THE ENEMY (Jack Reacher #8) by Lee Child

Originally published in 2004.

Some authors are fastidious about their books being written in the order that events happen to the character. So, the events in book 5 will follow the events in books 3 and 4 and precede the events in books 6 and 7.

Lee Child does not feel the need to do that in his Reacher series. While this book is number 8 in the order of publication, it is the first chronologically which makes it a great place to start the series.

Reacher is in the Military Police and has just been re-assigned from the invasion of Panama to remove General Manuel Noriega in December of 1989 to Fort Bird in North Carolina. It is New Year's Eve and just at the stroke of midnight Reacher gets a call. A General is dead in a seedy hotel off base. It turns out he died from heart attack while he was just starting an intimate moment with a mystery partner. Reacher is not too worried about things until he notes that the General's briefcase is missing.

So, Reacher starts digging and the mystery keeps getting bigger. When he finds out that the General's wife was killed by a burglar on the same evening, Reacher knows something is definitely wrong and he is somehow in the middle of it...

This was an enjoyable, engrossing novel. I was literally surprised about who had taken the General's briefcase until it was revealed at the end even though all of the facts were clearly laid out before me. My only consolation is that Reacher was just as surprised as I was.

Good read. I am going to start seriously reading this series.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Enemy (Jack Reacher)