One Shot
Lee Child
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2005 Bantam Dell
ISBN: 0385336683

The killer who shot five people, like ducks in a row as they came out of a DMV office, says only one thing when caught: “Get Jack Reacher for me.”

On an overcast, hot Friday afternoon in an Indiana town, right at quitting time, shots echo across the municipal plaza, & five people drop dead. News anchor Ann Yanni looks out her office window at the mayhem.

When the switchboard at the police department lights up with dozens of cellphone calls, 20-year veteran Emerson takes the case, dashing to the crime scene & to the parking garage where witnesses saw muzzle flares. Almost immediately, everyone realizes the crime scene is a treasure trove of perfect clues. Everything leads to a loner with a past & no friends. With the speed of a well-oiled machine, warrants are issued, the home is invaded, & the sleeping man is hauled off to jail. James Barr stays silent until uttering Jack Reacher's name.

& the wheels of justice start grinding between the DA who will pursue no case unless he's sure it's a slam-dunk, & the defense lawyer, hired by Barr's sister, who is just starting out on her career, & who happens to be the DA's daughter.

Jack Reacher is watching tv news in Florida when James Barr's license photo comes up on screen, taking him back 14 years to when he was an MP during Desert Storm. Barr had been a shooter who took down the right people in the right place for all the wrong reasons. Reacher gets on a bus & heads into the American heartland, coming upon a one-time lover, ex-military snipers, old survivors of Soviet “justice”, & killer city building contracts.

One Shot is classic Reacher: taut, complex, provocative -- with hair-raising stalking from shadow to shadow, old scores, slick police work & civic corruption. Once Reacher arrives it's not only the wicked who have to change their modus operandi.

One Shot is a sure shot thriller which I simply couldn't put down!

More from Lee Child:
Without Fail
Echo Burning
Persuader
Killing Floor
Tripwire
Die Trying
Running Blind
(07/03/05)

Rebecca