Tripwire by Lee Child

Lee Child writes wonderful thrillers and I find it very hard to put the book down once I start reading it. The story starts with Jack Reacher working in a small town building swimming pools. He has found his way all the way down the tip of Florida and is happy living the quiet life. He works out by doing manual labour of digging the pools and other construction jobs. He is relaxed and well-toned living day to day. The story begins when a man come looking for Jack. Out of curiosity Reacher pretends not to know who the man is looking for. A few hours later, there are 2 other men looking for Reacher. Now he is curious and follows them to find out what is the story. Next he finds that first man dead and a quick search through his pocket shows he is a private detective.

If the 2 men killed this private detective, then they were not going to be good for his health, Reacher concludes. He knows he has to get to New York if he is find out why this private detective was trying to find him. He finds the office of the detective and discovers that he had been hired by law firm. He follows the lead to find the named client. It turns out that this lady was the daughter of his old commanding officer from the Military Police. He finds her at her father’s memorial and stays after to talk about why she had sent a detective looking for him.

Why had old Leon asked his daughter to find Reacher? What was he investigating for someone he met at his hospital clinic? They were surprised to find Leon had made a trip to Hawaii in pursuit of some information. Reacher and Jodie try to retrace his steps to get to the bottom on this mystery. Especially since the detective was dead and his secretary was missing.

Somewhere in New York, there is a very rich and private man with a hook for a hand, who gets worried when he finds out someone was looking into an old case of a soldier’s death in Vietnam. In the past he had made sure that if enquires were made about this soldier’s death both in USA and in Vietnam, he was to be warned of it. This warning from the prearranged tripwire comes at the crucial time when he is running an operation to get even richer. He wants to complete this operation so that he can disappear and live a life of luxury with a new identity. This is pure greed as after all he is already a billionaire.  He will do anything to keep his identity a secret and complete his scam, including murder. 

Like Reacher, his men have found the name of Leon’s daughter as the detective’s client. Now they are after her to find out what she knows and to eliminate her. Finding Reacher with her is viewed as just an irritation. But when he finds out that both Reacher and Jodie have been to Hawaii to get more information about that dead solider, he knows that both have to be killed, to be kept from finding out the truth. In this story, Lee Child manages to show both sides of the story together to provide the reader with the perspective of the main players. It is like the picture is forming slowly as pieces of puzzle are put together. 

What is it that the rich man wants to hide? The scam he is operating and kidnapping of another man and his wife to get his hands of that final piece of real estate as well as their money gives the reader an insight into the evil of the man with the hook. Why is it important for him to kill Jodie and Reacher? Will he manage to kidnap Jodie and lure Reacher into coming to him? For that is the only way he can get to Reacher in the limited time he has before the truth is out and he has to flee. 

A good Reacher thriller, that keeps the adrenalin racing throughout. Also there is a romance blossoming between Reacher and Jodie. What is Reacher going to do with the house Leon has left him and this love between him and Jodie? But all that comes only after he can get to the bottom of this mystery and stop them from getting killed.