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Exit Strategy

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Jack Reacher will make three stops today. Not all of them were planned for.

First – a Baltimore coffee shop. A seat in the corner, facing the door. Black coffee, two refills, no messing around. A minor interruption from two of the customers, but nothing he can’t deal with swiftly. As he leaves, a young guy brushes against him in the doorway. Instinctively Reacher checks the pocket holding his cash and passport. There's no problem. Nothing is missing.

Second – a store to buy a coat. Nothing fancy. Something he can ditch when he heads to warmer climates. Large enough to fit a man the size of a bank vault. As he pulls out his cash, he finds something new in his pocket. A handwritten note. A desperate plea for help.

Third – wherever this bend in the road takes him. Impressed by the guy's technique and intrigued by the message, Reacher makes it his mission to find out more . . .

We all need Jack Reacher – a righteous avenger for our troubled times.

Listen to an exclusive interview between Lee Child and Jeff Harding at the end of this audiobook. For the first time, Lee Child and Jeff Harding talk about bringing Reacher to life in audio and celebrate the 30th Reacher adventure.

'If there is a more iconic character in modern fiction than Jack Reacher, I'd like to meet them.' DAILY MIRROR

'There's only one Jack Reacher. Accept no substitutes.' MICK HERRON

'It's no wonder Jack Reacher is everyone's favourite rebel hero.' KARIN SLAUGHTER

'These books are absolutely addictive. When you pick them up you can't put them down.' GEORGE R. R. MARTIN

© Lee Child and Andrew Child 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Action & Adventure Crime Thrillers Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction
All stars
Most relevant
I have listened to every Reacher novel, and have loved the vast majority. I'm somewhat sad that it has come to this, and would have much preferred my favourite character to get the ending he deserved, instead of living on as a shadow of himself. The last four or five novels have been pretty awful. I understand it must be near impossible to imitate another author's writing, but it is a poor imitation. The plot of this one is convoluted, lacks real character development and makes absolutely no sense. The villains are laughably inferior and deserve no part in a Jack Reacher novel. This one will probably be my last. Not the end of the world, there are many Reacher novels written by Lee Child that are unbelievably good, and I'm sure I will return to Margrave at some point and start them again.

Fairly bad

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It’s another Reacher by numbers. Violence interspersed with hours of exposition and unfathomably dry dialogue. I bought it out of hope and finished it out of duty, and I’ll probably do the same next year.
To make matters worse the story was again lazily peppered with names from UK premier league history, with Steve McLaren and David Moyes appearing as borderline pointless white collar baddies.

Reacher dials it in again

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Reacher I love. Don't love too many dominating females within the novels, but I've learnt to deal with it, it's the modern way.

Clever Jeff with his i/v questions and about bringing in his brother, as we all do wonder. In fact Jeff got everything covered and Lee's openness made it all great.

Great I/V at the end

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As always, I was looking forward to the next Reacher story. Unfortunately it wasn’t up to the normal standard. The storyline seemed rushed and unrealistic, the characters weren’t fully developed, and quite a bit of the story was unbelievable. Reacher wasn’t his normal self, and he breaks his own moral code too.
The previous Reacher book, “In too deep”, wasn’t one of the classic books in the series, and I was hoping that the latest one would make up for that. Instead, it seems that everything’s going down hill fast, and the author(s) are relying on past success to sell the latest books.

Disappointing!

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I liked that it was yet another Reacher story albeit collaborative. It did, from the start, intrigue me, however it began to slow down and get bogged down as I went along. Not the best in the series. Jeff Harding is still the best narrator and the “voice of Reacher”.
Reacher fans will enjoy “Exit Strategy” and it is definitely a 4 out of 5 star read. This is subjective of course.
I also enjoyed the additional interview between Lee Child and Jeff Harding. Lee cones across very well ;as die Jeff). He made some very interesting remarks about the books, films and TV series of Jack Reacher - well worth a listen.
Again, subjectively, I disagree with some of his points. Tom Cruise was a really bad choice of Reacher and I have never felt impelled to watch either movie a second time. Also, Alan Ritchson is the wrong man for the TV series. I am 6 feet tall and never feel “intimidated” by friends around the 6.2 or 6.3 mark. However, I have a friend who is 6.6 and that is a different story! Alan at 6.2 and a half does not fill the TV screen. Despite clever camera work. He needed to be 6.5 or 6.6 to do that. As a result, in close ups it is patently obvious that he is just bigger than the average chap. Anyway, disappointing but rant over.
Buy the novel and decide on its content. As I implied, reasonable story line and generally well-paced but not Reacher gold!

Towser T

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