Tripwire (Jack Reacher, #3)

Title: Tripwire (Jack Reacher, #3)

Author: Lee Child

Published in: 1999

Date read: 8th March 2017

Score: 4/5

Genre: Crime, Thriller

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
Tripwire," published in 1999, is the third novel in Lee Child's highly successful Jack Reacher series. It takes the nomadic ex-military policeman to the sweltering heat of Key West, Florida, where a seemingly random death pulls him into a complex and deadly conspiracy rooted in the Vietnam War.

The story opens with Jack Reacher, living a solitary, anonymous life, working as a hole-digger on a construction site. His peaceful, drifting existence is abruptly interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious woman looking for him. Shortly after, a private investigator, Costello, who was also searching for Reacher, is brutally murdered. Before he dies, Costello leaves a cryptic message for Reacher.

Reacher quickly realises that he is being targeted, or that someone is desperately trying to find him for reasons unknown. His investigation into Costello's death leads him to New York and the formidable attorney, Jodie Garber, who was Costello's client. Jodie is the daughter of Steven Eliot, a wealthy and powerful media mogul who faked his own death years ago and now lives in hiding under a new identity.

The central mystery revolves around Steven Eliot's past, specifically his dark and secret activities during the Vietnam War. Eliot, whose real name is revealed to be Hook Hobie, was involved in a clandestine, brutal operation that ended in tragedy and betrayal. He believes that someone from that past is now trying to expose him or exact revenge, and he needs Reacher's unique skills to protect him.

The primary antagonist is Hook Hobie himself, a truly ruthless and manipulative individual who has built his empire on violence and deceit. He operates with a chilling efficiency, eliminating anyone who poses a threat to his hidden history, including those from his past and anyone who gets too close to the truth.

Reacher, initially reluctant to get involved in someone else's war, finds himself drawn into the web of lies, violence, and secrets. He uncovers a trail of bodies and betrayals, piecing together the events of that long-ago operation and understanding the desperate measures Hobie will take to protect his carefully constructed identity and fortune. Reacher also develops a complex and intimate relationship with Jodie Garber as they work together.

The novel is a tense, action-packed thriller, filled with Child's signature blend of Reacher's raw ingenuity, tactical prowess, and unwavering moral code. The climax is a brutal and explosive confrontation where Reacher must face Hobie and his deadly operatives, bringing justice to a decades-old secret and stopping a remorseless killer.

Comments:
Very good again, better than the last one and back to the excitement of the first book.

Books that we've read by Lee Child (4):
Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1) (1997), Die Trying (Jack Reacher, #2) (1998), Tripwire (Jack Reacher, #3) (1999), Running Blind (Jack Reacher, #4) (2000)