The Midnight Line

Starred review from September 4, 2017
Bestseller Child’s superlative 22nd Jack Reacher novel picks up where 2015’s Make Me left off. While riding a bus in Wisconsin to the next “end-of-the-line place,” Reacher gets off at a rest stop “on the sad side of a small town.” In a pawn shop window, he spots a West Point ring, class of 2005, sized for a small woman. As a West Pointer himself, Reacher knows what it takes to earn that ring—and he wants to find out who it belonged to and why it was pawned. The trail takes him to Rapid City, S.Dak., where he encounters shady Arthur Scorpio—ostensibly a laundromat owner, but of interest to local police and a private investigator from Chicago—and, eventually, to Wyoming. The identity of the ring’s owner is established reasonably quickly, and her backstory (and what Reacher does about it) takes the reader from the wars in Afghanistan to the opioid crisis in America (including a damning thumbnail history of how corporate America has profited from selling heroin in one form or another and a devastating portrait of opioid addiction). As usual, Child makes his narrative entirely credible—and compulsively readable. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary.

September 15, 2017
A glimpse of a West Point class ring in a pawn shop window sends Jack Reacher on his latest adventure in the 22nd entry in Child's (No Middle Name, 2017, etc.) series.On his latest travel to nowhere, Reacher, the peripatetic badass/guardian angel, steps off a bus at a rest stop and, while stretching his legs, glimpses a ring belonging to a female cadet. Knowing what it takes to earn that ring, especially for the women who still have to prove themselves to the military, Reacher buys it and, with nothing more than the initials inscribed inside to guide him, sets out to return to it to his fellow West Point alum. Of course it lands him in trouble, this time with a ring of opioid dealers, but at least he has a former FBI agent-turned-detective and the sister of the ring's owner for company. It's a good idea to give Reacher company since he plays well with others when they're on his side. How he plays badly with those who aren't is also part of the fun. So are the clever Sherlock-ian deductive skills that Reacher, a former Army investigator, puts to good use. Blessedly, there are none of the grisly moments that broke faith with readers in the series' last installment (Night School, 2016). And the book is very smart about illegal drugs, understanding that the face of the present crisis is largely white and rural and that the government's attempt to crack down on drugs ignores both the very real pleasure and the often necessary pain relief they bring to users, especially vets. The book makes a rather icky sentimental misstep toward the end. It does, however, suggest something that has not been visible in the series' previous entries: a creeping sadness in Reacher's wanderings that, set here among the vast and empty landscapes of Wyoming, resembles the peculiarly solitary loneliness of the classic American hero. This return to form is also a hint of new ground to be covered.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2017
The softer side of Jack Reacher? Huh? Well, everything's relative, but this time out Reacher does far less head-butting than usual, and the action is scaled down several notches, too. It starts with the former MP turned off-the-grid wanderer strolling through a Wisconsin towncomfort break on his bus to nowherewhen he spots a ring in a pawn-shop windownot just any ring but a West Point class ring. West Pointers don't pawn class rings, so, naturally, Reacher wants to find out what happened. His attempts to trace the ring land him in the middle of an elaborate opioid-distribution operation originating in, of all places, a laundromat in South Dakota. Reacher tracks the ring's owner with relative ease, but that's where the trouble starts. Not so much with bad guysthough there are some of thosebut with an army major desperately in need of help. Showing his sensitive side and his usual shrewd ability to figure stuff out, Reacher proves the man for the job. Not your usual Reacher fareGod help us, we crave more head-bangingbut a very good, multifaceted novel about dealing with the unthinkable.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: It's automatic: Reacher gets off a bus, and Child lands on the NYT best-seller list.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

Starred review from November 1, 2017

In Child's latest Jack Reacher book (after Night School), his protagonist rambles into a Wisconsin pawnshop and notices a woman's 2005 West Point graduation ring. Knowing the effort a female cadet needed to earn the ring, he wonders: What motivated her to sell it? Reacher buys the ring, and after reading the initials inscribed inside, sets out to find his fellow alum. He quickly learns her name, Rose Sanderson; however, understanding her accomplishments requires more time. Along the way to the Wyoming wilderness and with the assistance of a former FBI agent and Rose's sister, he encounters musclemen, swindlers, bikers, and crooked cops who control a vast, illegal drug enterprise protecting opioid dealers and abusers as well as vets. Reacher also learns about the pains, sorrows, and fears Sanderson internalized while on duty in Iran and Afghanistan--and the residual effects she manages back home. Child places the present opioid crisis in context, which may help readers better understand drug use, especially among vets. VERDICT Child does a stellar job this time by not following his customary formula; his usually stoic hero who rarely displays softness and compassion is hit hard emotionally by this case. [See Prepub Alert, 5/15/17.]--Jerry P. Miller. Cambridge, MA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2017

Spotting a woman's West Point class ring in a Wisconsin pawn shop, Jack Reacher understandably wonders what happened to her. That leads him into the great empty spaces of Wyoming, conflict with a nasty biker gang, and more. Child's recent Night School debuted at the top of the New York Times best sellers list.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2017

In Child's latest Jack Reacher book (after Night School), his protagonist rambles into a Wisconsin pawnshop and notices a woman's 2005 West Point graduation ring. Knowing the effort a female cadet needed to earn the ring, he wonders: What motivated her to sell it? Reacher buys the ring, and after reading the initials inscribed inside, sets out to find his fellow alum. He quickly learns her name, Rose Sanderson; however, understanding her accomplishments requires more time. Along the way to the Wyoming wilderness and with the assistance of a former FBI agent and Rose's sister, he encounters musclemen, swindlers, bikers, and crooked cops who control a vast, illegal drug enterprise protecting opioid dealers and abusers as well as vets. Reacher also learns about the pains, sorrows, and fears Sanderson internalized while on duty in Iran and Afghanistan--and the residual effects she manages back home. Child places the present opioid crisis in context, which may help readers better understand drug use, especially among vets. VERDICT Child does a stellar job this time by not following his customary formula; his usually stoic hero who rarely displays softness and compassion is hit hard emotionally by this case. [See Prepub Alert, 5/15/17.]--Jerry P. Miller. Cambridge, MA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 5, 2018
In Child’s above-average 22nd Jack Reacher novel, the peripatetic soldier of fortune spies a woman’s West Point ring in a pawn shop in Wisconsin and decides to return it to its original owner. His mission is interrupted by confrontations with a smug drug-peddling mob boss, tough-talking but glass-jawed homicidal bikers, and a couple of steely-eyed hit men. Assisting Reacher are the ring owner’s worried sister, a tough private eye, and an ambitious policewoman. Keeping the same mildly cynical tone and unflagging pace he has used in previous series entries, reader Hill smoothly covers the moods of his heroes, from hard-boiled protagonist to sharp-witted investigator to empathic observer. He’s equally effective in providing the mobster an arrogant tone; slimy, rural, bullying accents for the bikers; the policewoman’s edgy air of anger and frustration; and a fearful,
anxious flutter to the sister’s voice. He also assists Child with a sincerity that adds gravitas to the novel’s discussions of the opioid crisis. Child’s audiobook fans will not want to miss this one. A Delacorte hardcover.