Jack Reacher is a man with no ties. He has no family, no car, no home, and no permanent attachments. He owns only the clothes on this back and those for only four days. After four days he buys new. A muscular 6’5", 250 lbs., Reacher is a West Point graduate and former army MP and definitely a man to take seriously. He had no driver’s license, no Federal benefits and hasn’t filed a tax return since he left the Army. He is a enigma who appears out of nowhere and disappears as soon as his task is done. He is the invention of author Lee Child and is the hero of ten novels. "One Shot", the ninth Jack Reacher novel, was recently selected as one of the best thrillers of 2005.

Six shots are fired from a parking garage in a small Indiana city. Five people lie dead. It seems to be a random act of violence. No motive for the murders is apparent. The police find a massive amount of evidence linking former Army sniper James Barr to the crime. Racing to Barr’s home, they find him asleep or passed out with the rifle and plenty of other evidence in his house. Police have "an open and shut" case. Or do they?

During the police interrogation Barr refuses to answer any questions but demands that the police get Jack Reacher. But why? Barr and Reacher’s history together should make Reacher the last person James Barr would want to see.

Having seen the reports of the massacre on CNN, Reacher is already on his way. He knows about James Barr. He knows that during the first Gulf War Barr gunned down four American soldiers from a parking garage in Kuwait City. He knows that during the ensuing investigation a cover up took place. Reacher’s promise to Barr was to kill him if he ever did anything like that again. Why would James Barr want to see Jack Reacher?

Six shots, one miss, five dead—an abundance of evidence, Reacher would desperately love to end James Barr’s miserable life, but something doesn’t add up. What well-trained U. S. Army sniper would leave behind the amount of evidence that Barr left? Why shoot from an enclosed garage when a better sniper’s roost and escape route were from the nearby Interstate? Why pick such a difficult angle of fire? Too many questions for a man of Reacher’s experience and training—too many whys?

Lee Child takes the character of the tall, silent unattached woman magnet to an extreme. Men will be drawn to Jack Reacher for his machismo as well as his absolute freedom from responsibilities. (Now, really, a man who owns nothing but the clothes on his back. He wears them for four days and only then buys new clothes! Does anybody but me wonder about his underwear?) Women will be drawn to—well—picture Arnold Schwarzenegger without the accent in four day-old clothes.

"One Shot" is definitely a page-turner and a thriller. The suspense builds throughout as Reacher tries to unravel a mystery within a mystery. It is not only a whodunit but also a whydunit. If James Barr is not the killer, then who is? If it was not just a crazed killer’s random act, then why were these five people murdered? "One Shot" has mystery, suspense, and sex appeal. It is a good read and one of 2005’s Best Books. I recommend "One Shot".

The library has all nine Jack Reacher novels. The tenth "The Hard Way" will be published this year.

Other 2005 Best Thrillers include the following:

"The Third Secret" by Steve Berry. This thriller involves the death of the pope and the election of a new pope. Did Pope John Paul II reveal the full secret of Fatima in 2000?

"The Lincoln Lawyer" by Michael Connelly. One of my favorite mystery authors, Michael Connelly, writes his first legal thriller. The hero of this book is Mickey Haller, whose office is his car.

"Tyrannosaur Canyon" by Douglas Preston. This is a thriller based upon science. The search for a rare fossil leads to death and a deadly secret

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