In Too Deep – Reacher No 29
I am a long time fan of Jack Reacher and I wait for the latest Jack Reacher book every year. The books, the movies (ahem) and the series, I love them all. Even when I like someone more than Reacher himself in the story. As it happened in Reacher Season 2. This year was no different. In India, the 29th book released on 15th October and I had it pre-ordered. I opened the book with the thoughts of getting engaged in a great Reacher story with the anticipated sleep compromise. A good page turner does that to you. However, In too deep – Reacher No. 29 turned out to be a disappointment. I don’t recall any other Reacher book that I took four days to finish. Typically, it has been start today and end tomorrow. This one dragged.
Honestly, when Lee Child (a pseudonym) brought in Andrew Child (another pseudonym) as a co-author in Reacher No 25 – The Sentinel, I had anticipated that the fun will go down. Surprisingly, it didn’t go down then. Even when the two brothers contributed to the story, it remained a Reacher story.
In a typical Reacher story, there is a crime to start with. Jack Reacher gets tangled in some manner either during the crime or after it. Then him being the Good Samaritan and all; he gets deeper and deeper in the situation. Then comes a revelation that the original small crime was just the tip of the iceberg and a lot of sinister things are going on. Things so sinister (think of Killing Floor) that you want the bad guys to get their punishment at Reacher’s hand. Reacher is very very good at giving deserved punishment. There was satisfaction when the story ended.
“In too deep” lacks on almost all the fronts of a Reacher story. I will try to not do spoilers and will keep to the stuff that is available through book summaries on Online book stores. The opening is not a crime, it’s an accident. An accident that Reacher doesn’t remember witnessing. He doesn’t know whether there is any foul play. For no reason, the players of the story pick him up and shackle to a steel table.
Of course, you can’t keep Reacher shackled. But this Reacher is damaged – both physically and mentally. His right wrist is broken and he can’t recall what happened before the accident. Still he is Jack Reacher and you can’t keep Reacher shackled. This could’ve been a great premise where Reacher does the investigation in his own way and builds the story. But it is not to be so.
Then we get to the bad guys of the book. Their great plan is to steal some stuff from other bad guys. In any other normal circumstances, Reacher will let them be. You want to steal from the Russians, go ahead. At the start of the story, Reacher has already squared up with the person who shackled him. Reacher, that we know, has no interest in any money. So, when he decides to team up/play along with Vidic; you, a Reacher fan, ask: Why? He had no need to get further involved.
Unless, there is some injustice that is going on. Then Reacher gets entangled, willingly. While we are in the story, we get introduced to more bad guys. None of them is remarkable. You meet a turned FBI agent. A really smart woman who could’ve been so much more than a damsel in distress. These two want to run away with a report. And trust me when it is revealed what the report contains, your first question is – so what?
The story is marred with weak characters. I am not even talking about the customary woman on Reacher’s side character. Her story, motivation and actions are so thin that I couldn’t care less whether she succeeded or not. Too much of an effort to create suspense, even when it is obvious what the great surprise is. That pretty much sums up Reacher No 29.
I will wait for Reacher No 30. If it goes the same way, I’ll probably stop waiting for Reacher. It won’t be the first time that a great affair with an author or a character will die. Happened with John Grisham and Wilbur Smith (though some of the newer ones of his collaborations have had some touch of the older ones). I just hope that it isn’t so. There are only two authors whose books I pre-order and read as soon as I get them, Lee Child and Michael Connelly. I won’t like if I have to drop one of them.