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Affair, The: Jack Reacher #16
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Affair, The: Jack Reacher #16
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Affair, The: Jack Reacher #16
Audiobook15 hours

Affair, The: Jack Reacher #16

Written by Lee Child

Narrated by Dick Hill

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD EXCLUSIVE

As a special bonus, this audiobook download also includes a recording of the New York Times bestselling short story, Second Son, read by Dick Hill. At thirteen, Jack Reacher already knows how to end a fight. He knows that his brain is more important than his brawn. He knows how to get the job done. When his father is transferred to the military base on Okinawa, Jack and his older brother, Joe, prepare for school and consider how to deal with both the neighborhood bully and a missing code book that could cost their father his career.

With Reacher, #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child has created "a series that stands in the front rank of modern thrillers" (The Washington Post).
 
Everything starts somewhere. . . .

For elite military cop Jack Reacher, that somewhere was Carter Crossing, Mississippi, way back in 1997. A lonely railroad track. A crime scene. A coverup.

A young woman is dead, and solid evidence points to a soldier at a nearby military base. But that soldier has powerful friends in Washington.

Reacher is ordered undercover-to find out everything he can, to control the local police, and then to vanish. Reacher is a good soldier. But when he gets to Carter Crossing, he finds layers no one saw coming, and the investigation spins out of control.

Local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux has a thirst for justice-and an appetite for secrets. Uncertain they can trust one another, Reacher and Deveraux reluctantly join forces. Reacher works to uncover the truth, while others try to bury it forever. The conspiracy threatens to shatter his faith in his mission, and turn him into a man to be feared.

A novel of unrelenting suspense that could only come from the pen of #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child, The Affair is the start of the Reacher saga, a thriller that takes Reacher-and his readers-right to the edge . . . and beyond.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 27, 2011
ISBN9780307749550
Unavailable
Affair, The: Jack Reacher #16
Author

Lee Child

Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in New York. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world, and have sold over one hundred million copies. Two blockbusting Jack Reacher movies have been made so far. www.LeeChild.com  

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Reviews for Affair, The

Rating: 3.939111710601719 out of 5 stars
4/5

698 ratings60 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of Child's best, as Reacher is sent to monitor the investigation of a murder that might be connected to a U S. Ranger base.Lots of political machinations occur when the prime suspect turns out to be the son of an influential U. S. Senator. Reacher puts together a great supporting cast to blow away the political "Fogr of War" and create an appropriate finale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the best of the Jack Reacher novels. The story takes place while Reacher is still in the military and assigned to investigate a murder in an Army post in the South. The only weak part of the story is his encounter with a self-important Colonel who is trying to derail Reacher's investigation. He tells the Colonel to stuff it and continues, bringing the culprits to Reacher's brand of justice. Child depicts this encounter as derailing Reacher's military career. This is a weak basis, completely lacking in verisimilitude, for the consequences Child depicts. With a little thought he could have invented a much more plausible for Reacher's decision to leave the Army.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Love Jack Reacher!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lee Child's is back on his game with this. His recent previous ones I found a bit disappointing. I little too cold and dispassionate. This one keeps you guessing and has more emotional depth.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Routinierter Jack Reacher Roman, der vom Charma seiner Hauptfigur lebt. Selbstjustiz auf seine beste Art und Weise !
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was a little perturbed when I found out this year's Reacher novel would be a prequel to the series. Since Killing Floor Lee has evolved Reacher into a one man wrecking ball for truth and justice and hot women. Reacher has essentially become Superman without the need for external underwear and the ability to actually have a broken nose. This doesn't exactly mesh with the Reacher before his evolution.

    This aside, Lee has served up another fantastic Reacher tale. The mystery unfolds, the intertwining clues and events are right there for you to pick up on and only implicitly used later - something I like about Lee's writing. In short, this is another fine Reacher novel.

