Product Description

From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent free-falling into the night…. In Chicago, a woman learns that an elite team of ex–army investigators is being hunted down one by one.... And on the streets of Portland, Jack Reacher—soldier, cop, hero—is pulled out of his wandering life by a code that few other people could understand. From the first shocking scenes in Lee Child’s explosive new novel, Jack Reacher is plunged like a knife into the heart of a conspiracy that is killing old friends…and is on its way to something even worse.

A decade postmilitary, Reacher has an ATM card and the clothes on his back—no phone, no ties, and no address. But now a woman from his old unit has done the impossible. From Chicago, Frances Neagley finds Reacher, using a signal only the eight members of their elite team of army investigators would know. She tells him a terrifying story—about the brutal death of a man they both served with. Soon Reacher is reuniting with the survivors of his old team, scrambling to raise the living, bury the dead, and connect the dots in a mystery that is growing darker by the day. The deeper they dig, the more they don’t know: about two other comrades who have suddenly gone missing—and a trail that leads into the neon of Vegas and the darkness of international terrorism.

For now, Reacher can only react. To every sound. Every suspicion. Every scent and every moment. Then Reacher will trust the people he once trusted with his life—and take this thing all the way to the end. Because in a world of bad luck and trouble, when someone targets Jack Reacher and his team, they’d better be ready for what comes right back at them…

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13555 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-15
• Released on: 2007-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Amazon.com Review
Ex-military cop Jack Reacher is the perfect antihero--tough as nails, but with a brain and a conscience to match. He's able to see what most miss and is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Each book in Lee Child's smart, addictive series (The New York Times has referred to it as "pure escapist gold") follows the wandering warrior on a new adventure, making it easy to start with any book, including his latest gem, Bad Luck and Trouble. However, be forewarned...once you meet Jack Reacher, you'll be hooked, so be prepared to stock up on the series. --Daphne Durham

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Who Is Jack Reacher? A Video from Lee Child

Watch the video

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A Note from Lee Child

Two years ago I was on a book tour, promoting that year's new Jack Reacher novel, One Shot. One particular night, the event was held in a small town outside of Chicago. The date was June 21st. As I was giving my talk and answering questions and signing books, that date was nagging away at the back of my mind. I knew it had some significance. I started panicking--had I forgotten my anniversary? No, that's in August. My wife's birthday? No, that's in January. My own birthday? No, that's in October.

Then suddenly I remembered--it was ten years to the day since I had been fired from my previous job. That was why and how I had become a writer. That night in Illinois was a ten-year anniversary of a different sort, somewhat bittersweet.

And ten is a nice round number. So I started thinking about my old colleagues. My workmates, my buddies. We had been through a lot together. I started to wonder where they all were now. What were they doing? Were they doing well, or struggling? Were they happy? What did they look like now? Pretty soon I was into full-on nostalgia mode. Ten-year anniversaries can do that to a person. I think we all share those kind of feelings, about high school, or college, or old jobs we've quit, or old towns we've moved away from.

So I decided to make this year's Jack Reacher book about a reunion. I decided to throw him back among a bunch of old colleagues that he hadn't seen for ten years, people that he loved fiercely and respected deeply. Regular Reacher readers will know that he's a pretty self-confident guy, but I wanted him to wobble just a little this time, to compare his choices with theirs, to measure himself against them.

The renewed get-together isn't Reacher's own choice, though. And it's not a standard-issue reunion, either. Something very bad has happened, and one of his old team-members from the army contacts him, by an ingenious method (it's hard to track Reacher down). She gives him the bad news, and asks him to do something about it. He says, "Of course I'll do something about it."

"No," his friend says. "I mean, I want you to put the old unit back together."

It's an irresistible invitation. Wouldn't we all like to do that, sometimes? --Lee Child

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Secrets of the Series: A Q&A with Lee Child

Q: Why do you think readers keep coming back to your novels?
A: Two words: Jack Reacher. Reacher is a drifter and a loner with a strong sense of justice. He shows up, he acts, he moves on. He's the type of hero who has a long literary history. Robin Hood, the Lone Ranger, Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings, Jack Reacher--they're all part of the same heroic family. Reacher just ratchets it up a notch. Maybe more than a notch. Why is he so appealing? Most often people say to me it's his sense of justice; he will do the right thing. Even though there is no reward in it for him, even though there is often a high cost to be paid by him, he will always try to do the right thing and people find that reassuring in today’s world when not too many people are doing the right thing.

Q: Jack Reacher gets compared to James Bond, Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne, each of whom now has a "face." In a movie, which actor do you think could fill Reacher's shoes?
A: That's the toughest question. The thing about Reacher is he's huge; he’s 6'5" tall and about 250 pounds. There aren’t any actors that size--actors tend to be small. So we aren't going to find a physical facsimile for Reacher because there aren't any. We have to find someone who is capable of looking big on the screen. Many people have said to me a young Clint Eastwood would have been perfect--we need someone like that who has the vibe of a big intimidating man. Hopefully there will be somebody available like that. It's also a question of finding somebody ready to sign up for more than one movie. They want to make a franchise, minimum of three, and that makes it a little bit harder.

