3.5 stars out of 5
And this book isn't the best fit for the series, either. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be contrived; it seemed as if the intent was to identify a couple of in-the-news hot topics and then try to fabricate a story around them. The dialog seemed forced as well; granted, Reacher is a loner and a man of few words - and that's true here, in spots. But in others, he spouts lengthy and intricate explanations of computer functions which, coming from a guy who needs help operating a smartphone, just didn't quite, well, ring true. Time will tell, I guess, if that's the result of the author's collaboration with his younger brother Andrew to write this book (the person he's chosen to carry on the Reacher series in the not-too-distant future).
All that aside, it's an intriguing story that held my interest throughout - but then, I admit to having a computer geek side. Hiking out of Nashville to anywhere else, Reacher gets a lift from a guy who's headed in that direction - namely, to a much smaller town in Tennessee. Not long after he's dropped off, Reacher's killer senses kick in and he saves local guy Rusty Rutherford from an apparent kidnapping. Not that he'll be thanked anytime soon, mind you; Rusty is despised by just about everyone for the role they think he played in the recent disastrous crash of all the town's computer systems and phones.
Rusty, though, insists he's totally innocent; in fact, he was trying to keep that from happening. Now a pariah and, more importantly, out of a job, he and a former FBI friend are hoping to salvage a program they wrote to protect the town computers that could make them very wealthy. For his part, Reacher takes pity on the two (plus he figures the would-be kidnappers aren't likely to stop at a single attempt) and agrees to stick around for a bit.
From there on, the plot gets pretty complicated - even to the computer geek side of my brain. There are Russians who may not be Russians, undercover FBI agents and physical attacks from all corners of the town - leading to the usual blowout fights in which Reacher is outnumbered and must reach to new levels of his considerable pugilistic abilities to survive. Confusion over who's who and what's where leads Reacher down a back alley (or two or five) until near the end, when it's time to put up or forever be shut up.
Conclusion: Fast-paced and action-filled, this may not be the best entry in the Reacher series, but it's still Reacher and anything Reacher is still worth reading. Bring on the next one!
The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Delacorte Press, October 2020); 352 pp.
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