    Despite having pre-ordered this book it didn't arrive until quite awhile after its release date, something that has annoyed me for several books now (Matt Hilton's Dead Man's Harvest arrived late, Matthew Reilly's Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves still hasn't arrived). It was worth the wait though, as 50 pages in I was reminded why I had pre-ordered The Affair in the first place. I'd hazard a guess and say that next year's releases by my favourite authors are more likely to be received on their release date, straight onto my Kindle, just as soon as Amazon starts selling the new Kindle Touch outside of the US (bastards!).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the second Jack Reacher book I've read and I enjoyed it better than the first ("Killing Floor"). The story was tight, the dialogue well done and witty, and the characters were nicely fleshed out."The Affair" is about a murder that's occurred outside a high security army base in rural Mississippi. An MP is sent to the base to investigate in case the culprit is a solider, but Jack Reacher, an MP himself, is sent to oversee the police investigation as well (since the murder didn't actually occur on base). Little does he know that the local sheriff was a former Marine MP, so she recognizes what she's dealing with in Reacher. This is a well-written who-done-it that keeps you guessing until the end.My only real complaint was the violence Reacher commits during the investigation. He took steps that seemed unnecessary and others seemed ok with it. This didn't seem plausible, but I think the story was good enough to allow me to give Child a pass on this.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although it's the 16th in the series, The Affair takes us back to the beginning when Jack Reacher enters into a voluntary separation from the army, and becomes the vagabond vigilante that we are familiar with.A woman in Mississippi has had her throat viciously slashed and despite the lack of evidence, it is believed that this could have been a crime committed by someone at the Kelham military base. Reacher is sent undercover to try and glean information from the local population while his peer is sent into Kelham to investigate within the military base. When Reacher discovers that there were 2 other women in Carter Crossing murdered with the same MO, and when a couple of men are killed with what appears to be military issued weapons, the suspicion that someone in the military was involved grows stronger although evidence to the identity of the killer or killers remain elusive.Reacher uncovers a conspiracy within the Pentagon and certain political figures, and finds himself having to consider if the truth is more important than the institution.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was the fourth Jack Reacher novel I've read, and probably my favorite of them. The others were Without Fail, Gone Tomorrow, and Bad Luck & Trouble. Though the plot was not quite as interesting as a couple others it was still interesting and well planned with no glaring flaws that I recall. By comparison, Gone Tomorrow had one absurdly incorrect plot flaw that ruined the believability of the entire story for me, after I'd gotten about two-thirds through it... Anyway, I'll save that for another review. What makes The Affair the best of these in my opinion is that it takes place while Reacher still is an MP instead of an aimless drifter. It's sort of a prequel to the series. The timing of the plot allows Child to provide some explanation for how and why Reacher developed some of his trademark quirks and foibles. His motivations and drives are clearer and not as strange. In every other Reacher book, those character quirks feel absurd and contrived, making me not truly believe in Jack Reacher as a real person. They drive a wedge of annoyance between me and the book that crops up periodically. The Affair didn't have that dissonance for me and I could identify with Reacher much better.It's a good read if you like suspense, crime mysteries, or military intrigue.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another great yarn with a solid main character. This is a kind of sequel to the prequel - set in 1997 & tells how Reacher left military service.I can't wait for the next one !
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lee Child is a remarkably consistent author. And Jack Reacher is possibly my favorite character in crime fiction.All the previous Reacher novels I'd read portrayed Reacher as a loner who had gained his skills as an Army MP, but this one tells the story of the series of events that led to the end of his military career. As always, it's a great read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fast-paced military mystery...and cover up. Two MPs are sent to investigate...one to investigate on the military base and one to investigate under cover within the town. Higher ups are involved and may cost Jack Reacher his military career as he learns the truth and acts on it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Affair is another one of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels. Jack Reacher is big mean Military Policeman who doesn't take much crap from anybody. Jack Reacher books are my brain candy. This book is a prequel to the very first Reacher novel The Killing Floor. I hadn't read it so I guess I have something to look forward to reading.In this one Reacher is sent down to Mississippi by the Pentagon to go undercover to make sure that a murder investigation is being conducted properly. While there he hooks up with the local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux. Well poor Elizabeth falls head over heels for the handsome Jack Reacher. One feature of the town is that there is a freight train that roars through town exactly at midnight every night and is so big and fast it shakes everything in town. Well guess what, Jack's hotel is right next to the train and Jack and Liz time their "peak expression for the affection they have for each other" to coincide with the arrival of the train at midnight.I thought that was hilarious, but they are so good at it they start using the expression "catching the train." I just rolled laughing. I can do that you see, it is my brain candy.Plot, what plot, oh yeah, Jack figures out eventually that he has been played, crossed, and double crossed and well of course he has to take corrective action and he does in true Billy Jack style.I give this book four stars out of five. Don't you judge me!