Night School

Jack Reacher, Book 21

By: Lee Child

Narrated by: Dick Hill

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • THE BLOCKBUSTER JACK REACHER SERIES THAT INSPIRED TWO MAJOR MOTION PICTURES AND THE STREAMING SERIES REACHER

“Another timely tour de force . . . The taut thriller is textbook [Lee] Child: fast-paced and topical with a ‘ripped from the headlines’ feel.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

It’s 1996, and Reacher is still in the army. In the morning they give him a medal, and in the afternoon they send him back to school. That night he’s off the grid. Out of sight, out of mind.

Two other men are in the classroom—an FBI agent and a CIA analyst. Each is a first-rate operator, each is fresh off a big win, and each is wondering what the hell they are doing there.

Then they find out: A Jihadist sleeper cell in Hamburg, Germany, has received an unexpected visitor—a Saudi courier, seeking safe haven while waiting to rendezvous with persons unknown. A CIA asset, undercover inside the cell, has overheard the courier whisper a chilling message: “The American wants a hundred million dollars.”

For what? And who from? Reacher and his two new friends are told to find the American. Reacher recruits the best soldier he has ever worked with: Sergeant Frances Neagley. Their mission heats up in more ways than one, while always keeping their eyes on the prize: If they don’t get their man, the world will suffer an epic act of terrorism.

From Langley to Hamburg, Jalalabad to Kiev, Night School moves like a bullet through a treacherous landscape of double crosses, faked identities, and new and terrible enemies, as Reacher maneuvers inside the game and outside the law.

©2016 Lee Child (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Narrator Dick Hill's gruff, laconic voice continues to be a pitch-perfect match for swaggering hero Jack Reacher.... Hill's considerable range of accents also breathes life into a diverse supporting cast. Hill's voice remains an indispensable asset to Reacher's characterization." ( AudioFile)

Disappointing

I am a huge Jack Reacher fan. I usually buy the next book in the series the day it comes out, devour it quickly and then wait impatiently for the next offering. I had been counting the days for Night School's release and bought it as soon as the audible book was available. I can only compare my disappointment with this book by comparing it to my disappointment in watching Tom Cruise portray my beloved Jack Reacher on film. Both just don't work. I'll leave the Cruise discussion for another format. Night School starts with Reacher making his typical deductions as to why he finds himself sent to a "multiagency cooperation school" with two other successful investigators from other government agencies. Unlike past efforts, these deductions were not difficult or interesting. Unfortunately that also described the rest of the book. It plodded forward, with limited flashes of the Reacher I love. I was even indifferent to Reacher's "love interest" that came across as two people using the other for sex with little effort put forth into even a friendship. I finished the book, disappointed that the improvements I kept hoping for never came. I honestly felt more vested in the "bad guy's" plot and future plans than in Reacher's efforts to stop him. Will I read the next book in the series? Absolutely, and I will hope this was just a one off boring book and not a sign of future offering.

I think there was a good story

I couldn't tell by listening-Mr Hill sounded a bit like Katherine Hepern
It was like seeing Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Distracting and unbelievable.

Addictive Series

This is book 21 of the Jack Reacher series. In this book, Lee Child has Reacher step back in time to 1996; Reacher is still in the Army. Major Reacher has just received the Legion of Honor Medal. He earned this for action in the Balkans.

Reacher is sent to Germany to Night School, which is a tiny interagency group of American operatives. Reacher represents the Army Military Police; there is an F. B. I. agent and a CIA operative also in the group. They have been watching a Saudi Cell in Hamburg. They know an American who is AWOL from the Army is trying to sell the Saudis $100 million worth of something. They have to find out what it is and stop the transaction. Reacher is teamed up with Sgt. Frances Neagley again. Over the years Neagley appears off and on in books of the series.

The book is well written. Child was a T.V. screenwriter and has a way of moving the action and keeping the reader’s attention. Child has made a major change in Reacher for this book. He is working as part of a team, whereas, the civilian Reacher is a solitary wanderer. This should not be too much of a surprise as the military is all about team work and Reacher was a career officer.

The story is about spies, terrorism and counter-terrorism; all of this is in the age before nine-eleven. We get to see a different side of Reacher: one who analyzes data, make critical decisions, deploys resources and supervises staff. Of course, he is also still great at hand to hand combat. Child has had another book where Reacher is back in the Army. It does add some more depth to the Reacher character.

Dick Hill does an excellent job narrating the story. Hill is a multi-award winning audiobook narrators and is one of the few who has won the Golden Voice Award.

Disappointing

This is probably my least favorite Jack Reacher book. I own all of them, and have read and listened to them all multiple times. This one will be the exception. The story was hard to get into, and not up to the action level we have come to expect from Reacher. The sex thrown in, seemed to be a desperate, although failed attempt to make the book more exciting. I love Dick Hill, but the accents drove me crazy. They were so phony sounding and tiresome. I hope we will next see Reacher back home, traveling the U.S.

Not the best, not the worst of Reacher.

This is a perfectly fine, page-turning Reacher story. The plot clips along at a decent pace. The flashback feeling of it all, after the fall of the wall, but before the fall of the WTC feels clever and intriguing. None of the characters are particularly interesting though, and the fact that Reacher and his MP buddies are the smartest folks in the room, is just a bit overplayed. If you've read 20 other Reacher novels, you'll read this one, and like it. Dick Hill is still good as always.

Thoughts

Lee Child and Dick Hill did it again. Great story very entertaining. Although fiction there were some interesting historical facts tied to the story.

More of same

Yet another awesome book in the reacher series. Very enjoyable nice read. Hope more to come.

Enjoyable book

It was nice to read a story about the army days.
Very well done. Would like to see more.

great read

don't really care for the narrator. but I loved the book. It was well thought out

Love!

My kinda guy! Jack had much help & wasn't his usual macho this book, but Lee put out another keeper!