Better Off Dead: (Jack Reacher 26)

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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. Reacher hitches a ride in Texas. Carmen, the driver, is a mother of a young girl and is trapped in an abusive marriage. She requests Reacher's help. After some deliberation Reacher consents. However, at her remote ranch in Echo County Reacher encounters lies, prejudice and hatred climaxing in Carmen being arrested for the murder of her husband. With Carmen's true motives cast into doubt, Reacher finds himself investigating the truth. Child, Lee (1999). "James Penney's New Identity," In Fresh Blood III (Bloodlines), 163, (M. Ripley & Maxim Jakubowski, Eds.), London, GBR: Do-Not Press, ISBN 9781899344529. Accessed 5 September 2015.

Reacher visits a hollowed-out town in Maine, where he witnesses a random bag-snatching but sees much more than a simple crime.Culminating the story arc extending from 61 Hours, Reacher makes it to his destination in northeastern Virginia: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. On arriving though, Reacher finds out that the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, has been arrested. Soon he too finds himself taken into custody, pending the trial of two crimes he allegedly committed while he was in the army. Reacher and Turner set out on a journey; Turner in hopes of clearing her name and Reacher to prove the charges fraudulent or if true then atone for them. Reacher is in Key West, digging pools by hand and moonlighting as a bouncer for a topless bar. He discovers the body of a New York investigator hired by "Mrs. Jacob" to find him. He finds out that she is attorney Jodie Garber, daughter of General Leon Garber, Reacher's recently deceased mentor and surrogate father in the Army. She wants his help investigating her father's last project, a search on behalf of the elderly parents of their military MIA son. Having inherited a house and gained a steady girlfriend, Reacher contemplates a sedentary life as he and Jodie find themselves hunted by a psychopath businessman and military criminal crippled in the Vietnam War, who has a shadowy business and other secrets to protect.

The story features Reacher, still in the Army as a captain, helping James Penney, a Vietnam War veteran who has recently been made redundant at work and had his car stolen. When Penney unknowingly becomes a fugitive (after he accidentally burns down two neighbours' houses in the course of deliberately burning down his own in an act of frustration after being fired), Reacher helps Penney obtain a new identity so he can start a new life. The story has appeared in Fresh Blood 3 (1999), an anthology of mystery short stories edited by Mike Ripley and Maxim Jakubowski, [6] and in Thriller (2006), a short story anthology of thrillers written by International Thrillers, Inc. members and edited by James Patterson. [ citation needed] "High Heat" [ edit ] Reacher arrives late one night in a rural Nebraska town. In the town's fading motel bar he overhears a drunk doctor's refusal to attend a victim of domestic abuse. Reacher intervenes, getting the doctor to attend to the victim while breaking the nose of the husband responsible for the abuse. It turns out that the husband is the scion of the powerful and rich Duncan clan, which maintains authority in that part of Nebraska. Reacher's intervention causes him to end up embroiled in a smuggling ring and an unsolved disappearance from twenty-five years prior. Reacher is mentioned several times in the Stephen King novel Under the Dome, where he is described by the character Colonel Cox as "the toughest goddam Army cop that ever served, in my humble opinion." [10] Lee Child's endorsement of Under the Dome appears on the cover of at least one edition of the book. [ citation needed] Hemingway also makes a call to the New York Police Department about the Son of Sam based on the description given to her by Reacher. They then go to a motel where Jill dies of a myocardial infarction. [9] Reacher leaves the motel after informing the police of her death.Chrissie and Reacher then make out in her car, when they encounter the Son of Sam, a serial killer who killed couples making out in cars. Son of Sam couldn't see Chrissie and leaves, but not before Reacher gets a good look at his posture and mannerisms. This novel was adapted for the first season of the 2022 series, Reacher starring Alan Ritchson in the titular role. This anthology includes a novella, "Too Much Time", and the short stories"Deep Down", "Everyone Talks", "Guy Walks into a Bar", "High Heat", "James Penney's New Identity" (the original version which is longer), "Maybe They Have a Tradition", "No Room at the Motel", "Not a Drill", "Second Son", "Small Wars", and "The Picture of the Lonely Diner". Baldacci, David, ed. (2014). FaceOff. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781476762074 . Retrieved 31 December 2016. Temperance Brennan is being investigated for the murder of a reporter who was re-opening an old suicide case that Reacher investigated. Included in MatchUp, a collection of co-authored short stories by male and female thriller authors (Lee Child and Kathy Reichs).