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    what can I say? I love, love, love this series, and I've yet to read one that hasn't been a real page turner.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don't usually read action-packed murder mysteries but this was very compelling. I liked the writers style, subtle humor, attention to detail, short hard hitting sentences, characterizations. My first Lee Child novel, but I will be reading more. Jack Reacher, the protagonist, is a man to be reckoned with!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    in 1997 Jack Reacher was a Major in the military police and assigned to Cater Crossing, Mississippi to by undercover and observe the criminal investigation to a girl who was murdered near a U.S. Ranger base. He's ordered to observe and to avoid publicity.He meets the sheriff, the beautiful Elizabeth Devereaux, who is attempting to investigate the murder of a woman in question but also two other women who were black. All three women were beautiful but only the white woman's death stirred up any concern in rural Mississippi.Devereaux is prevented in running a complete investigation because her power ends at the gate of the military base. Reacher sympathises with her and as they get to know each other, they develop a romantic relationship.Working together to try to solve the murders, the plot moves swiftly with built in humor as Reacher comes up against a group of local hillbillies.The pacing is well done as there are moments of tension spaced with the relationship of Reacher and Devereaux. We are also interested at the attempt of the military to white wash the investigation for political purposes with Reacher's refusal to bend to the attempted cover-up."The Affair" is another well written novel by Lee Child, a master storyteller.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lee Child has taken a different approach to his series character, Jack Reacher, the former military cop who now wanders about the United States, earning enough money to get by and carrying no luggage except his portable toothbrush. In The Affair, Child tells us how Reacher got to be Reacher, going back in time to his last case while he was still an Army major. It’s 1997, and the Army is in the midst of covert action in Kosovo, sending Rangers out of the Fort Kelham military base near Carter Crossing, Mississippi on a regular basis. The mission is secret, but the town knows something is going on, because Rangers are in and out of the local bars and stores – indeed, the small town depends on them to keep going. The problem is that there’s been a grotesque murder: a woman has had her throat slit, been drained of blood, and then posed in an alley as if she bled out there. Worse, and unknown to Reacher when he’s assigned to the case, she’s not the first. The Army is concerned that someone on the base committed the murders. It sends an investigator directly to the base to conduct an investigation from the inside, but it also sends Reacher to Carter Crossing under cover, asking him to find out from that perspective just what’s going on. Reacher, who has spent his entire adult life in the Army, has no clothing suitable for an undercover mission. He purchases a shirt, a pair of pants, some underwear – and that famous portable toothbrush – and he’s set to go. Reacher doesn’t buy more than the clothes he wears, leading him to the pattern he observes in all the other books: when a shirt or a pair of pants gets dirty or torn, he simply chucks them and buys new. It’s a lot cheaper than having a wardrobe and a place to keep it, after all. Once in Mississippi, though, the police chief – a stunningly gorgeous woman who used to be a Marine – makes Reacher for an undercover cop almost the second he sets foot on the streets of Carter Crossing. She all but orders him out of town until he comes up with some information she missed, at which point they become a team in most ways, even though they have opposite purposes: she wants the murderer to be on the Army base and not her problem, while Reacher wants to find that the murderer has no relationship to the Army whatsoever. The investigation goes forward in the same, smart way most of Reacher’s cases progress, including the random violence that seems a part of his life. And the random violence is followed by some carefully planned violence in which Reacher’s lightning quick reactions save him from an ugly death, more than once. And Reacher has the romance – or, at least, the hot sex – that he seems to find waiting for him wherever he goes. The origins of superheroes (and Reacher really is a superhero, even if he doesn’t wear tights and a cape) are not always the best tales, but Child has turned out a strong entry in the series with this novel. The reader familiar with Reacher gets the delight of recognition when Reacher does the sort of thing he always does, seeing how this or that habit of his started up. And readers who haven’t encountered Reacher before would find this novel a great place to start. It’s a good story, well told, precisely what a reader hopes to find in a thriller.