Once there’d been eight of them...military cops Reacher had molded into an elite unit. Suddenly, four of them are dead, killed by person or persons unknown, and Jack Reacher is out to repay the evil deed. “You don’t mess with the Special Investigators' . The army was a thing of the past, but in Reacher’s philosophy loyalty is timeless... imperishable. “There are dead men walking.” "You don’t throw my friends out of helicopters and live to tell the tale.” For vengeance to go forward there are questions that must be answered. Such as, why are they being hunted so many years after they’ve stopped making enemies? A blood-soaked chess game begins with gambits, and deadly traps. Reacher's own hunt takes him from California to Las Vegas. He knows that they've make mistakes, corrected them, edged closer to the answers they need in order to satisfy the "code" they continue to live by. between the hunt Reacher rekindles sort of rekindles an old love affair. At last Jack sees a frightening conspiracy beginning to take shape and suggesting that much more is at stake than any of them could have imagined. A point of no return is approaching, and soon Reacher, who is nothing if not code-driven, will face a mind-bending choice...perhaps his most excruciating one yet. The lives of friends... the lives of innocents...the lives of thousands. Which one and how can he pick? Like all Jack Reacher stories it's a tightly plotted...fast-paced...page-turner. ( )

Jack Reacher carries only a folding toothbrush and his passport with him. He doesn’t even keep a change of clothing – to press his plain t-shirt and jeans, he places them under the mattress wherever he sleeps for the night. He has no address and no cellular telephone. He knows his funds have dwindled to almost nothing. In Portland, Oregon, – where the Greyhound bus he was riding stopped – he needs cash. He possesses an almost “savant ability with arithmetic.” So, just as he always knows what time it is without looking at a clock, he also knows what his bank balance should be, but still confirms it every time he withdraws cash and has never been surprised to see a different total. Until now. Because there is one thousand and thirty dollars more in his account than there should be.

It is not a random number. “1030” is the radio code used by a military police officer who needs urgent assistance from a colleague. By calling his bank and feeding hints to a helpful customer service representative, Reacher learns the deposit was made in Chicago by Frances L. Neagley. She works for a private security provider in Chicago, Reacher knew her for ten of the thirteen years he served in the U.S. Army’s military police. For two of those years, she was a member of the special investigations unit he led. In fact, he recruited her. She would only deposit that specific sum of money into his bank account for a very particular reason.

When Reacher learns Neagley has traveled to Los Angeles, he flies there, too, and finds Neagley in a Denny’s restaurant just off the 101 in Hollywood.

Neagley gives Reacher an autopsy report, telling him, “Calvin Franz is dead. I think someone threw him out of an airplane.” Reacher’s next mission has begun.

Franz was a military police officer in the Army and a member of Reacher’s unit. Even though the members of the unit haven’t seen each other since it was disbanded, they have never stopped caring about each other. Franz kept their names in a book and talked about his days as a special investigator. So his wife called Neagley to inform her of his death. He was a solo private investigator handling mostly background checks. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department believes he was thrown out of an airplane heading west from Las Vegas. The autopsy report tells a different story.

Neagley convinces Reacher to reassemble their old unit to find the truth about what happened to their former colleague and friend. Reacher personally selected the team that also included Tony Swan, Jorge Sanchez, Stanley Lowrey, Manual Orozco, David O’Donnell, and Karla Dixon. O’Donnell and Neagley were captains, and the rest were majors – “talented journeymen working together, no stars no egos, mutually supportive, and above all ruthlessly and relentlessly effective.” Their mantra? “You do not mess with the special investigators.” Someone failed to get that message. All except Reacher have established residences, jobs, families. Theoretically, they should be easier to locate. But that has not proven to be the case. Something is very wrong, and Neagley convinces Reacher to help her find answers. They owe it to Franz . . . and each other. But they are being followed and watched, their every movement being reported up a chain of command. Are they all in danger? And if so, why?

Methodically, Reacher and Neagley begin following leads. They learn that Lowrey died earlier, but they set out to find the remaining five members of the team. Eventually, O’Donnell and Dixon make their way to Hollywood and assist in an investigation that also takes them to Las Vegas and other parts of the greater Los Angeles area as they learn about the ventures in which Swan, Sanchez, and Orozco became involved in the post-Army days. Their methods are unconventional and, at times, illegal, but inarguably creative, often innovative, and, for the most part, effective.

Meanwhile, in New York City, forty-year-old Azhari Mahmoud has begun making his way west using passports bearing several other Western names. What is his connection, if any, to Franz?

