The Secret: Jack Reacher, Book 28

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She held it out for Bridgeman to take. It showed a gloved hand holding a copy of the Tribune next to a window. Bridgeman could read the date on the newspaper. Tuesday, 7 April 1992. It was that day’s edition. Then he saw two figures through the glass. A woman and a child. A little girl. Even though they were facing away from the camera Bridgeman had no doubt who they were. Or where they were. It was his daughter and granddaughter. In the home he had bought them in Evanston, after his wife died. The bad news for Reacher, recently demoted from Major to Captain due to insubordination, is that he and the rest of the task force members have been chosen for a reason. They are on the outs with their government organizations, and if they fail, they will become convenient fall guys who will be forced to take the blame… The woman with the clip on her finger lowered herself into the visitor’s chair next to the window. The woman on the left of the bed waited a moment then looked at Bridgeman and said, ‘We apologize. We didn’t mean to startle you. We’re not here to hurt you. We just need to talk.’

It’s 1992 and Reacher is a Captain in the MPs, having just been busted down from Major. Now, he’s assigned to a task force formed by the Secretary of Defense to solve the whys and wherefores of a string of murders of scientists scattered across the country. Reacher and his fellow agents from the CIA, the FBI, and the Treasury must race against time to stop the perpetrators from killing again, if they can. Bridgeman felt his heart quiver and tremble in his chest. He heard an electronic beep. It came from a piece of equipment on a stand near the head of the bed. It had a screen with a number in the centre of the top half and two jagged lines that zigzagged across the full width of the lower half. The first line showed his pulse. It was spiking wildly. Its peaks were surging closer together like they were chasing one another. The number showed his heart rate. It was climbing. Fast. The beeps grew louder. More frequent. Then the sound became continuous. Insistent. Impossible to ignore. The number stopped rising. It began to flash. It changed direction. And it kept going down until it reached 00. The lines flattened out. First at the left of the screen and then all the way across until both were perfectly horizontal. The display was inert. Lifeless. Except for the desperate electronic howl.There is an October 23, 2023 interview with Andrew Child about The Secret by Barbara Peters at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore's YouTube channel which you can watch here. Bridgeman glanced at his left leg. The call button was where the nurse had left it, lying on the sheet between his thigh and the safety rail. His hand darted toward it. It was a fluid movement. Smooth. Fast. But the woman was faster. She snatched the button then dropped it, leaving it dangling on its wire, almost to the floor, well out of Bridgeman’s reach.

Toothbrush mentions = 1. Reacher notices his hotel room has been searched because his toothbrush is not standing exactly on the vertical in the bathroom drinking glass. Readers are already privy to the fact that Stamoran had something to do with the tragic events that took place in India when thousands of innocent lives were claimed due to the mishandling of chemical weapons. The seven members of that team are now on a hit list kept by Veronica and Roberta, who also insist on learning the name of the notorious eighth individual who was really pulling the strings.The woman leaned in closer. ‘Keith, we know what you did. What you all did. Twenty-threeyears ago. December 1969.’

The woman with the finger clip climbed out of her chair. ‘And I’m her sister. Veronica Sanson. Our father was Morgan Sanson. It’s important you know that.’ The woman took hold of Bridgeman’s arm and felt for his pulse. It was fast and weak. She said, ‘Come on now. Calm down. Think of your family. We don’t want to hurt them. Or you. We just need you to understand how serious this situation is. We only have two questions, but they’re important. The sooner you answer, the sooner we’re out of here. Ready?’Lee has three homes—an apartment in Manhattan, a country house in the south of France, and whatever airplane cabin he happens to be in while traveling between the two. In the US he drives a supercharged Jaguar, which was built in Jaguar's Browns Lane plant, thirty yards from the hospital in which he was born. We’ll come to who we are. Right now you need to tell me what information you’re planning to give this reporter from Akron.’ Keith Bridgeman, who is in his early 60s, wakes up in his hospital bed where he is recovering from a cardiac arrest to find two strange women standing there. They identify themselves as Veronica and Roberta Sanson, and they are interested in a top-secret bioweapons project in India that he was a part of in 1969. Before they end his life by throwing him out of his hospital window, they inform him that they are the daughters of Morgan Sanson. This allows Bridgeman to go over in his head who he wronged during that mission as his body races towards the pavement. This year, Andrew has delivered his fourth Reacher novel, “The Secret”, which continues much of the same approach, style, and plotting as his last novel, “No Plan B”. For me personally, there seems to be some more incremental improvement. Reacher is not talking near as much as he did in Andrew’s first book. In addition, the plotting is continuing to improve, strengthening the overall story.