In Too Deep by Lee Child & Andrew Child

Waking in a strange place, with no memory of how he got there, Reacher finds himself in the centre of a criminal gang stealing high-end art from wealthy Russians. Things don't look good for Reacher as the members of the gang don't trust each other, convinced they've been infiltrated by an FBI agent.

In Too Deep is the twenty-ninth book in the Jack Reacher series, with author Lee Child writing alongside his brother Andrew Child. The book opens strongly, promising lots. Reacher wakes to find himself cuffed, wrists and ankles, to a table. He has no idea where he is or how he got there. Using guile he coaxes one of his captors to uncuff one wrist, which happens to be broken, and then manages to overpower the man. 

Another member of the gang persuades Reacher to work with him to escape, promising he'll help Reacher in return. From this man Reacher learns that he was involved in a car accident, hence his broken wrist and mild concussion which is blocking his memories of the hours leading up to the accident. He's also told that the driver didn't survive the crash and was an undercover FBI agent. Reacher is wary of everything, throughout his career as a military policeman and afterwards he knows that people lie. Unable to recall the events up to the crash leave Reacher even more cautious than usual.

From this point on the story just seems to keep going in circles, with very little action taking place. The gang has one big job they want to carry out before the FBI turns up looking for their missing agent. The gang members don't trust each other, convinced they are going to be double-crossed. Reacher is desperately trying to piece everything together, thanks to his memory loss. I felt pretty much the same as Reacher, the descriptions are vague and the dialogue is confusing. 

The crossing and double-crossing was interminable, sadly lacking the Reacher action fans love. The story did pick up pace in the final quarter, when the plot takes a completely new turn and we finally got to see Reacher engage with the villains, but even this was brief, lacking the face-off's which are classic Reacher.

In Too Deep by Lee Child and Andrew Child will be published on 22nd October 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers for a review copy.

Author Details

Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in New York. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world and have sold over one hundred million copies. Lee is the recipient of many awards including Author of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Andrew Child is the author of nine thrillers written under the name Andrew Grant. He is the younger brother of Lee Child. Born in Birmingham, he lives in Wyoming with his wife, the novelist Tasha Alexander.