Without Fail by Lee Child

Number six in the Jack Reacher series features justice, of course. It also has vengeance as an undercurrent, though this isn’t obvious until about two-thirds through. No redemption that I’ll give credit for. This is my first Reacher read. I’ve seen both seasons of Reacher on Amazon Prime and thoroughly enjoyed them, so thought I’d try the books. I wasn’t disappointed, though the story in this one is not as compelling as either of the two seasons of the show.

Jack Reacher and Frances Neagley (not sure I ever got her first name on the series) are enlisted by the secret service to do an audit on their security procedures around the newly elected vice president. What Reacher doesn’t know in the beginning, but what the reader knows is there there’s already been a failed attempt on the VP’s life. I believe not even the secret service knows about the attempt, but they are receiving threatening letters.

The story starts slow. The audit is completed, and this takes about a quarter of the book. It’s not overly exciting to read about. There is a lot of insight into the secret service that is interesting. Of course, there’s Reacher and his personality. There’s a lust interest. I’m not sure Reacher is capable of love. And there’s the banter I expected from watching the series. All this kept me reading through the slow beginning.

Once the audit is complete, things start to pick up. Reacher and Neagley stay on to offer some help protecting the VP elect. Things go south and Reacher and Neagley, as anticipated, go after the bad guys. There are no real surprises, but good suspense in the latter two-thirds. The mystery isn’t one that I feel a reader could solve on their own. Way too obscure. Honestly, I think Child stretched the motivation for the attempted assassination. It’s a little out there. But a fun read. For me the true mark of a good story is that I wanted to get done with it and didn’t want to put it down. Read the last third in three days, which is fast for me. I’ll work in some more Reacher books in the future.

This one has some profanity. Lots of s-bombs. No f-bombs. And some other words. A short on-page sex seen and the usual violence you’d expect from this type of book. I’ll rank this one number eleven so far. Another good read.

1. The Record Keeper by Charles Martin
2. The Samaritan’s Patient by Chevron Ross
3. Days Coming by Pat Simmons
4. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
5. The Maid by Nita Prose
6. The Blue Cloak by Shannon McNear
7. Where is My Sister by Jane Daly
8. Braving Strange Waters by Sarah Hanks
9. Another Ending by Sara Whitely
10. Blood Red Deceit by Steve Rush
11. Without Fail by Lee Child
12. The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
13. The Sacred Bridge by Anne Hillerman
14. Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke
15. A Vanishing Act by Edwina Kiernan
16. Harlot’s Moon by Ed Gorman
17. Cali’s Hope by John Matthew Walker
18. Field Training by Patrick O’Donnell
19. Deadly Pursuit by Elle Gray
20. American Prophet by Jeff Fullmer

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