"Gone Tomorrow" Is A Solid Jack Reacher Adventure

I’ve been reading Jack Reacher novels for years. “Gone Tomorrow” is the 13^th novel in the series and is told from Jack Reacher’s point of view. Author Lee Child does write some novel from Jack’s point of view, but most of them aren’t. Most of his novels are told in the third person, not the first. Either way, this novel is a solid adventure for Jack Reacher. It’s also very much a post 9/11 novel, as it was published in 2009. This does date the novel somewhat. There are references to Bin Laden being alive and Ronald Reagan only being 20 something years ago. There’s even a reference to Donald Rumsfeld.

The novel opens with Jack Reacher sitting on a New York City subway and noticing something suspicious about a women on a bench across from him. Reacher can’t seem to leave anyone alone. So, he approaches her, and she looks at him. Then she pulls out a gun and kills herself in front of him. The NYPD questions Reacher as a witness to the suicide and are eager to close the file. However, Reacher wants to know why this woman killed herself.

As he digs more, he finds this woman was named Susan Marks, and she worked as a staffer at the Pentagon. This leads him to working with two police officers, and as he digs further, he finds a connection to a congressman and a women named Lila Holt, who may or may not be a member of Al Qaeda, who Reacher at first mistakes for being eastern European.

The novel moves at the brisk pace that most Reacher novels move at. The chapters are short and end on a cliffhanger, which are picked up on the next chapter. The novel being told from Reacher’s point of view keeps the novel’s pace going, but because it’s told from Reacher’s point of view, we are there alongside him as he himself is confused all the twists and turns. Reacher reminds me a bit of a Batman type figure, except without the secret identity or massive funds because Reacher is just himself. He is a great detective. Reacher, like Batman, is also not a superhero. He is just a pissed off guy taking things into his own hands.

The novel has some of the usual tropes of a Reacher novel, and it doesn’t always make sense. Reacher sleeps with the female cop in one chapter, and there’s your usual scenes of violence. Reacher sleeping with the female cop feels thrown in without any romantic build up. However, it’s very much a solid Reacher mystery. Despite being a bit dated, it’s always good to read Reacher solving a mystery. I do wonder if younger readers would get this novel, but than again, for my generation of readers, it’s worth reading.