Persuader, the last novel, however, was something of a misstep. Was the series running out of steam? Was Reacher losing his appeal? Where would the author take him in the next book?

The answer is into his past, and it goes a long way towards restoring the vitality of the series. Author Child has gone beyond the standard thriller formula to tap into the police procedural subgenre.

The setting is New Year 1990. Major Jack Reacher has been inexplicably transferred from duty in Panama to Fort Bird, North Carolina. His superior officer is on assignment so Reacher is essentially in command of the Military Police unit on the base.

A phone call from the local police informs Reacher that “one of his” has died of an apparent heart attack in a local motel. Because it seems a cut-and-dried case with no suspicious circumstances and happened off-base, Reacher allows the local police to handle it.

Reacher soon learns, however, that the Army personnel was in fact a general who is a considerable distance from where he should have been. The circumstances seem to indicate that he was probably with a prostitute at the time of the heart attack. Moreover, he was on his way to a high-level meeting in California, and his briefcase is missing. And the general’s wife back in northern Virginia has been murdered in an apparent burglary. Reacher is unconvinced the two deaths are unrelated. More bodies are to turn up soon.

If that isn’t enough to be dealing with, Reacher’s got family problems. His brother Joe contacts him. Their mother, who’s French and lives in Paris, is dying. In those sections it’s revealed that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Reacher has always believed he followed in his military father’s footsteps, but in fact his mother had a secret past that shaped her and him. (It’s also interesting to note that she calls her older son “Joe” but uses “Reacher” as her younger son’s name. There’s got to be some psychological and emotional distance engendered by never being called by your given name even by good ole mom that could lead to a solitary, peripatetic existence in adult life.)

Along with a female lieutenant, Reacher begins an investigation that will uncover deceit and treachery at the top levels of the military and risk his life and career in the Army.

By returning to Reacher’s past history, the author has avoided explaining why his hero is still roaming around America rather than bringing his expertise to the battles in Afghanistan or Iraq. (Reacher isn’t as anonymous as he’d like – he’s got admirers at high levels in the government.) Or why he hasn’t reenlisted in this time of increased need of American military personnel.

But whatever the author’s reason behind this shift in timing, The Enemy is a welcome return to the quality that Reacher fans have come to expect. And for the detail-oriented true aficionados, there’s a twist at the end of this eighth Jack Reacher thriller that hints at a sequel to this prequel.

--Lesley Dunlap