There is nothing quite like a Jack Reacher novel. Lee Child has been penning thrillers featuring his favorite protagonist for decades. Now he has released his fourth Reacher story written with his brother, Andrew Child.

In many of these books, Reacher is a large figure with an eagle’s sense of justice who roams the country and gets into situations that require a hero. There are others, like THE SECRET, in which Reacher is called upon by his own government to help clean up a potentially deadly mess. This latest effort is set in 1992, which makes some of the post-Cold War rumblings more significant than they would be in the present day.

"THE SECRET is just what you would expect from a Jack Reacher novel --- fast-paced, no-nonsense and extremely hard-hitting."

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.

It turns out that Bridgeman is just the start. Two other apparently innocent U.S. citizens, Owen Buck and Varinder Singh, die mysteriously. The response is swift from Secretary of Defense Charles Stamoran, who puts together a team to look into these deaths and try to find a connection. Among these folks is the one and only Jack Reacher. If Stamoran had done a better job vetting these candidates, he might have had second thoughts about Reacher, who will hunt down the truth like a bulldog no matter where it leads.

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.

Meanwhile, more murders are being committed at the hands of these ruthless assassins, who sort of remind me of Bambi and Thumper from the James Bond classic DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. When talk of Russian involvement in the 1969 case becomes a thing, Reacher and company get their hands on a former Soviet who provides some much-needed information concerning the identity of that eighth member.

THE SECRET is just what you would expect from a Jack Reacher novel --- fast-paced, no-nonsense and extremely hard-hitting. While fans wait patiently for the second season of “Reacher” to hit Amazon Prime Video, it might be a nice idea to dive into this exciting new book so you can get your Reacher fix right now.