Past Tense: A Jack Reacher Novel

Lee Child

Nov 2018 · Jack Reacher Book 23 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Scott Brick

About this audiobook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher! 

Family secrets come back to haunt Jack Reacher in this electrifying thriller from “a superb craftsman of suspense” (Entertainment Weekly).

Jack Reacher hits the pavement and sticks out his thumb. He plans to follow the sun on an epic trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn’t get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been: the town where his father was born. He thinks, What’s one extra day? He takes the detour.

At the same moment, in the same isolated area, a car breaks down. Two young Canadians had been on their way to New York City to sell a treasure. Now they’re stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. The owners seem almost too friendly. It’s a strange place, but it’s all there is.

The next morning, in the city clerk’s office, Reacher asks about the old family home. He’s told no one named Reacher ever lived in town. He’s always known his father left and never returned, but now Reacher wonders, Was he ever there in the first place?

As Reacher explores his father’s life, and as the Canadians face lethal dangers, strands of different stories begin to merge. Then Reacher makes a shocking discovery: The present can be tough, but the past can be tense . . . and deadly.

Ratings and reviews

A classic Jack Reacher and a classic Lee Child. You have everything you expect and something more, something that deviates from Child's usual modus operandi. Something very delightful, I have to admit. A very gripping tale and might be top three Reacher I've read yet. Which is something I thought I would never say, seeing we're 22 books in and thinking that Child is at his final spew. I would never doubt him again.

Lazy and uninspired. The suitcase drama really bothered me. This was a writer telling you a long joke that you hope is so funny that it will be worth listening to it. In the end, it is not funny and a waste of your time.

Really boring . Reacher wonders around a small town researching his father. Dumb couple stay in motel while rich people watch them

About the author

Lee Child is the author of more than two dozen New York Times bestselling Jack Reacher thrillers, with most having reached the #1 position, and the #1 bestselling complete Jack Reacher story collection, No Middle Name. Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in one hundred territories. A native of England and a former television director, Lee Child lives in New York City and Wyoming.