In the eighth book of the Jack Reacher series, we flashback to 1990. Reacher is a twenty-nine year old military police major for the 110th special unit. The Soviet Union is about to collapse and, with the Cold War at an end, the military faces a reduction in force. The body of a two-star general is found in a seedy hotel near the base. He appears to have experienced a heart attack. Reacher, recently reassigned to Fort Bird, NC is assigned to the case. The general’s briefcase is missing, inside was an agenda to a very secretive meeting. When the general’s wife is found bludgeoned to death just a few hours later, Reacher realizes the general’s death can’t be attributed to natural causes. A third body is also found, the body of a gay soldier who was killed in a horrific manner. His superiors want Reacher to report this as training accident. During his investigations, Reacher learns his counterparts at 20 other bases were reassigned at the same time he was, December 29th. Clearly something is going on, for who would exert the power required to accomplish a reassignment of this magnitude?
Reacher has a lot to deal with in his personal life as well. His mother, who lives in France, admits to Reacher and his older brother Joe that she is dying of cancer and doesn’t have much time to live. This foray into his personal life gives long-time fans of the Reacher books a rare glimpse of the personal side of Jack Reacher. What transpires between Reacher and his brother in this book further explains their relationship in previous books.
When I started listening to this book, I was a bit wary of the flashback. Ultimately, however, I was able to gain a better understanding of Reacher as a person as well as his motives. As always, Child really delivers with this one. His books never fail to impress me. They are consistently full of plot twists, action and intrigue. The Enemy probably has more political commentary than the other Reacher books I have read thus far; this was a change that I really enjoyed.
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