Published in 2009 the 13th of the Reacher books, but I had not read it. To prepare for Amazon's next Reacher release I decided I had better do so. 388 pages and as always excellent. This one begins with Reacher riding the subway in New York and reflecting on the Israeli developed list of 12 key characteristics of suicide bombers. Except Reacher can ignore one which deals with males shaving their beards to fit in and having paler skin where the beard had shaded the face from the sun.
Reacher is focusing on a woman passenger. It is two in the morning, September and hotter than normal but the woman is wearing a down jacket. She stares back at him and as he approaches and tells her he is a cop and can help her, she fidgets. They talk briefly with Reacher asking her to show him one of her hands, she does and then she pulls a gun out of her bag, aims at him right at his guy, but doesn't fire, he talks calmly, thinks she is about to release the gun but instead she aims vertically and blows her head off.
This review from Wikip[edia " ; NYPD is eager to close the file without investigating the tragedy, but Reacher wants to know what happened that night and, more importantly, why the woman, Pentagon staffer Susan Mark, left DC and killed herself on that subway car. He is repeatedly and emphatically warned off the case, but his guilt over possibly triggering the poor woman's suicide drives him on.
With the help of NYPD detective Theresa Lee and Susan's brother, Jacob "Jake", Reacher discovers several different players who seem to be involved in whatever drove her over the edge. There is a Washington politician, John Sansom, whose name is dropped by thugs trying to scare Reacher off the case. Finally, there are unidentified federal agents on the scene to keep Reacher away from the case and make sure that any threats to national security, potentially Reacher included, are neutralized.
Reacher learns from Jacob that Susan had a son, Peter Molina, who may be missing; Peter is a star football player for USC who fell off the radar at the same time his mother killed herself. Reacher investigates Sansom, learning that the Congressman received several medals for clandestine missions in the 1980s. After a trip to meet with the Sansoms at a fundraising event in his district, Reacher identifies a tail waiting for him back in New York. Reacher is able to disable the man and take his phone, which leads Reacher to Lila Hoth and her mother Svetlana. Lila claims to be the widow of a Russian oligarch and tells Reacher that Susan was her friend and helping them investigate the circumstances around the deaths of Svetlana's husband, Grigori, and her brother during the Soviet-Afghan War. The Hoths tell Reacher that Sansom was responsible for the two deaths. Grigori Hoth was a Soviet sniper in the Afghan war. The Hoths claim that American special forces operating illegally in Afghanistan ambushed Grigori and took his sniper rifle, leaving him defenseless against the Mujahedeen fighters who tortured Grigori to death while Svetlana had to listen to his screams just outside the Soviet base.
Reacher partially believes Lila, but doubts Lila is Svetlana's daughter. Lila is lithe and stunningly gorgeous while Svetlana is plain and stocky. They do not seem to share any physical traits or mannerisms. He suspects Lila may be a journalist using Svetlana as a source for a story. While returning to the Hoths' hotel for a follow-up meeting, Reacher is abducted by the federal agents that had previously warned him off the case. He is put in a cage along with Lee and Jake for asking too many questions about the Susan Mark case. Reacher is able to attack the three agents when they take him out of the cage for interrogation and he incapacitates them. He then breaks Lee and Jake out of their cages.
As Reacher continues his investigation, he discovers that the Hoths are not what they claimed. They are actually Al Qaeda terrorists. Svetlana was the Mujahedeen fighter who tortured Grigori Hoth. Lila is her pupil. The pair had already murdered people, including Peter. Lila sends Reacher a video of Peter's gruesome death and promises to torture him in the same way. Reacher vows to kill Lila and Svetlana.
Reacher determines that Susan was told that her son was going to be killed if Susan did not provide the Hoths with information about Sansom's activities in Afghanistan. It turns out that Sansom had a photo taken of him with Osama Bin Laden as part of the efforts of the US to help the Mujahedeen fight the Soviets. That photo could now end Sansom's career. It appears that the photo could also for some reason embarrass Al Qaeda, as the Hoths seem intent on making the photo disappear as well. Susan loaded the information on a memory card and deleted the original file from the Pentagon computers. She was on her way to NYC with the card but she was stuck in traffic and missed her midnight deadline. The uncompromising Hoths sent her a video of her son's torture. In disgust and despair, Susan threw the card and her phone out of the car window. She then decided to go to Lila's building and kill her to avenge Peter. However, Reacher stopped her before she could carry out her revenge. "
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