Reacher: Bad Luck and Trouble is a fast-paced, tautly constructed mystery that keeps readers guessing as Reacher and his teammates painstakingly examine the available evidence, struggling to understand why Franz was killed in such a specific and brutal manner. The unit members still function cohesively, anticipating each other’s thoughts and finishing each other’s sentences. They have never lost the skills they honed as part of the special investigations unit, and the other members insist that Reacher again serve as their leader, even though he is reluctant to do so. His physical size and strength are both an asset and a hindrance – he reacts and runs slower than the others, but his intellect and capacity to extrapolate information is unmatched. Still, the clues they locate are inconclusive and, at some junctures, downright confusing. They find themselves stymied more than once and are fallible. They fail to appreciate the significance of some evidence, overlook significant details, and even trust when they should not, their humanity endearing them to readers. Child skillfully brings the missing team members to life which, coupled with the team’s feeling for them, compels readers to become invested in their futures and cheer for Reacher, et al. to find them in time. Alas, there are some heartbreaking moments for Reacher, the surviving team members, and readers as Mahmoud navigates toward his destination and goal, and Reacher and the others manage to unravel what turns out to be a fairly complex and decidedly sinister scheme. The only remaining questions then are whether Reacher and his team can devise and implement evasive maneuvers quickly enough to save Mahmoud’s would be targets . . . and each other.

Originally published in 2007, Reacher: Bad Luck and Trouble is a riveting, action-packed thriller that resonates emotionally as Child showcases how intensely personal the mission is for Reacher. He and his team were “like a family.” As Neagley reminds him, “We had one another’s back. Then. Now and always. It’s a karma thing. Someone killed Franz and we can’t just let it go.” Child deftly and entertainingly proves that what Reacher and the rest of the unit told themselves was and remains true: “You do not mess with the Special Investigators.”

Thanks to Penguin Random House for a paperback copy of the book in conjunction with the Tandem Collective Global Readalong. ( )

Like many others, I assume, I read this book due to Amazon Prime's Reacher Season 2. The book had some differences from the TV show. Overall it was a good read. The book had problems though. For example, Reacher's search for car washes was weird. I understood why, but the number of words/pages describing it was not necessary. At the end when two of Reacher's team was held captive there was a lot of "big deal lets just wait" time. Oh well, I plan to read Persuader, the book Amazon Prime's Reacher Season 3 is about.
5,888 members; 3.82 average rating; 12/17/2023 ( )

suspense

(2007) Reacher is pulled to Las Vegas by a cryptic message embedded in an ATM receipt. 2 members of his former Army MP team have been killed and the rest of the team is drawn together to find out why. They are lead into trying to head off the theft of ground to air missles that could be used to bring down airliners in a terrorist attack. Very good and fast read. Love this series.KIRKUS REVIEWIn a scorching 11th (The Hard Way, 2006, etc.), Jack Reacher, that murderous moralist, seeks an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye.Once there'd been eight of them�military cops Reacher had formed into an elite unit. Suddenly, four are dead, rendered so by person or persons unknown, and Reacher's out for payback: ?You don't mess with the Special Investigators?¥the unit's mantra and rallying cry. True, the army was a thing of the long-ago past, but in Reacher's iron philosophy loyalty is imperishable. ?There are dead men walking,? he swears. ?You don't throw my friends out of helicopters and live to tell the tale.? But for vengeance to go forward certain questions must be answered. Why, for instance, are they being hunted so many years after they've stopped making enemies? A blood-soaked chess game ensues¥feints, gambits, deadly traps. Reacher & Co.'s own hunt takes them from California to Las Vegas and back again. They make mistakes, correct them, edge closer to the answers they need in order to satisfy the code they continue to live by. In passing, Reacher rekindles an old love affair, sort of. At last, the outlines of a frightening conspiracy begin taking shape, suggesting that much more is at stake than any of them could have imagined at the outset. Inexorably, a point of no return approaches, and soon Reacher, who is nothing if not code-driven, will face a mind-bending choice¥perhaps his most excruciating yet. On the one hand, the lives of friends: two. On the other, the lives of innocents: thousands. Which to pick?Perhaps there are action-lit writers more recognizable than Child, but the bet is that none of them will turn in a tighter-plotted, richer-peopled, faster-paced page-turner this year.------------------------------------------------------------------------Reacher decides to save his friends first which comes to a head as the bad guys are in the helicopter again to throw them out above the desert, but he turns tables on them and the 3 goons are tossed out of the helicopter like his dead friends had been. Justice, Reacher style. Then he deduces where the missles are going and finds them so that Homeland Security can bring down the terrorist.