The hubby and I were scrolling around, looking for something to watch one night and stumbled across a limited series on Prime Video: Reacher. OK. We thought it would just be something to pass an evening (our track record with choosing a series or movie is dismal). Finally, we picked something we both enjoyed watching! So much that we devoured Season 2 when it was released and are eagerly awaiting Season 3. Insiders are predicting a December 2024 release.
No, we haven't seen the two Jack Reacher movies starring Tom Cruise because actor Alan Ritchson IS Jack Reacher for us and we can't imagine anyone else portraying the character.
After Season 1, I realized this was based on a Lee Child series and headed to my library, thinking I'd read the series while waiting for Season 2 to drop. Ha! There are over two dozen books in this series! The Secret is the latest one I picked up at my library to read.
More About The Secret
1992. Eight respectable, upstanding people have been found dead across the US. These deaths look like accidents and don’t appear to be connected. Until one body – the victim of a fatal fall from a hospital window – generates some unexpected attention.
That attention comes from the Secretary of Defense, who promptly calls for an inter-agency task force to investigate. Jack Reacher is assigned as the Army’s representative.
Reacher may be an exceptional soldier, but sweeping other people’s secrets under the carpet isn’t part of his skill set. As he races to discover the link between these victims, and who killed them, he must navigate around the ulterior motives of his new ‘partners’. And all while moving into the sight line of some of the most dangerous people he has ever encountered.
His mission is to uncover the truth. The question is: will Reacher bring the bad guys to justice the official way . . . or his way?
*The Secret is Book 28 in the Jack Reacher series, if you go by publication date. But if you go by how the events happened in Jack Reacher's life this is actually Book 2 - The Enemy is Book 1.
More About Lee Child and Andrew Grant a.k.a. Andrew Child
Lee Child was born October 29th, 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV's "golden age." During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of 40 as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars' worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.
Andrew Grant was born in Birmingham, England in May 1968. He went to school in St Albans, Hertfordshire and later attended the University of Sheffield where he studied English
Literature and Drama. After graduation Andrew set up and ran a small independent theatre company which showcased a range of original material to local, regional and national
audiences. Following a critically successful but financially challenging appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Andrew moved into the telecommunications industry as a ‘temporary’ solution to a short-term cash crisis. Fifteen years later, after carrying out a variety of roles – including a number which were covered by the UK Official Secrets Act – Andrew escaped from corporate life, and established himself as the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Even, Die Twice, More Harm Than Good, RUN, False Positive, False Friend, False Witness, Invisible, and Too Close To Home. Andrew is married to novelist Tasha Alexander, and lives on a wildlife preserve in Wyoming, USA.
My Thoughts About The Secret
First off, this is not the type of book I normally read. I'm more of a cozy mystery gal so this in-your-face violence, death and moral quandaries are new for me. That being said, this is not a breathless journey from one physical confrontation to another (although the ones they do have are very intense). It is very much a thinking book, both you and the characters are using their brains (for the most part) to try and unravel this mystery.
Just as in real life, people are not always what they seem. Reacher and other characters are forced into impossible situations. How far can you go to uncover the truth? When does justice turn into vengeance? Is the line between good and evil clearly defined?
I enjoyed this book because there were so many levels.
Level One: Who is committing the murders?
Level Two: Why are they committing the murders?
Level Three: Who is the unknown member of the group of victims?
Level Four: Who is throwing a wrench in the investigation?
Level Five: Are any of the investigators spying on the other members of the group?
Even as you work out a solution to one level, there are other levels where questions remain. This is the type of book I want to read a second time, even knowing all I do, so I can consider the WHY behind the actions different characters took. If you want a complex puzzle, that is more than just "who committed murder" The Secret is the book for you.
A Little Extra
So how are Lee Child and Andrew Grant/Child related? Before I read their bios, my first thought was father and son but turns out I was wrong. Actually, they are brothers and older brother Lee turned to his brother Andrew, also an author, for help maintaining the Jack Reacher series. Learn more HERE. And Child is a pseudonym. They grew up in the Grant family.
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