Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 3/3/2024 + 1223 more book reviews

I've been a fan of Child's Reacher series for several years and have read all of the books written solely by Lee Child. I also read the first couple of books that he is now writing with his brother, Andrew Child. I was disappointed in one of the later solo books, BLUE MOON, and I also didn't care for BETTER OFF DEAD which was written by Lee and Andrew. So I decided to pretty much give up on the series and thought it had run its course. However, I happened to see their latest available at a visit to the library and decided to give Reacher another chance.

THE SECRET seemed to be written more in line with the Reacher of the earlier novels that I came to consider one of the best thriller series out there. This is one of the throw back novels where Reacher is still in the military. It takes place in 1992 while Reacher is working on a case of stolen M-16 rifles. Then he is called in to Washington as part of a group put together by the Secretary of Defense to look into the deaths of some scientists who were involved in a secret project related to chemical warfare at a lab in India back in 1969. The deaths are made to look like suicide but too much coincidence there. So it looks like the scientists are being murdered but why? And who is responsible for the deaths?

Okay, I gave Reacher another chance and was not disappointed. I thought this one was on par with some of the earlier novels. It takes place in the past when Reacher was a Captain in the Army which Child used in a few of the earlier novels. I admit I prefer the stories where Reacher is on his own traveling the country with his toothbrush, but overall I would recommend this one. Lots of action and some well-written characters. I'll probably read the next book when it comes out.

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