Lee and Andrew Child team up again in the 27th thriller of this series, the third for Andrew. As with any long-running series like this, the plot scenario never varies too far from what has always worked well. Here, Reacher has stopped in Gerrardsville, Co, to spend time in a museum that interests him. Right in broad daylight in the downtown, he sees a woman pushed to her death. But the official ruling is suicide so Reacher feels compelled to figure out what's really going on and who would want her dead. The search leads him to a privately-owned prison in Mississippi.

In subplots, two other people are heading to that prison as well for their own purposes--one, a young boy running away from foster care, wanting to find his birth father; and the other, a man looking for revenge.

This story is as always very entertaining escapism, with lots of action and violence. This plot would definitely make a great Prime Video movie with a crew of unscrupulous bad guys carrying out their sneaky plans and eliminating anyone who stands in their way.

There is a noticeable difference in style of writing, now that Andrew has joined the writing team, perhaps a bit less warmth about our hero, but I'm happy to see there is still an occasional bit of humor to lighten things up.

I received an arc from the authors and publisher for which I am grateful. My review is voluntary however and the opinions expressed are my own.

I'm not a big fan of the Jack Reacher books anymore. I feel like it's a lot of the same thing, different town, but same scenario where Reacher goes to battle for the underdog. It's not much of an action thriller anymore. I held out hope after the last one and although I still love the Reacher character, I have to give up on this series.

Give me a Jack Reacher book and I will happily lose myself for a few hours. A hero for the masses who happily rights wrongs and gets justice for those who need it. Reacher is doing what he does best, just traveling through life, when he wittinesses someone thrown to death. Not content with the official response, he begins to investigate and finds himself in the middle of a drug smuggling ring and much more. He does what he usually does, wades in, fist swinging and bodies broken. Good story and if you’re a Reacher fan, you’ll enjoy it. Five Stars.

No Plan B is another no-frills knuckle-dragging Reacher classic. There is no limit of head busting Jack Reacher will deliver to reach the truth and deliver justice. This is one that Lee and Andrew Child blend effortlessly with unmatched intrigue and with some of the most clever criminal money-making schemes. They somehow intertwine multiple storylines and will easily captivate readers with their immense talent.

Reacher is just doing his thing, floating from town to town like any normal drifter would do, until he witnesses one of the most brutal murders capable by a human. Fast forward to a chase that leads to unfamiliar surroundings, Reacher recovering and the bad guys nowhere to be seen. The information that Reacher gathers in the hunt for the truth to what really happened to Angela St. Vrain leads to a trip from Colorado to Mississippi. While Reacher is investigating, he runs into Hannah Hampton, who just happens to be connected to another person that is vital to finding the truth. Together, the two will be tried and tested to see how far they will go to determine the truth.

Jed Starmer is a down on his luck foster kid who is absolutely fed up with his current situation. If he can survive the decision he is going to make, it will change the course of his life forever. As if there wasn’t enough that the Child’s are throwing your way, Lev Emerson is a devoted businessman that is going to have his world turned upside down. The truth collides at an unexpected location with the most bizarre, organized crime rings you could ever dream up. Lee and Andrew Child blend countless fight scenes with intriguing dialogue and keep you guessing the whole way.

My Thoughts


First time I did not bother reading other reviews on a book.

After reading as many of this series as possible via my local library borrowing and NetGalley, many thanks to both of you, am well versed on Jack. Reachers capability action wise and etc.

The 27th story stayed true to those expectations without a doubt.

Reacher is however, as others have mentioned, more decisive about how fast conflicts are to be resolved with his trademark method of brutal and swift violence.

I think some readers may be less accepting of this but personally for me it works better so we can get past that and on to the part answers are given to us along with Reacher.

For me this was an excellent addition as its converging story lines, which others have also pointed out, were at times confusing until they all came together.
Reacher is unforgettable as a character and with each new foray into this series I find something else to respect him for.

This book did not prove that respect to be misplaced.

A worthwhile read with lots of moving parts to keep one reading until finished.

[EArc from Netgalley]

Once released posting on Amazon and B&N as well, already posted on Goodreads site today.

No Plan B is the third Jack Reacher written by Andrew Child and, to me, is quintessential Reacher. Reacher witnesses a woman get murdered and her purse stolen, Reacher takes note of the scene and decides to let authorities handle it. When the woman's death is ruled a suicide, Reacher begins to poke around finds himself in a vast conspiracy as evil as it is shocking. Flying by the seat of his pants like usual, Reacher is about to show the evildoers they should have had a plan B.

