New Year's Eve 1989: a dead general, a stolen briefcase, and a coup inside the Army.
Who drives the story
An Army MP major in the last days of 1989, stubborn, precise, and allergic to orders that smell wrong. He breaks a conspiracy reaching the Secretary of Defense, accepts a demotion on principle, and crosses his own line once, executing Willard.
A sharp female MP officer who works the case beside Reacher, from the murdered wife's house in Virginia to a funeral in Paris. He never sees her again, though he hears she made captain.
The major general whose heart gives out in a seedy motel with a woman who is not a prostitute. His stolen briefcase holds the conspiracy's whole blueprint.
A Delta Force operative who lures Kramer to the motel, steals the briefcase, and frames Reacher with an assault complaint. He is murdered before he can spend what he knows.
Coomer and Vassell's gofer, and Kramer's secret lover. He kills Carbone, Brubaker, and Kramer's wife in a jealous rage, then tries to die by his own tanks in the Mojave.
Garber's replacement, sent to bury the case and hang it on Reacher. He gets his life sentence of a different kind: Reacher executes him in his own house and plants drugs on the body.
Kramer's staff officers, hungry for the briefcase, lying about the agenda. They end up arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Reacher's honest commanding officer, whose forged orders quietly place twenty top investigators where the Chief of Staff needs them. He is abruptly shipped to a command in South Korea.
How they are connected
An Army MP major in the last days of 1989, stubborn, precise, and allergic to orders that smell wrong.
He breaks a conspiracy reaching the Secretary of Defense, accepts a demotion on principle, and crosses his own line once, executing Willard.
A sharp female MP officer who works the case beside Reacher, from the murdered wife's house in Virginia to a funeral in Paris.
The major general whose heart gives out in a seedy motel with a woman who is not a prostitute.
Kenneth KramerColonel Coomer and Brigadier General Vassell
The major general whose heart gives out in a seedy motel with a woman who is not a prostitute.
Christopher CarboneJack Reacher
A Delta Force operative who lures Kramer to the motel, steals the briefcase, and frames Reacher with an assault complaint.
Christopher CarboneKenneth Kramer
A Delta Force operative who lures Kramer to the motel, steals the briefcase, and frames Reacher with an assault complaint.
Major MarshallColonel Coomer and Brigadier General Vassell
Coomer and Vassell's gofer, and Kramer's secret lover.
Major MarshallChristopher Carbone
He kills Carbone, Brubaker, and Kramer's wife in a jealous rage, then tries to die by his own tanks in the Mojave.
Colonel WillardColonel Leon Garber
Garber's replacement, sent to bury the case and hang it on Reacher.
Colonel Leon GarberJack Reacher
Reacher's honest commanding officer, whose forged orders quietly place twenty top investigators where the Chief of Staff needs them.
The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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