Friday 4 October 2019

Don't Know Jack - Diane Capri - Hunt For Reacher Book 1

Don't Know Jack
Hunt For Reacher Book 1
Diane Capri
August Books
ISBN 9781624820144
eISBN 9780983729808

ASIN B0072JJTIG


Over the six months before reading this book I read 29 Jack Reacher Novels and short stories by Lee Child. I stumbled upon these books while preparing one of my reviews and recall my dad having mentioned them. So, I decided to give one a try. I typically read a couple hundred books a year, and the last few years have been over 300 a year. I do not recall encountering the name Diane Capri, in fact, the series rang a bell based on how my father described it, but not the author. After reading this volume I picked up the next few in the series. This was a great beginning and it will be interesting to see where it leads. This first story was published in 2012, 15 years after the book Killing Floor was published by Lee Child. And this story is set 15 years after the events in that first Reacher novel.

In this story FBI special agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar are put on Jack’s trail but with only 2 witnesses to question and the task of looking into what happened in Margrave 15 years earlier. This request comes from very high up in the Hoover building. But it has also been expressed that it be done under the radar. There is a lot going on in this novel as the two agents try to gather some intel on Jack they get drawn into a current conflict. So soon they are working against two different missions and two different agenda’s all the while trying to stay under the radar.

The story brings back some characters and places from that first Reacher novel. It also has a lot of action on its own. More than one body, a bombing, blackmail material. And a whole lot of questions. At first Otto and Gaspar wonder if this is just a test. But between shutting back and forth along the eastern US seaboard and a quick hop to Europe, the soon realize things are much more serious than they thought. And the stakes much higher.

It is hard not to appreciate both Otto and Gaspar as characters. There is much to respect in them, and soon readers find them self vested in the outcome. It is interesting to encounter Beverly Roscoe 15 years later and also Lamont Finlay. The action is sustained throughout the book, and ends with a bit of a cliff hanger.

The book was a very interesting read. It was good enough I picked up the next 3, 2 are short stories and the third a novel. It will be interesting to see how Capri follows Jack, for the Lee Child Books jump all over the place time wise. But I have a feeling this series will need to be much more linear. The other confusing thing about this series is the numbering. Goodreads numbers the short stories as dots where Amazon and the authors page just use whole numbers. So, depending how you look at it there are either 9 novels and three short stories, or 12 stories in total numbered 1-12. But no matter how you number them if the rest are as good as this first one, I am in for some great reads ahead. If you are a fan of the Reacher stories you should give these a try. I would recommend having read the Reacher volume first. But if you have not this book is well enough written to stand on its own outside the Lee Child Reacher canon. A great fall read, and I look forward to more in this series and sampling other series by Capri in the future.

Books by Diane Capri:
Hunt for Reacher Series:

1.0 Don’t Know Jack
1.1 Jack in a Box
1.2 Jack and Kill
2.0 Get Back Jack
2.5 Jack in the Green
3.0 Jack and Joe
4.0 Deep Cover Jack
5.0 Jack the Reaper
6.0 Black Jack
7.0 Ten Two Jack
8.0 Jack of Spades
9.0 Prepper Jack
10.0 Full Metal Jack
18.0 Jack on a Wire

Justice Series:
1.0 Due Justice
2.0 Twisted Justice
3.0 Secret Justice
4.0 Wasted Justice
5.0 Raw Justice
5.5 Mistaken Justice
6.0 Cold Justice
6.1 False Justice
6.2 Fair Justice
6.3 True Justice
7.0 Hunt for Justice
8.0 Night Justice


Jess Kimball Series:
0.5 Fatal Enemy
1.0 Fatal Distraction
2.0 Fatal Demand
3.0 Fatal Error
4.0 Fatal Fall
4.5 Fatal Edge
5.0 Fatal Game
6.0 Fatal Bond
6.5 Fatal Past
7.0 Fatal Dawn


Heir Hunter Series:
1.0 Blood Trials
2.0 Trace Evidence


Jordan Fox Mysteries:
False Truth Part One
False Truth Part Two
False Truth Part Three
False Truth Part Four
False Truth Part Five
False Truth Part Six
False Truth Part Seven
False Truth Part Eight
False Truth Part Nine
False Truth Part Ten
False Truth Part Eleven


The Park Hotel Mysteries Series:
1.0 Reservation with Death
2.0 Early Check Out
3.0 Room with a Clue
4.0 Late Arrival


Other Books:
Angel of Music














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