It is said that a novel featuring Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. What a legacy for Lee Child, one that he now shares with his co-author and brother, Andrew Child, who has previously published as Andrew Grant.

BETTER OFF DEAD is their second collaboration (following THE SENTINEL) and finds Reacher, a former military police officer and all-around tough guy, still wandering the world by foot and always up for an opportunity to right wrongs and help out someone in need. In this case, the person in need ends up being a woman who is quite capable of fighting her own battles. While wandering west through the desert, Reacher comes across a Jeep that has crashed into the only tree in sight. Slumped over the wheel is Michaela Fenton, who surprisingly has much in common with our protagonist. She is an army veteran who is currently working with the FBI. He will later find out that she is in pursuit of her twin brother, Michael, who is mixed up with some very bad individuals.

"BETTER OFF DEAD is full of breathtaking action and skirmishes that will delight Reacher fans.... The natural succession of Lee to Andrew hopefully guarantees us that Reacher will continue his personal mission for many years to come."

The opening scene features a cunning bit of misdirection. We see a man who sounds very much like Reacher waiting for someone to arrive at 11pm amidst rows of lockup garages. A car pulls up, but the person the man is hoping to meet is not there. Instead, four men step out of the vehicle with obvious intentions of taking him by force. A fight ensues, and he comes out on top. But then a fifth individual, a woman, enters the picture and takes him down with a gunshot to the chest.

Fans will be gasping for air, assuming that they just saw their hero take his last breath in the very first chapter. The body is brought to Dr. Houllier and is identified as Jack Reacher. It is displayed for a man named Waad Dendoncker, who has all the makings of a classic Bond villain. His appearance is instantly off-putting as he typically wears dark clothing on his thin, warped frame and has only two fingers on one hand, which easily can be mistaken for a claw.

Fear not, loyal readers. Our hero is just fine. Once Reacher meets up with Michaela and learns of her brother’s issues with Dendoncker and his hired goons, he is more than willing to help her bring them down. She is worried that Michael may have met his end, and she just wants to learn what happened before she kills his enemies. Michaela is a striking character herself. At nearly six-feet tall, she bears a noticeable limp caused by the prosthetic foot she wears as the result of a war injury.

The pair hook up with Dr. Houllier, who has been forced to put his mortician skills to work for Dendoncker whenever his goons deliver a body to him. Dendoncker always insists on visiting and observing the corpse prior to the doctor doing his thing. That is why the book's opening scene is such a great ruse as it was concocted by Houllier, Reacher and Michaela. Reacher was fully equipped with a mass of blood bags under his oversized shirt to give the appearance of being taken out with the precisely aimed shot from Michaela.

The book gets its title from Michaela, who refers to herself as “better off dead.” At one point, she takes off and leaves a note for Reacher thanking him for his help in her plight. Of course, we all know that Reacher will not abandon a mission of justice that easily. Not only does he continue to stay on her tail, he works hard to locate Dendoncker and bring him down.

BETTER OFF DEAD is full of breathtaking action and skirmishes that will delight Reacher fans. It’s what any reader of Lee Child’s work has come to expect, even though Reacher has grown far wiser after all these years. The natural succession of Lee to Andrew hopefully guarantees us that Reacher will continue his personal mission for many years to come.