The 21st Jack Reacher novel, Night School, is a cleverly crafted and satisfying read by leading thriller writer Lee Child. The story opens with Jack being sent back to ‘night school’ after coming in fresh from the field with a medal – the Legion of Honour – presented by no less than a three-star general from the Pentagon. Within a matter of hours Jack Reacher, MP with the US Army has joined Casey Waterman, FBI agent and John White, CIA analyst in a classroom.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With the arrival of national security advisor Alfred Ratcliffe and his senior deputy Dr Marian Sinclair, the three agents learn that the school is, as they had already suspected, a convenient under-the- radar cover for their next top secret job. Marion takes the reins and briefs the three men on the situation they will be required to resolve.
Three Saudis and an Iranian have been living the high life in an apartment in Hamburg, Germany for over a year. They are a ‘sleeper cell’, awaiting instructions from a heavily funded jihadist group not yet well known to the west. The information available to the US so far, has been provided by the Iranian, who is a brave, young double agent. He has reported a disturbing conversation to the Pentagon: an American has offered to sell a hitherto unknown weapon of mass destruction to the jihadist group for one hundred million dollars.
Jack and his compatriots are charged with the onerous task of finding out who this American is, exactly what he has for sale at such a ludicrous price and to stop whatever destruction may be planned before it starts. The three men set about gathering their teams together and start coordinating copious and painstaking research, always racing against the clock.
As they learn more about the perilous situation and begin to pinpoint their target, they find themselves back in the field as the situation intensifies. Things are further complicated by two Germans who decide they also want a piece of the action, without being fully aware of the implications of the information they have stumbled across. Jack and the other teams are initially unaware of this new threat, and the tension builds relentlessly.
Small humorous references provide a welcome balance to the escalating situation, such as: ‘[it was] not a long ride… to a large and imposing but slightly odd building. It looked like a copy of the White House done purely from memory by a builder who had visited once as a kid.’ The adept use of metaphor, such as ‘…the scream of cop cars, the yelp of ambulances, the deafening bass bark of fire trucks, all blending in a howl that sounded more like sorrow than help’ keeps the reader entertained throughout.
It is no surprise that every Jack Reacher novel of this thriller series has been optioned for the movies, and considering that one of Lee Child’s Reacher thrillers is sold every 20 seconds around the world, this novel should be high on your must-read list.
Night School
Lee Child
Penguin Bantam Press