Better Off Dead – Lee Child and Andrew Child
Reacher never backs down from a problem.
And he’s about to find a big one, on a deserted Arizona road, where a Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. Under the merciless desert sun, nothing is as it seems.
Minutes later Reacher is heading into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. Next to him is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent, who is trying to find her twin brother. He might have got mixed up with some dangerous people.
And Reacher might just need to pay them a visit.
Their leader has burrowed his influence deep into the town. Just to get in and meet the mysterious Dendoncker, Reacher is going to have to achieve the impossible.
To get answers will be even harder. There are people in this hostile, empty place who would rather die than reveal their secrets.
But then, if Reacher is coming after you, you might be better off dead.
My thanks to the publishers for the review copy I recieved through Netgalley.
The name’s Reacher. Jack Reacher.
I can’t quite picture Reacher introducing himself with the smooth confidence and utter self assurance of James Bond. Yet I read Better Off Dead in the week the new Bond film (No Time to Die) was just hitting cinemas and I was struck by some similarities between the Bond and Reacher franchises. 26 Reacher Books, 25 “official” Bond movies. One lead character who can accomplish pretty much anything he sets out to do, against all odds, surrounded by the corpses of his enemies and more often than not both guys get the girl too.
What the Bond fans have had many decades to come to terms with is that their leading man changes now and then (but he is still James Bond). Also changing is the feel of the franchise when the lead actor changes. Craig is action packed, Moore felt lighter in tone, Brosnan was dark and Connery retains the classic feel of the novels.
Reacher fans are now experiencing a subtle change in their leading man. Reacher is still Reacher but the voice has changed as Andrew Child takes over from brother Lee. For the casual reader the change will not be noticed, it has been a subtle transition and Reacher is Reacher, he gets the job done. But for the committed fans, the ones that read and re-read all the books, they will notice a new hand at the helm and this is their Live and Let Die – the second outing with a different “face” to the one they were so used to. But Live and Let Die was rather good so should we be too worried about background semantics? I guess that depends on whether you think James Bond and Jack Reacher should go on for ever or if the curtain should, one day, be allowed to fall.
But what of Better Off Dead? I enjoyed it a lot more than Reacher 25 (The Sentinel) as Better Off Dead felt distinctly more punchy. Which is to say Reacher seemed to punch lots more people. There is also a very real “big bad” enemy in the form of Dendonker – a man so feared by his own staff that they will take their own life rather than face his wrath.
It’s a very traditional Reacher opening. He is walking alone and spots a car which has hit a tree. He goes to investigate and to establish if the driver is okay; only to find himself looking down the barrel of a gun. This in itself is alarming but when the opening chapter had already hooked readers with a big fight sequence that ended with Reacher getting shot, this retrospective scene isn’t good news for our hero.
As you can see from the blurb, Reacher is on a rescue mission. A missing twin. This isn’t the first time Reacher finds himself in a small, seemingly quiet, town tasked with finding a missing man. The man he needs to find is probably dead but his sister implores Reacher to help track him down. The fact his disappearance may link to a possible terror threat is more than enough reason for Reacher to stick around and help.
Looking for leads in a quiet town where most people are unaware of the monster in their midst gives Reacher good cause to dig around. His attention isn’t welcomed and Dendonker sends his staff to handle the situation. This is always fun for a Child reader.
Reacher’s digging uncovers more questions than answers. Dendonker made money from selling airplane meals, his products go onto planes which fly around the world so when the idea and potential threat of terror attacks raises its head Reacher’s rescue mission takes on a whole new angle.
Reacher against the bad guys trying to stop their plans – it’s what we come back for time and time again.
If we consider Better Off Dead on a numbers basis (I hope Reacher would approve) I am sure tens of thousands of casual readers will be more than satisfied with this action thriller.
The smaller proportion of fanatic readers may miss the lack of Reacher analysing numbers, question the fact he makes frequent of use of mobile phones and there will be lots of small differences individual readers will feel changes “their” Reacher. But at the end of the day the big numbers will carry it. It happens with Bond, it happens with Spider-Man and it happens with our television soaps and drama shows. Writers change, the characters go on, some episodes land and pack a punch, some tick the box and move on. A new generation of fans will not flinch at two names on the cover of Better Off Dead and will soak up the excitement.
Reacher endures, Better Off Dead delivers the drama and excitement and we will be back for the next one because we are Jack Reacher fans.
Better off Dead will be published by Transworld on 26 October 2021 in Hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/better-off-dead/lee-child/andrew-child/2928377053321