this narrative provides the
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backstory for Jack’s separation from the army. Character development is spot-on as is the realistic portrayal of the rural town, its people, and its prejudices. The plot twists and turns, offering some unexpected revelations as it keeps Reacher doggedly pursuing the truth. This intriguing glimpse into Jack Reacher’s past is certain to please fans of the series; new readers will find much to appreciate in Reacher’s exploits. As the story unfolds, readers discover Jack’s personal code, his own self-doubts, his straightforward approach in dealing with injustice despite the possible repercussions. As with all Reacher tales, suspense builds as the pages turn and readers are likely to find it difficult to set the book aside before reaching the final page.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member rosalita
The 16th entry in Lee Child's seemingly endless series of the adventures of Jack Reacher, man of action. This one flashes back to Reacher's final days in the U.S. Army, when he is sent undercover to investigate a woman's murder in a small Mississippi town whose only economic engine is a nearby
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military base. The Army is afraid that one of the soldiers from the base, in particular the son of a U.S. Senator, may have been involved. It doesn't take Reacher long to blow both his cover and the ravishingly beautiful county sheriff, in that order. Much blood and other bodily fluids are spilled on the way to the story's climax (sorry, sorry, but this one had a LOT of sex in it). Good if you don't mind blood and bodily fluids, or if you have a thing for choo-choo trains. Show Less
LibraryThing member Novak
The Affair, Lee Child. Thriller set deep in Mississippi with so many twists and turns you start to think it will all end in a mess. But it comes to a clever and satifactory conclusion against all odds. Well done, Mr Child.
LibraryThing member lbswiener
The Affair: Jack Reacher #16 is a book that explains why Jack Reacher is roaming the United States. The explicit descriptions of the character's sexual acts are not necessary to the movement of the story or even necessary all together. Jack Reacher is a character that has tremendous physical power
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and brilliant. He is in away a superman. Perhaps the superman is what makes Jack Reacher so indelible. Four stars were awarded to this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
Looks at Jack Reacher's final case as an MP and how this drove his leaving the army.
LibraryThing member foof2you
Typical Jack Reacher novel, violence, blood, pisses people off, and sex with a gorgeous babe who he is working with. Easy read, entertaining nothing to get too excited about and not to complain about either.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2011-09-27
Physical description
437 p.; 24 inches
ISBN
0440339359 / 9780440339359