Jack Reacher hits the pavement and sticks out his thumb. He plans to follow the sun on an epic trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn't get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been: the town where his father was born. He thinks, What's one extra day? He takes the detour.

At the same moment, in the same isolated area, a car breaks down. Two young Canadians had been on their way to New York City to sell a treasure. Now they're stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. The owners seem almost too friendly. It's a strange place, but it's all there is.

The next morning, in the city clerk's office, Reacher asks about the old family home. He's told no one named Reacher ever lived in town. He's always known his father left and never returned, but now Reacher wonders, was he ever there in the first place?

As Reacher explores his father's life, and as the Canadians face lethal dangers, strands of different stories begin to merge. Then Reacher makes a shocking discovery: The present can be tough, but the past can be tense...and deadly.

Praise for Past Tense:

“Child is one writer who should never be taken for granted.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“[Lee Child] shows no signs of slowing down.... Reacher is a man for whom the phrase moral compass was invented: His code determines his direction.... You need Jack Reacher.” (The Atlantic)

“Superb... Child neatly interweaves multiple narratives, ratchets up the suspense (the reveal of the motel plot is delicious), and delivers a powerful, satisfying denouement. Fans will enjoy learning more of this enduring character’s roots, and Child’s spare prose continues to set a very high bar.” (Publishers Weekly, boxed and starred review)

“Another first-class entry in a series that continues to set the gold standard for aspiring thriller authors.” (Booklist, starred review)

“With his usual flair for succinctness and eye for detail, Child creates another rollicking Reacher road trip that will please fans and newcomers alike.” (Library Journal, starred review)

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Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

Listening Length	12 hours and 51 minutes
Author	Lee Child
Narrator	Scott Brick
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	November 05, 2018
Publisher	Random House Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07DK5NF7X
Best Sellers Rank	#2,757 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #22 in Mystery Action Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #73 in Action Thriller & Suspense Fiction #242 in Mystery Action & Adventure

Customer reviews

5 star		64%
4 star		19%
3 star		9%
2 star		4%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Vintage Reacher Novel; The Best in Many Years!

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

I'd really grown tired of Lee Child's "Reacher novels over the past five years, as they seemed to feature ludicrous plots, and serious technical inaccuracies. I missed the simple, direct style of the early Jack Reacher books.
When "Past Tense" popped up in my Vine queue, I decided to see if this latest effort was worth reading...and I'm very glad that I did!

"Past Tense" is most definitely a return to the writing style that most of us early Reacher fans embraced. This book features a plausible plot, with interesting twists and turns, but most of all, it lets Reacher be Reacher! There's some interesting character development, local history, coupled with a bunch of epic action scenes we Reacher fans live for!

Kudos to Lee Child for re-connecting with his "Inner Reacher", and delivering the best novel in many years!

396 people found this helpful

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william e mclean

Very disappointed.

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

I never write reviews, but this debacle merits one. Just to be clear, I own every single Jack Reacher novel and I am a big fan. I waited all spring, summer and fall for this book to drop and had it on preorder. The teaser chapter was good.

This book had hints of the Reacher we know and love but this had all kinds of holes in it, the characters were all over the place and not a one was memorable. The plot was a trainwreck.. Nothing ever really stuck. I kept waiting for it to pull itself together because I know he must be in there somewhere, but it never got there. I want to forget I read it.
If you compare this to the Midnight Line you would swear this was not written by Lee Child.

257 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Not normal

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

I’ve read them all and this one seems to be written by someone else. By far the worst Reacher book.

161 people found this helpful

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Edward Karlson

Don't bring this one present

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

I feel like sending it back for a refund. I've never read a novel of this genre that is this bad. The plot went nowhere from the start, seemed contrived to be unreal, not a bit cogent, led me through endless page turning for a development, was characterized by multiple pages of inane banter for dialogue obviously meant for filler to take up space, was endlessly repetitive in character development, and made me want to give it up halfway through. Author Child obviously cranked this out as a quickie - what a lot of writers are criticized for doing now - taking advantage of Reacher fans to faithfully buy it. (Do these writers have deadlines to keep the novels coming? It seems like it.) I won't even donate this to the book room at the mobile home park where I live except with a warning in front how bad it is. I kept going huh? What? When does this turn into something? It never did, right to the end. It reads like a model how to write a grade 'D' novel. What kind of editing let this pass except for an assembly line crank-em-out policy? It was extremely unethical of Child to take such advantage of his prior reputation and to betray his spoiled and faithful following just for another quick publication and fast buck.

126 people found this helpful

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Reacher Searches for His Roots

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2018

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

PAST TENSE: A JACK REACHER NOVEL solves a mystery surrounding Jack’s parentage--who, exactly, was Jack’s father, a guy who could never remember his birthday? Reacher fans will want to read this novel to find out. But otherwise, except for the dramatic ending scenes, the novel is just plain boring.

In the novel, Jack starts to hitchhike from the East Coast to San Diego, but takes a side trip to Laconia. NH, his father’s birthplace. He visits various public records offices, and gets a lot of help from the locals when dad Stan Reacher doesn't show up right away in the town’s 80-year-old census records.

