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by Lee Child

Book list How do you find Jack Reacher, the ultimate unencumbered man, who's always on the move to the next place? You put a personal ad in the Army Times, of course. No, Reacher's not a subscriber, but there's always an abandoned copy in a bus depot somewhere. So Reacher finds the ad, and, suddenly, our guy is tracking a sniper who may be planning to pick off a few heads of state at an upcoming G8 meeting in London. But not just any sniper. This is personal, too, as Reacher, back in his MP days, coerced this particular sniper into confessing to a murder. Now the sniper is out of the brig and looking to do some sniping, warming up on Reacher before moving on to the G8 turkey shoot. So it's off to London for Reacher and his minder, a pill-popping, twentysomething CIA analyst with little knowledge of the field. That changes quickly, as the unlikely pair (a rookie analyst and a retired military cop) skirmish with East End mobsters on the way to confronting the sniper. Child sets up a thriller premise better than anybody, expertly mixing gun talk, trivia, and tension and, when the time comes, detailing the bloodletting with the care of a connoisseur. This time, though, the dipsy-do of a plot twist is apparent at 100 yards, which hurts a little. But it's still Reacher cracking heads with gusto, which, for thriller devotees, makes up for almost anything. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Child is the alpha dog of thriller writers, each new book zooming to the top of best-seller lists with the velocity of a Reacher head butt.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2014 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Library Journal Starred Review. In Child's 19th Jack Reacher novel (after Never Go Back), our loner protagonist is on a bus nearing Seattle when he picks up a copy of the Army Times newspaper that contains an ad asking him to contact Rick Schroeder, an old army connection. Paired with rookie Casey Nice from the Special Forces, Reacher is sent on a mission to find the sniper who tried to kill the French president with a rifle shot from three-quarters of a mile away. Their mission takes them to England with multiple suspects in mind. But Jack is watching someone with a personal grudge against him, an American marksman named John Kott. At the same time, being undercover avails them little government help. Casey's personal demons and Jack's memory of another young agent's death make this a taut and relentless suspense story. VERDICT Longtime fans won't be disappointed by this suspense-filled, riveting thriller. Those readers who haven't experienced this irresistible series should definitely start at the beginning and catch up to this book.-Susan Carr, Edwardsville P.L., IL (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.