I guess it’s the Amazon Prime series that keeps me interested in the Reacher books. Frankly, the last several have been subpar, but I was very interested when I saw this one available at the public library. I figured that a few chapters in I would know if it was worth my time or I’d ditch the books completely. I’ve read them all, but with decreasing interest to the point that I didn’t finish the last book.
Chain Reaction is the 31st Reacher book. Funny, thirty-one is my favorite number! No, it’s not.
Chain Reaction (2026) started with a compelling opening. Major Turner, now General Turner, has tracked down Reacher and asked for his help on a murder involving one of her investigators. Turner took over his old military command and has prospered, with a new job and a new military agency. Not lost in his (and her memory) are some romantic moments they once shared, but that’s not why she contacted him. She trusts him.
She wanted to be back in Palo Alto. With Reacher. She wondered where he had picked to stay the night. She should have asked. In retrospect she had always thought of her long-ago first time with him as forty-eight hours every girl should have once in her life.
The writing is constructed in a tight, suspenseful manner, as information is given to readers carefully. The Reacher character is a bit more human than I remember from past books. My wife asked if I hear Alan Ritchson’s voice as Reacher now that the streaming series is so popular. I don’t, these are separate universes, but I hope the Reacher of the books continues to draw humanity from the series version, it’s a nice evolution. I could be imagining this change, but at least I believe it.
“You expecting trouble?” the guy said. “The opposite,” Reacher said. “I’m expecting a quiet and peaceful night followed by a long and happy life. But I’m a belt and suspenders kind of guy.”
I kept waiting for the momentum to falter or the story to take off on some weird, implausible tangent, but it didn’t. If the Child team continues to write like this, Jack Reacher books will be exciting again. This one was.
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