Night School

Jack Reacher 21

By: Lee Child

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

Brought to you by Penguin.

It's just a voice plucked from the air: 'The American wants a hundred million dollars'.

For what? Who from? It's 1996, and the Soviets are long gone. But now there's a new enemy. In an apartment in Hamburg, a group of smartly-dressed young Saudis are planning something big.

In the morning they gave Reacher a medal, and in the afternoon they sent him back to school.

Jack Reacher is fresh off a secret mission. The Army pats him on the back and sends him to a school with only three students: Reacher, an FBI agent, and a CIA analyst. Their assignment?

To find that American. And what he's selling. And to whom.

_________

Although the Jack Reacher novels can be listened to in any order, Night School is 21st in the series.

"I know I say this every year. . .But. Best. Reacher. Ever." (Karin Slaughter)

©2016 Lee Child (P)2016 Random House Audiobooks

Critic reviews

Ever more gripping...Night School is the closest that Reacher has come to being a secret agent, making this expertly paced thriller and addictive combination of spy yarn, detective story and beat-'em-up fightfest.

I know I say this every year...But. Best. Reacher. Ever. (Karin Slaughter)

Reacher... wins all fights, charms all women and outsmarts all rivals, friend or foe.What makes Night School the best of the Reacher novels I've read is that Child has concocted a brilliant plot...battling to save America, or maybe the entire civilised world, from a terrorist plot that is original, engrossing and all too believable...one of the best thrillers you'll read this year.

Dripping with irony and oozing dread...utterly gripping...Acute observation reveals "every detail of the glowing scene". Many so-called literary novels lack such skill. (Mark Sanderson)

This latest instalment has all the classic ingredients: a great setting, a good villain, and a mystery that draws you in efficiently, escalates unpredictably, and has a satisfying resolution. (John Lanchester)

Packed with action, violence and powered by a deceptively complex plot - this is typically nail-biting stuff.

Reacher is a former Army M.P. who thinks like a knight but looks like a drifter. He stops to right wrongs...then moves on...There's always more for Mr Child to add to his canon of Reacher...We've heard lots about his strength but little about his physical grace. This is the book in which he eases through a crowd "like a police horse at a riot". (Janet Maslin)

According to Forbes, the Jack Reacher series is "the strongest brand in publishing"...As ever, Child delivers a satisfyingly complex, exciting and well-researched story...no doubt that Reacher #21 will fly off bookshop shelves worldwide.

Rewarding and adrenalin-fuelled.

excellent read/listen

couldn't put it down. one of the better Jack Reacher stories.
appreciate the reduction in the super human violence... more realistic

Reacher good, narrator not

I've listened to all of the Reacher books in the series. On the whole the story was fine if not a little unexciting compared to others.

But I don't think Jeff nailed it with this performance. He has a good Reacher voice but throughout the book he sounded really flat. Sometimes this works because Reacher himself is flat but in this case I noticed and it got a little tiring.

During scenes with multiple voices it sometimes got a little confused who was talking. He didn't switch voices properly. It's probably difficult to do and not world ending just my observation.

Overall I liked the book and fans of the series will like it too. But it's not awesome. Also, personally, I prefer books which continue the timeline rather than being set in Reacher's past. I get the feeling Lee Child might have written himself into a corner in that regard. I really hope he finds a way out.

Reacher said nothing......

I am a big fan of Jack Reacher! I have rarely been disappointed by any of his stories in spite of the tendency of Lee Child (Author), to follow a tried and true format.
The one thing that struck me with this offering was the Narrators delivery of the short punchy sentences that Lee Child likes to use!
It is difficult to simulate a narration in text but each line is delivered in exactly the same cadence! Strangely, it seems to work!! Jeff Harding's voice suits this kind of writing style.
Overall? I enjoyed it! As for my Headline, well that's one of the most often used sentences in every book!

gotta love Jack teacher gets better and better

like a fine burgundy red this action gets better with age, Lee child genious again!!

Not as riveting as usual

I always enjoy Reacher books but this one was a bit "meh" for me. Hard to pinpoint why, exactly but it was very detailed, lots going on, lots of names and not always as pictorial as his narrative usually is. Might have been me just having a bad day and I will go back and have another listen down the track but it won't be one I will be clamouring to listen to again