Author | Lee Child |
---|---|
Language | English |
Series | Jack Reacher |
Release number | 3 |
Genre | Thriller novel |
Publisher | Bantam Press (UK) Putnam (US) |
Publication date | 15 April 1999 [1] [2] |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
Pages | 343 |
ISBN | 978-0-593-04393-6 [1] |
OCLC | 39763530 |
Preceded by | Die Trying |
Followed by | Running Blind |
Tripwire is the third book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. It was published in 1999 by Putnam in America and Bantam in the United Kingdom. It is written in the third person. In the novel, retired military police officer Jack Reacher becomes embroiled in a mystery involving a Vietnam War veteran who was reported missing in action, but who has resurfaced as a vicious loanshark with a secret he will murder to protect. [3]
The prologue describes Victor Truman "Hook" Hobie's carefully planned escape route in the event of somebody discovering his "really big, well-guarded secret." His "early-warning system" consists of geographically located tripwires that will warn him that he has been discovered. The first is eleven thousand miles from his home in the United States and the second is six thousand miles out. His response to their activation would be to tie up loose ends, cash in, transfer his assets and disappear without a trace. Over thirty years of quiet success have made him feel somewhat secure. But Hook did not expect both alerts to arrive on the same day.
Elsewhere, Jack Reacher is working two jobs in Key West digging pools with a shovel by day and working as a bouncer at night and meeting a private investigator, Costello, who happens to be looking for him on behalf of a client named Mrs. Jacob, a name Reacher does not recognize. Later on, while Reacher is working his night job as a bouncer in a strip club, two suspicious-looking men also make inquiries about his whereabouts. Reacher attempts to follow them and in the process finds Costello murdered on the sidewalk. Reacher then flies to New York City to find out why Costello was looking for him and why he was killed for it.
After finding Costello's office seemingly untouched, Reacher's suspicion is aroused by an unsaved document open on the secretary's computer. Searching through the files, Reacher gets the contact information for Mrs. Jacob and arrives in the middle of a funeral for his former commanding officer and mentor, General Leon Garber. Leon's now-adult daughter, lawyer Jodie Garber-Jacob, turns out to be "Mrs. Jacob".
Reacher and Jodie follow Costello's trail, uncovering information on her father's last project: an investigation for the Hobie family on the whereabouts of their son Victor, a helicopter pilot reported missing in action during the Vietnam War. They discover that the Hobies had been tricked into giving their life savings to a con man named Rutter, who poses as a fake military liaison to families of MIA soldiers. Hook becomes aware of their investigation and tries to hunt them down. After forcing Rutter to return the money he stole, Reacher and Jodie visit the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which leads them to a forensic laboratory in Hawaii that identifies the remains of soldiers.
Victor was reported MIA after his helicopter was shot down. However, it becomes clear that Victor died in the crash, and that another soldier named Carl Allen assumed his identity in order to escape prosecution for fragging a superior officer. Severely burned by the crash, Allen left his own dogtags behind to fool investigators and had his right hand, lost in the helicopter crash, replaced with a hook. Under his new identity, Allen amassed a fortune as an illicit "moneylender", before establishing himself as a legitimate businessman who offers high-interest loans to firms unable to borrow from banks. However, his real objective is to seize control of their assets, using threats and torture to force his clients to agree to his terms.
Despite being aware that Reacher's investigation could expose his crimes, Allen decides to complete one final job: the takeover of a bankrupt multimillion-dollar company owned by Chester and Marilyn Stone. Allen and his men take the couple hostage, but Marilyn is able to stall them before Chester signs over his company. Jodie is called back to New York by her law firm to handle the Stone deal but ends up being captured by Allen along with another private investigator posing as the Stones' lawyer, forcing Reacher to come to her rescue. Reacher manages to kill Allen and his men but sustains a seemingly fatal bullet wound to his chest. At the hospital, however, a doctor discovers that, due to the arduous physical labor that was required for his job manually digging pools, his pectoral muscle was so thick the bullet did not make it past his rib cage. Reacher is then visited while convalescing by the Hobie family to thank him for restoring their son's good name.
The bullet wound that Reacher received is mentioned a few times in other Lee Child novels. Most of the women that Reacher sleeps with notice the "crater" and usually place their pinkie there while asking how it happened. In One Shot Reacher sums up the story by saying it was a wound received by a "Mad Man" and that most women are curious about it except for the one whom he was saving at the time.
Lee Child began writing Tripwire in spring 1997. [4] The book was published on 15 June 1999 in the United Kingdom [1] and the American publication followed on 28 June of the same year. [2]
The reason for the opening of the book taking place in Key West was a vacation Child spent there in 1996. [4]
The provisional title for Tripwire was The Hook, but that name was scrapped as Putnam believed the title was not "punchy" enough. [5] Putnam also believed The Hook would remind people too much of Peter Pan. [6]
Tripwire received positive reviews from critics, with The Orlando Sentinel calling it "a thriller good to the last drop"[ better source needed ] and The Arizona Daily Star saying "Lee Child can write. [...] Child grabs hold with the first page and won't let go until the finish.[ better source needed ] This is pulse-pounding suspense, and Child hardly misses a beat." The book was also praised by fellow authors, with Michael Connelly saying "It's a tightly-drawn and swift thriller that gives new meaning to what a page-turner should be." Stephen White also commented, calling Tripwire a "stylish thriller." [7]
Victor Garber, is a Canadian stage and film actor and singer. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2022, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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Jack Reacher is the protagonist of a series of crime thriller novels by British author Lee Child, a 2012 film adaptation, its 2016 sequel, and a television series on Amazon Prime Video. In the stories, Jack Reacher was a major in the U.S. Army's military police. After leaving the army, Reacher roamed the United States, taking odd jobs, investigating suspicious and dangerous situations, and resolving them.
Gimme Back My Bullets is the fourth studio album by American Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on February 2, 1976. Produced by Tom Dowd, it reached number 20 on the U.S. albums chart and was certified gold on January 20, 1981, by the RIAA.
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Die Trying is the second novel in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. It was published in 1998 by Bantam Press in the UK and by Putnam in the US. It is written in the third person.
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Enter a Murderer is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. This is her second novel to feature Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1935. The novel is the first of the theatrical novels for which Marsh was to become famous, taking its title from a line of stage direction in Macbeth. The plot concerns the on-stage murder of an actor who has managed to antagonize nearly every member of the cast and crew. By chance, Inspector Alleyn is in the audience.
On 19 March 1994, a British Army Lynx helicopter was shot down by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland. A unit of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade fired a heavy improvised mortar at the British Army base in Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The mortar round hit and shot down the helicopter, serial number ZD275, while it was hovering over the helipad. Three British soldiers and a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) member were wounded.
Jackson County Jail is a 1976 American crime film directed by Michael Miller, and starring Yvette Mimieux, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Carradine.
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