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    'Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.' (page 137)I think this was one of the best in the series... or maybe it was because of the lag between the last book of Child's I read and this one that made me appreciate Reacher so much more. There are no other characters quite like him out there, and I've been looking. Calm, cool and collected... and doesn't take any guff from anyone.While it is set chronologically before the rest of the series, I think you should still probably read them in order of publication so you'll have a full appreciation of Reacher.I don't normally note quotes but some in this book just seem represent the entire Reacher saga: 'Which means you have to hit each of them one time only. Because that's the minimum. You can't hit a guy less than once.' (page 190)I kinda wish I hadn't read this series yet so I could go read it now and enjoy it all over again for the first time.Can I explain what the story is about, or why it's so good? Nope... all I can say is that it's typical Reacher written in Child's usual style and the justice-by-toe-of-boot makes me smile.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is my first, and probably my last novel by Lee Child unless he has novels that aren't about Jack Reacher. He's almost a cartoon character. He is always right, seems invulnerable, and is formidable that he often faces down 3 or 4 assailents. Four victims of murder and one sheriff are women and all are stunningly beautiful, what are the odds? Lee's writing isn't horrible, but neither is it great. He does keep the action going and the suspense up, so that kept me reading until the end, but it doesn't motivate me to try another Jack Reacher novel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't care much for Child. His writing is mostly crap. But here he gives Reacher's back story and it has some interest. Not entirely convincing about why he leaves the army.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed that novel more than some of other recent books from Reacher series. The reason is that as much as like Reacher character, it is becoming more and more difficult to push yourself to believe in any sense of reality regarding Reacher character. This novel avoids this issue since we deal with younger Reacher, right before he left the army.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you are a well versed Jack Reacher fan, this book is pivotal to the character.I was left with very new and mixed emotions of the character.A great story that brings multiple characters of the series into perspective, this also clearly explains the personality traits of Jack Reacher
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Probably my least favorite Reacher novel, but it was interesting to see the case that caused him to leave the Army. Some parts of it seemed very unlike the character that we have come to know and love; in other parts you could see the beginning of habits that would appear in later books.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Jack Reacher is true to form. Exciting to the last page!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I am really disappointed with this installment of the Jack Reacher series. Reacher is one of my favorite characters, and I'm used to him defending someone who needs protection, kicking butt and solving a mystery. There was no real mystery here and I was appalled at how easily he killed people.The book didn't paint a good picture of the army. ******SPOILER ALERT******* Even the honest soldiers like Reacher and his chain of command were willing to either go along with a cover up or kill the bad apples that created the need for the cover up with no emotional reaction or thought to other options. ****END OF SPOILER****Felt like Child wrote in a lot of sex to make up for the lack of story. And how could/why would Reacher sleep with someone he suspected was a murderer while he was still investigating? I hope Reacher is back to his old self in the next book and the story is back on point.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Child's 'Reacher' stories are becoming smuttier and stupider as he goes along. I find this unfortunate and I will no longer allow his books around my house where my kids can stumble on them. Reacher is an interesting character - or used to be. In this tale he really shows us his psychotic, murdering nature. No need and a disappointment. Child should be able to do better. He needs to refocus; clean up his visuals and simplify his plots.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An excellent fast mystery, surprisingly still as good as the others, even at 16. Some nice references to Blind Blake, even if you couldn't get all his songs on a cassette - even a double CD only cherry picks the repetoire..
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Still going strong. This series continues to keep a high standard of story telling.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Did not want to put this one down. By far my favorite Reacher among the last few. As usual you don't really know who the good guys are or who are the bad. Don;t know if the military is covering up or who or what is on the level. At the end though you know how Reacher became the Reacher we have read for the past several years.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the 16th book in a series of Jack Reacher novels. It's another awesome volume, adding to the allure of Reacher, giving us deeper knowledge of who he is, why he does things, or not.The story is told from a looking back perspective to 1997, but quickly turns to "now" feeling, though it's 1997 in the story. You are transported to March of 1997 quite easily and it's hard to put the book down, it's very engaging.I particularly like the last paragraph. This is who Reacher is. He is this way, (he just is.) The short story "The Second Son" by Lee Child came out previous to this book, as an e-book only. It's the youngest version of Reacher in print, which fleshes him out more, and with this current novel, it's a complete "prior" of what he is today (well, in books, that is) ... especially if you have also read the short story that is in print (in Fresh Blood 3, for instance where I read it) "James Penney's New Identity" by Lee Child.I couldn't put the book down until I was finished. It's a one-day read in bed delight for Reacher Creatures.