Q: What research is involved in writing one of your stories?
A: My research is all kind of backwards. I don't go to the public library for three months and take notes in advance; instead my best research is by remembering and adapting. I read, travel, and talk to people just for the fun of it, filing away these interesting little snippets to the back of my mind and eventually they float to the surface and get used. The problem is, I approach writing the book with the same excitement and impatience that I hope the reader is going to feel about reading it. But even so, I need a certain measure of technical intrigue in the story. There is specific research I have to do as I go along, anything that's a small detail; a car, a gun, a type of bullet. I will check that out at the time. But, that's what I call the detail--the broad stuff is the stuff I already know.

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Meet Jack Reacher

The Killing Floor

Die Trying

Tripwire

Running Blind

Echo Burning

Without Fail

Persuader

The Enemy

One Shot

The Hard Way

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From Publishers Weekly
At the start of bestseller Child's winning 11th Jack Reacher adventure (after The Hard Way), the bad guys unceremoniously dump Calvin Franz, a former MP, from a Bell 222 helicopter "[t]hree thousand feet above the [California] desert floor." Trouble is, Franz was a member of the army's special investigation unit headed by Reacher—a one-time military cop who left the service to become a solitary drifter par excellence. A former colleague sends Reacher a coded SOS; the two rendezvous in L.A. and the game's afoot. More members of the band get back together, only to discover that Franz isn't the group's only casualty. As usual in Reacher's capers, practically nothing is what it seems, and the meticulously detailed route to the truth proves especially engrossing thanks to the joint efforts of this band of brothers (and two sisters). The author carefully delineates Reacher's erstwhile colleagues, their smart-ass banter masking an unspoken affection. The villains' comeuppance, a riveting eye-for-an-eye battle scene (hint: helicopter), is one of Child's more satisfying finales. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Nearly ever critic faulted the title of Lee Child's newest Jack Reacher novel—but that minor complaint, lost in a sea of high praise—speaks volumes about the book's great merits. Child brings to Bad Luck and Trouble the same heart-racing plots, intriguing characters, and minimalist writing for which he's known; this time, reviewers note that Child has perfected his taut, no-nonsense dialogue. Reacher, the quirky antihero, also exhibits his mathematical talents: codes and probabilities add an intellectual dimension to the plot. Some readers may find the novel a little formulaic or anticlimactic, but critics agree that Child has produced one of his finest Reacher novels.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

"You Don't Step on Superman's Cape..."
In these days of "metrosexuals" and men getting facials at a spa, it is refreshing to count on Lee Child's annual installment of the ex-Army mayhem-man Jack Reacher, who'd have his fingernails pulled out with pliers before being manicured. And back he is, folding toothbrush in his pocket, ready as always to rid the world of another annoyance.

But this time around, the stoic loner Reacher has some company. Frances Neagley, essentially the female version of Reacher and former member of his US Army Special Investigations team, contacts our nomadic hero through an arcane bank transaction, the first in a string of mental deductions that would leave Holmes and Watson with jaws agape. Neagley tells of the brutal death of Calvin Frantz, another former member of their elite unit, sending Reacher, Neagley and their remaining colleagues to a southern California rendezvous solving the mystery and avenging the murder. The plot thickens and as other members of the team go missing, and Reacher and company find themselves embroiled in super-secret government operations and international terrorism.

As far as escapist thriller fiction, "Bad Luck and Trouble" is about as good as it gets. If you don't overanalyze or rationalize, you can kick back and savor Reacher's unique brand of Zen violence told in Child's no-nonsense, rapid-fire prose. But measured against Child's high standards, I found this one sub-par. Reacher's savant-like mathematical talents, while necessary to set the plot in motion, were strained at first and a burden before long. And I found myself liking Reacher less as a team leader as I have as the lone wolf maverick, and the group dynamics felt forced and frayed. But I quibble. "Bad Luck and Trouble" is a must-read, another hard-core action page-turner that will add "don't mess with special investigations" as another line in that thing about "spitting into the wind."

Urban cowboy and his posse seek justice.
There are many reasons to admire Jack Reacher, the taciturn hero of Lee Child's "Bad Luck and Trouble." He is a low-maintenance individual who travels with just his passport, ATM card, and toothbrush. He is incredibly strong and an expert in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, and will go out of his way to protect the people he likes and respects. Reacher is also intelligent, intuitive, and creative; by thinking out of the box, he usually finds the answers to whatever questions are puzzling him.

