Krishna
Another thriller from the Jack Reacher series.
Nathan Rubin tried to stop three people taking his car and was beaten to a pulp. He died later.
Jack reacher was helping a woman out who was stumbling but once they turn the corner, he is confronted by two men with guns pointing at them both. When they are carried in a van, Jack Reacher realizes that she is no ordinary woman by the fearlessness of her, even when handcuffed to Jack.
He guesses correctly that she, Holly Johnson, is a government agent, new, and dedicated. He also realizes that she was the target of kidnapping but he happened to be there so they had to take him .
Now we learn that Holly is a FBI wizard who can uncover cleverly hidden financial improprieties in companies. When she does not turn up for the 5 PM meeting, her boss knows something is seriously wrong.
We learn that she is greatly intelligent, chose FBI work over investment banking which she was doing, and also the Defence Secretary’s daughter to boot.
The ‘Builder’ a fat man, is constructing a secret facility, and slowly killing all those whom he hired to build it so that he can keep this one a secret.
The FBI gets to see Holly abducted in the CC TV camera and they know three people kidnapped her. (One of them is Jack Reacher but they do not know him from Adam).
In a typically Lee Child move, Jack subdues and kills one of the kidnappers who came alone,unarmed, When he was chained to the wall and the kidnapper was trying to rape Holly.
The General is terribly anxious about his daughter. Meanwhile Jack realizes that Holly has been kidnapped not because she is FBI but because of her father.
When finally Reacher and Holly have reached a cabin in Montana, Holly is separated and . locked up in a room. The leader who comes in is assured but chains Loder (“He made five mistakes”)
We learn about the leader Beau Borken who has a grudge against US and wants to create a new nation in a well defended wilderness and twenty million dollars to back him up – got from a heist. There is a mole in there, Jackson, but Reacher deduces that there is one in FBI too. So Jackson is in danger of being exposed.
The story seems to sag a little bit before exploding into a typical Lee Child pace of frenetic action. First, Beau finds out what happened to the ‘missing’ kidnapper (presumably from the mole since FBI found out about all that – they in turn think that Jack is one of the kidnappers of Holly as they saw him in a CC TV footage in front of the laundry where Holly was abducted). He chains Jack and Holly, meanwhile, manages to remove one of the legs of the cot and kill the maid who came to give her food and gloated about how Reacher is going to die.
Reacher is chained to a tree and Holly finds the girl’s semi automatic outside the room and goes in search of Reacher. She threatens to kill herself and a panicked Borken offers him life (but not freedom) if Reacher can beat Borken in a long range shooting match.
Borken manages to have someone shoot down a helicopter and also gets to FBI on the edge of the forest.
Reacher manages to walk out and explore the place and learns of the missiles and also the plans to ‘the other place’. When he walks back, he walks smack into Borken who chains him to a chair and leaves him with three of his people with guns. In a true Lee Child fashion, Reacher gets out and also saves one of the FBI agents who was captured (McGrath) and was about to be crucified. There is a great scene where McGrath turns the guns against Reacher, his saviour and how Jack convinces him that he is on the good side.
Who is the mole who has been giving information to Borken, our suspicions are adroitly moved among the two remaining FBI deputies and finally the twist is good.
The end is amazing on how they overcome Borken, only to learn that there is an even bigger plot afoot and how they guess and foil it.
True Lee Child story. My only complaint is that it sags a lot in the middle with Holly and Jack being passively captive for most of the book before erupting in spectacular fashion. Yes, I get it. You have to build up the story but you have to have a bit of patience to wade through it to the good ending.
6/10
– – Krishna