As fans of Lee Child’s Reacher know, the ex-military cop has no trouble finding trouble. In Exit Strategy, which Lee writes with his brother, Andrew, Reacher’s stopover in Baltimore to hear a band he likes finds him helping a man running for his life.
The man in question is Nathan Gilmour who, despite the lack of credentials, was hired to work in the port. Once he realized his new employer was using him to rubber stamp containers that came into the port, he knew he was working for a criminal gang. When he began to dodge calls, he succeeded in getting his innocent co-worker crushed to death.
As often happens with Reacher, he’s mistaken for someone else. After sending out an SOS to someone he hopes can help, Gilmour is instructed to meet a contact at a coffee shop. Gilmour isn’t given a name of the man he’s supposed to meet, just that he will be the biggest man there. Unfortunately, that nameless man suffers a heart attack before he can get to the meeting. When Gilmour arrives at the coffee shop, he assumes Reacher is the contact.
Reacher has spent his time in the coffee shop watching a scammer work an elderly couple, convincing them to invest a huge amount, probably their life’s savings. He meets the crook in the parking lot, along with his female assistant, and retrieves the couple’s money. When he gives the money back to the couple they are surprised and annoyed. Until he reveals the money the scammer showed as proof he had already doubled their money consisted of packs with twenties on the outside and newspaper on the inside.
When Reacher is leaving the coffee shop, someone slips a note into his pocket. It reads: “Must disappear! Life in Danger! Need help!” The note asks Reacher to come to a meeting at a vacant warehouse at midnight. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Reacher goes to the meeting. Gilmore shows up and despite misgivings, Reacher is soon helping him, not because he wants to help the guy, but because he believes the criminals working this crime are involved in something that could endanger people’s lives.
Exit Strategy has all the ingredients Reacher fans love. There’s plenty of violence. Reacher doesn’t just knock out an opponent, he oftentimes renders them helpless. One scene has him facing half a dozen killers and he dispenses with them easily. What Reacher has that his opponents lack is, aside from brute strength, the ability to read an opponent’s moves in advance. All those years facing out-of-control soldiers and enemies has prepared him well.
Whenever another author picks up the mantle from another, there’s a settling in period. This isn’t the first novel Andrew Child has written with his brother. Exit Strategy might disappoint some fans. The plot, while compelling, meanders at times and characters are introduced only to disappear. At times it’s difficult to keep track of who’s who. But the star of the show is still Reacher, also now starring in his own streaming series on Amazon Prime. The ex-military cop is here to stay.
Exit Strategy
Lee Child
Andrew Child
Top Bigstock photo by zmotions
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