Andrew Child's No Plan B harkens back to the Reacher of old and is the best of the three he has written. In the first two books Andrew penned, you could tell he was experimenting with his version and vision for Reacher. Andrew's Reacher is more aggressive and brutal but remains the same Reacher Lee Child created. Andrew Child's Reacher has a flair for the dramatic as well as hiding a few tricks up his sleeve. At one point Reacher channels his inner MacGyver (a great show) so we know what he has been watching. MacGyvering the crap out of something is always a delight regardless who is doing the MacGyvering.

No Plan B will delight longtime fans of Reacher as well as newbies. No Plan B needed.

As always, my sincere thanks to Lee and Andrew Child, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of No Plan B!

No Plan B is the third book in the Reacher series written by Andrew Child and originally written by Lee Child.

"Reacher sees a woman pushed under a bus and goes after the man who did it. Reacher sees something the killer didn't want him to see. In the chaos Reacher is pinned by debris. He starts looking into what he saw and meets Hannah, whose ex-husband was also murdered. Together they head to Winsome, Mississippi, home of Minerva Correctional Facility where they hope tp find the men responsible. But money and desperate men will make it hard for Reacher to serve justice..."

Andrew Child writes a different Reacher. This Reacher is less reluctant to get involved. No one has to talk him into helping to punish the bad guys. The fights are very descriptive as to what Reacher is doing - angles and torque and mass and velocity. This Reacher likes a fight.

There are several storylines here. They all come together at the end. It's a different class of bad guy for Reacher this time. And the prison is full of surprises.

It feels like Andrew has settled into the character now. Fans of Reacher will enjoy this next installment.

First I want to thank the authors, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced review copy of this book. What follows is my own original review.

I'm a huge fan of Jack Reacher. So let me get that bias out of the way. I've read every Reacher book. Love the new Amazon series. Didn't care for the Tom Cruise casting. Most of the books I have really enjoyed. When Lee Child was writing by himself some of the books started to get too formulaic and endings that were so-so. The addition of Andrew Child has breathed some fresh life in the franchise. The books are in my opinion much better, and reflect the Reacher of old.

No Plan B keeps you engaged for pretty much the entire novel. Reacher witnesses a murder that is passed off as a suicide. If you know Reacher, you know that he is not going to stand for that kind of shenanigans. So here's Reacher, in yet another small town USA seeking to find out the conspiracy behind a woman's gruesome murder (she was shoved under a bus but you know that already I'm guessing).

As Reacher digs in to the mystery he finds an interesting colleague who wants to help--a widow whose ex-husband was also a friend of the victim who winds up dead of mysterious causes. The plot gets deeper as Reacher seeks to understand the connections.

There is a side plot involving a runaway orphan teen boy who is trying to find his birth father who he has never met. The boys mother died of cancer when he was very young and Jed (his name) ended up in foster care. His storyline is not as interesting, and as your read you wonder "what's this got to do with Reacher?" Eventually towards the end of the book it all comes together; its Reacher versus the bad guys and the body count starts to pile up. Actually Reacher doesn't kill too many in No Plan B. This is not Killing Floor. But he does knock off a few thugs and knocks out cold a bunch more.

Fall means a new Reacher novel and I'm pleased to see Child & Child have teamed up for another successful adventure. I liked the book and recommend it if you enjoy murder mysteries and action adventure novels.

I received a free epub copy from NetGalley!

What can I say it was a Jack Reacher novel. This is my first of his novels I have read, but I have watched the movies and shows, so I sort of knew what to expect. This did not disappoint.

The story was intriguing, Reacher was gruff and aggressive and smarter than the bad guys. His helpers were also smart and learned to accept his ways of doing things.

This was a good book to just be able to read and enjoy, not really having to maintain a lot of plot points, learn a bunch of characters, or deal with sudden unexpected plot twists. It was a solid novel that if you know Jack Reacher, then you know what you're going to read. Nothing out of the ordinary but totally enjoyable.

Fans of Lee Child books never get enough! Jack Reacher is the guy we all want around when there's trouble. Hard to put down as the action is fast and furious. You'll enjoy this one!

*Thank you to Random House, Lee Child, Andrew Child and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/no-plan-b/

“To fill a small bag means selecting,and choosing, and evaluating. There’s no logical end to that process. Pretty soon I would have a big bag, and then two or three. A month later I’d be like the rest of you.”
― Lee Child, 61 Hours

This is my second Jack Reacher book, and it fascinates me that I love them so much. They are easy reads. There is no “floral” language, lots of “beat em up” scenes, and the occasional woman. What I love about Mr. Reacher is his “I don’t give a damn” attitude. Six guys waiting to kill him at a rest stop? No problem. Roadblock in the middle of the desert? We’ll work it out. There are a lot of characters in this book compared to the last Reacher book I finished. One person wants revenge for the death of his son, a teenager looking for his father, a woman seeking knowledge on the death of her ex-husband, and some bad guys who seem to follow Reacher wherever he is. .