In "Bad Luck and Trouble," Reacher has a reunion of sorts with three of his buddies from the army, Frances Neagley, Karla Dixon, and David O'Donnell. They reunite because of a tragic event: Calvin Franz, who worked with them years ago in the military police, was thrown out of a helicopter in the California desert after suffering unspeakable torture. The victim left behind a wife and little boy. Three other MPs from the same special investigations unit, Jorge Sanchez, Tony Swan, and Manuel Orozco, have disappeared, as well. Reacher and his remaining ex-colleagues band together to find out what happened to these men and why. He is also plotting revenge: "There are dead men walking, as of right now. You don't throw my friends out of helicopters and live to tell the tale." The slogan that Reacher and the others live by is: "You do not mess with the special investigators."

Lee Child's Reacher is a modern day cowboy, who generally travels alone from town to town, minding his own business. Yet, somehow, "bad luck and trouble" always manage to find him. This time, in a refreshing variation on Child's usual formula, Reacher takes his place as the commanding officer of a tightly knit and focused team, each member making his or her own invaluable contribution to the investigation. Neagley is smart and tough, and she has plenty of money to bankroll their operation. Dixon is a forensic accountant with a sharp mathematical mind, equal to Reacher's. O'Donnell is fast, powerful, and fearless. This formidable foursome is pitted against a group of ruthless adversaries who always seem to be one step ahead of them.

Child has created a cadre of well-drawn heroes, and the fast-paced action never flags. The terse, often dryly humorous dialogue is enormously entertaining. In addition, some nifty mental puzzles are thrown in to challenge the investigators' powers of deduction; brawn without brains just doesn't cut it in today's world. On the downside, the villains are one-dimensional and the finale is a bit too pat to be believed, even in a fantasy such as this. Still, this novel is great escapist fun; it will have wide audience appeal among long-time Reacher aficionados, and it will probably earn the author a host of new fans, as well.

A different kind of Reacher reaches out
How wonderful life can be: a new Jack Reacher novel, a long night of reading and, by sheer coincidence, a tremendous thunderstorm. Perfect for reading about the adventures of Reacher.

And what adventures these are. Reacher reunited with his old military police outfit. Well, sort of: one of the eight has already turned up dead - tossed from a helicopter - and three others are missing. Now there are three plus Reacher living up to their old unit motto: "Don't mess with the investigators".

This is a different Jack Reacher: he maims and murders so few people that you might mistake him for a pacifist. But don't worry: Reacher isn't turning into a wimpified John Rain, Barry Eisler's once glorious intellectual assasin. Reacher is still very much Reacher.

Reacher, if you didn't know, is classic anti-hero. Once a major in an elite U. S. Army military police unit, Reacher has become a drifter who doesn't seek out violence, but always unerringly manages to get knee-deep in other's people's blood that he is usually shedding. Reacher has no home, His possessions were formerly limited to a folding toothbrush. Now, post 9/11, Reacher has added an ATM card. Interesting, author Lee Child simply ignores the fact that banks require some form of ID to open any account. Reacher, of course, has no ID. Jack Reacher is an urban John Rambo. Smarter by far, but essentially a killing machine if you cross him, his friends or some innocent stranger. Reacher doesn't see grays: he sees black and white - you are either with him or against him.

The ATM card plays a clever role in setting up this story. Reacher is in Portland OR and about to go somewhere. He doesn't know where yet because Reacher doesn't plan that way. He goes to the bus terminal and buys a ticket on the first bus he sees. He needs cash for the ticket, goes to the ATM and sees that a deposit has been made. Reacher, it turns out in this 11th installment in the series, has a never before mentioned facility with mathematics, another convenient invention for this story. He see patterns in numbers and in this one he sees a radio code for officer needs help. Reacher deduces that it is one of his old unit buddies seeking him out.

Soon we are introduced to three of Reacher's old command. Of the remaining four, one is known dead and three are missing.

Normally a Jack Reacher book is short on mystery (which is fine) and long on violence. This time, the book is long on mystery and relatively short on violence (though there is plenty, the body count is low for a Reacher book). Why was their old buddy tortured and murdered? What has happened to other old comrades who have gone missing?

Reacher and his three veterans start digging and begin to unravel a mystery that could have awful consequences for the United States.

Lee Child took a gamble here, thinking that he could get away with making Jack Reacher, the solo mayhem generator, into not only a team player, but leader of the team. he gets away with it. Reacher, for a while at least, is indeed a team player, sending its members off on one mission or another to get the job done. Just like the old days when Reacher and friends were in the "green machine", the Army.

The story is solid. Child doesn't disappoint. Reacher is not his usual murderous self, though there is no shortage of newly made corpses. Reacher is still the same cynical loner he's always been, though Child does provide us a glimpse of Reacher as a leader which is indeed a different Reacher.

Save this one for a day or night when you have lots of time because you'll want to read it one sitting. And, if you have the luck to pick a night with a loud and violent thunderstorm, so much the better. Perfect accompaniment for this newest installment in the life of Jack Reacher.

Jerry