The Midnight Line

by Lee Child

Ebook, 2017

Library's rating

Library's review

Perpetual drifter Jack Reacher is drifting about the wilds of Wisconsin when he spies a class ring from West Point in the window of a pawnshop. This offends his sensibilities since he knows how hard West Point cadets work to earn that ring, and he cannot imagine any scenario other than strife that

would make one of them voluntarily surrender it. It's very small, clearly sized for a woman, with the initials SRS engraved inside the band. Reacher buys the ring and sets out to return it to its owner, whoever she may be. His search leads him from Wisconsin to Rapid City, South Dakota, and on to the empty stretches of Wyoming. Along the way, he manages to get involved with various elements of a drug cartel and fend off numerous hapless goons in a variety of fist fights. As one does. If you enjoy reading about the physical exploits of a man whose hands are variously described as the size of supermarket chickens, dinner plates, and Thanksgiving turkeys, you will like this one. I deducted a half-star for the choppy writing and egregious overuse of sentence fragments, which thankfully was less noticeable as the action got going. I'm worried that after 22 book-length adventures and a double handful of short stories that Child's shtick is wearing thin on me.

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Description

Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � Lee Child returns with a gripping new powerhouse thriller featuring Jack Reacher, �one of this century�s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes� (The Washington Post). Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not? So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness. The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Turns out the ring was just a small link in a far darker chain. Powerful forces are guarding a vast criminal enterprise. Some lines should never be crossed. But then, neither should Reacher. Praise for The Midnight Line �Puts Reacher just where we want him.��The New York Times Book Review �A gem.��Chicago Tribune �A timely, suspenseful, morally complex thriller, one of the best I�ve read this year . . . Child weaves in a passionately told history of opioids in American life. . . . Child�s outrage over it is only just barely contained.��The Philadelphia Inquirer �A perfect example of Lee Child�s talent . . . Lee Child is the master of plotting. . . . This is Child�s most emotional book to date. . . . This is not just a good story; it is a story with a purpose and a message.��Huffington Post �I just read the new Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. . . . It is as good as they always are. I read every single one.��Malcolm Gladwell.… (more)