Jack Reacher is a drifter, traveling through the country with nothing but the clothes on his back. No wallet, no change of clothes, no car. No possessions. In No Plan B, Childs’ latest novel, Reacher is in the small town of Gerrardsville, Colorado. There is a civil war museum that he thinks might interest him. While en route, he witnesses a man pick a woman up and throw her under a city bus. Because he is Jack Reacher, he pursues the man on foot into an alley, wanting to confront him and hold him for the police but that doesn’t happen. The killer escapes. The Police Detective arrives at the scene and informs Jack they are already ruling the woman’s death a suicide based on a statement by another witness. Reacher, as always, wants justice. When he investigates, it leads him to another death from a heart attack but he knows there is more to the story. He realizes there is a strong connection between the woman thrown under the bus and the man who recently died of a heart attack. Both deaths lead to a for-profit prison in Mississippi and Reacher heads there with the ex-wife of Sam Roth, the heart attack victim.

Minerva in Winson, Mississippi is a private institution where prisoners are doing things that may or may not be illegal under the instruction of the owner of the prison. These are evil men but we don’t really understand how evil until the last chapters of the book. The different storylines converge at the end and it was quite satisfying.

Jack Reacher is such a great character, but he almost doesn’t seem human. While he is enormous (6’5 and 250 lbs) and seems to never age, he has some real human qualities. He cares about people but doesn’t always respect the law. He seems to have an innate distrust, which is intriguing and I assume discussed in earlier books. Another reviewer described him as having a lizard brain and this is true. Reacher seems to look at any situation and immediately know what to do as he can sense danger long before it arrives. I can’t comment on the Jack Reacher of earlier days when Lee Child was writing his books. I can say I understand the appeal of these books, now written by Andrew Child, Lee’s brother. They are easy to read and all the facts are right there. And most importantly, Jack is a very likable character and seems to fight for the underdog.

Reacher's back in fine form in this latest outing in the long running series. An impulsive decision to visit a museum in Colorado sets off his quest for truth when, while walking around the town, he sees a woman pushed in front of a bus- and then a man steal her purse. Who was she, what was she doing there, and what's the connection to a private prison in Mississippi? Well, that won't be revealed for a long time but Reacher decides he's going for answers, especially after he meets Hannah, the ex-wife of Sam, a contact of the woman who has just died of a heart attack. The two of them set off to drive to Mississippi, tracked all along the way by the bad guys. And what's the deal with the mysterious man Everson who is seeking vengeance for his son? And what about Jed, the orphan who has run away from his foster home and is riding the Greyhound? Jed's story, btw, while compelling, doesn't seem to really mesh with the rest but this is Child so wait for it. No spoilers from me but know that this is less violent than the last one (although, let's face it, it's still violent) and the plotting is better. I admit I was a little confused about where it was going but once all was revealed, I realized there had been breadcrumbs. No need to comment on Reacher- he is what he is- but Hannah made a dynamic companion. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Classic Child that will please his fans.

I was a latecomer to this thriller series, but it reads easily as a standalone. Reacher is described as a drifter, homeless man, former military cop, destitute and lethal. His brain fires off his steps and the results in advance like a chess player plans the next move. He operates like MacGyver on steroids. I was well into chapter seven before I remembered to take a breath, not realizing I’d been holding it awhile.
The apparent suicide of a woman in Colorado triggers the collision of a vastly opposing cast of characters. There is a privately operated prison, Minerva Correctional Facility, in Mississippi. It’s run by corrupt co-founders Bruno Hix and Brockman. Their evil is only surpassed by their greed.
Then there’s a runaway boy from L.A., seeking his unknown father. His journey to the prison to meet this man is arduous and full of crime.
Emerson is a fixer whose drug addicted son died. He’s seeking revenge against the supplier. His idea of justice doesn’t include the law.
Reacher’s making his own way to Minerva as an army of muscle men attempt to stop him. The brawls, chases and gunfire increase the nearer he gets to answers. Reacher has his own unique sense of justice. The story is gritty and violent with head spinning action. The pieces of the plot are finally pulled into place and the dots are connected at the tension filled conclusion. There were motives and reveals I did not predict.
This was another winner for me. I will continue to read and recommend the authors.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the digital advance reader copy of “No Plan B” Jack Reacher #27 by Lee Child and Andrew Child and to Random House Publishing and Ballantine. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without compensation.

A middle of the pack but fairly enjoyable Reacher novel. For quite some time, the Jack Reacher series has been running on fumes--as if Child feels obligated to pump one out every year, even though the formula has by now warn out its welcome. The action in this book is fairly well done, but Reacher has almost completely lost interest as a character, especially compared with the early books in the series. The villains in this book are ciphers; they have no personality at all. I didn't feel like my tame had been totally wasted reading this, but nor did I feel it was time all that well spent. Stick to the first ten or so books in this series for the best experience.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This story begins with Reacher in Colorado where he witnesses a woman being hit by a bus. His view of the event was that it was a murder. He spots the perpetrator and chases him into an alley. As he wasn't able to capture this person, he wasn't able to convince the police that it was a homicide. Receiving information from a detective he began his own investigation.

Based on what he had seen he began his trek to Mississippi along with the ex-wife of another individual that had died. In addition to Reacher's quest, there were two other situations in plan that were described. All three of these events will all wind up in the same place.

It appears that the possibility of Reacher arriving had been considered, steps were put in place to stop him. To discover what consequences happened, why the woman was killed and who was responsible, then you need to read this book. If you like action, then you will definitely enjoy this book.

Typical Reacher; Reacher fans will enjoy it. Thriller fans will find it a pleasant diversion. What has to be a nearly 40 year old wandering Reacher now, blows into yet another town, finds yet another damsel/child in distress, kills or maims all the bad guys, heads to the next town. I think this formula is getting a bit tired and, face it, how much longer can Reacher keep this up. How 'bout he finds a nice girl and settles down somewhere, develops his character and few others in the process, and matures like a fine wine. Come on, Andrew; it is time for something new.

What happens when a former Army Military Police Major happens to wander into your town? It could be that he takes in the sights, grabs a good cup of coffee, and moves on. If that man is Jack Reacher and you are harming others, well that's a different story altogether. By now we know that when Jack Reacher comes to town he is the physical manifestation of violent justice and he’s not afraid to break some stuff (and bodies) while tipping the scales in favor of the oppressed.

In No Plan B, Jack Reacher gets to town just in time to watch a woman murdered by a moving bus. Will Reacher move on, ignore this brutality, and go sightseeing? Of course not, what follows is a fast paced trek to find the killers and the discovery of a dark conspiracy in the process. With each step, Reacher uncovers more layers of the truth, more baddies to harm, and puts a growing target on his back.

As with all Reacher stories, No Plan B is a fast paced, action packed, page turner that has you rooting for the hero and feeling sorry for the baddies that crossed his path…but not really. If you are a fan of the Reacher series, then you’ll definitely love the next chapter in Reacher’s vigilante justice tour of America.

No Plan B by Lee Child is yet another Jack Reacher saga well worth the read. This version starts when Jack sees a woman pushed in front of a bush. Everyone else tries to make it appear as a suicide. Not one to walk away from unfinished business Jack starts following leads as only he can. From beginning until the end you will be constantly be engaged in the story. If you enjoy Jack Reacher this is a must read. If you haven’t read Lee Child’s books, you should.
I would like to thank the author and publisher for an advance copy for review purposes.

"No Plan B" is a first-rate book featuring the inimical Jack Reacher. The story is fast paced with Reacher stopping in a very small Colorado town in the middle of no where. Always being observant, here he sees a woman being pushed under the wheels of a bus. The real adventure begins with a confrontation of the two men responsible for the death of the woman.

As is usually the case in a Reacher book, this initial confrontation is just the beginning. Several other "bad guys" are confronted and neutralized in the course of his "nose for crime." In the broader story there are at least four subplots and they all converge in another small town, this time in Mississippi. The plots range from Reacher in Colorado with the woman under the bus and a supposed heart attack; a guy from Chicago who is interested in furthering his wealth by being a torch man and who wants to avenge his son's death; a young man in LA who is running from a foster care home and to seek his father; and finally a prison in a small town that seems more PR than substance.

All these threads come to a crashing climax as all the plot pieces come together. There are some interesting twists and several other crooks meet an untimely demise at the hands of Reacher and others! The Reacher character shows some of his softer side in this story but in the end, likes his freedom too much to really settle down.

A great read that ended all to quickly; but this is the way with a great story and book -- a fan wants it to continue. But I am anxiously waiting for the next Reacher installment.

NO PLAN B by Lee Child and Andrew Child is another satisfying Jack Reacher Novel. This time, Reacher steps in when the local police are not willing to investigate a murder he witnessed. The plot was a little drawn out at first, but certainly picked up half-way through. I certainly did not expect the ending and wish the authors had revealed the depth of the crimes earlier because it was so interesting. Jack Reach fans will enjoy this book!