At the same time, a young Canadian couple has car trouble, and ends up at a remote motel near Laconia. They can’t leave, because the weird motel owners keep making excuses for not calling a mechanic or driving them to town to get a tow truck. Eventually the couple finds themselves imprisoned, because the motel owners have secret plans for them.

SPOILER ALERT: Naturally the two plotlines--Jack’s search for his roots, and the couple’s predicament--merge, but only in a superficial way. The couple’s plotline is basically “Psycho" meets “The Most Dangerous Game", and it isn’t even close to the quality of either one. The motel owners’ intentions are easily guessed, long before the reveal.

This novel is the latest in the long, popular Jack Reacher series, and it works fine as a standalone. It’s well-written, but, as previously mentioned, darned boring.

164 people found this helpful

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Back when the west was far away

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

On page one of this newest Jack Reacher, Child does two things so subtly you don't even realize their implications both within and outside of the series: First, he tells us, in no uncertain terms, that Reacher is "...more than six feet five...heavily built... not particularly good looking." Thus reminding us that he is NOT a very pretty dwarf despite what you may have seen in the cinema.

Second; he sets in motion what APPEARS will be the starting off point of the next several books by having Jack the lad start to hitchhike across America,starting from Maine and, eventually, ending in San Diego California

One guesses the hitch-hike premise will be used for a while based on the fact that, in this "first" episode he gets not much further than Laconia, NEW HAMPSHIRE!

But, since he also gets into one of the best Reachers EVER, one can forgive his lack of forward momentum.

Some of Child's best characters and a real sense of emotional truth and some truly hilarious (albeit, possibly for specialized knowledge and tastes) fun, make this a book that has REACHES new heights

Indeed, if you can accept the premise that, in this day and age ANYONE would stop for ANY hitch hiker (let alone one who looks nothing like a certain former Jerry McGuire) this is a very promising opening to later adventures

Gene Barry would be proud!

155 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Lizzie G

Don't waste your money

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

Having read all the previous Reacher books I feel short-changed by this one. There are two completely separate threads running through the novel - Reacher stumbling upon the town where his father was born, and some strange goings-on in a motel - and, by the time the threads come together I had lost interest. By the end of the story I'd almost lost the will to live! The book is tedious beyond belief, predictable, and with a coincidence to tie the story-lines together that could be spotted from page one. It isn't a particularly long book, but it feels like it. It's badly written, disjointed, incredibly formulaic and almost feels as though Lee Child has taken all the scraps from previous novels and put them together in this one.

To any die-hard Reacher/Lee Child fans who want to own this book I'd suggest waiting a while until the price comes down; it really isn't worth a tenner.

159 people found this helpful

millhall

Puerile nonsense devoid of plot or tension.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

I have read all the Jack Reacher novels. They have varied in quality over the years, but this is the worst by far. We know that Child will produce a new book very November just in time for the Christmas book sale rush. What we usually rely on is a good plot, well developed with a tense ending and a sting in the tale. Past Tense delivered none of these. The plot was so puerile that it was scarcely believable. The pace of the action was turgid and the ending was boring. I formed the impression that Child needed to meet a publisher's deadline and churned out a novel with no original idea, filled with passages of nonsense to make it just long enough. In the past, I have threatened never to read another Reacher again . This time I will keep my promise.

85 people found this helpful

Mr J ELLIS

The worst yet, don’t bother and save yourself a tenner, wish I had

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

Lee Child Jack Reacher novels get worse with each release, this one being the worst yet. I used to relish every page of his early books and read cover to cover on the day each new book arrived. This one I got as far as chapter 3 and gave up. Two separate stories being told in parallel, neither being very interesting and my enthusiasm was gone almost immediately. Time to find a new fave author I think.

84 people found this helpful

Morgan L (UK)

Same pattern as last few, good start.. mediocre end

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

I have no clue what some of the 4-5 star reviewers saw in this book. I have bought every Jack Reacher, but since 'The Affair' the story telling has steadily declined to the point where I am done getting excited about JR books.

I pre-order every Jack Reacher and read straight away hoping for a true return to form.. and always come away disappointed.

Lee Childs is cashing in all the brownie points he amassed early in the series, but for me, he has now spent up, I will no longer pre-order and feel the need to start leaving HONEST reviews to counteract the blinded fans.

The book starts superbly, Jack Reacher takes one of his little side trips that becomes an adventure, and at the same time another story 20 miles away is woven into the narrative, except in this case the side story is probably the main one. To be honest the Jack Reacher 'side' story is pretty much wasted text, as the only exciting part of it (Jack making trouble with the wrong people), I literally think Lee Childs forgot it existed and forgot to finish it.

When the main story wraps up however, it is a damp squib, and all the build of of tension becomes a.. 'is that it?'

I won't lie, the build up is like a perfect starter and main course, but the dessert turns out to be a dry digestive biscuit.. slightly stale and I now realise the truth, finally accepting it with sadness.. Lee Childs has lost his spark and is the not the genius author we thought he was, and Jack Reacher has run its course and needs to end

58 people found this helpful

Alan

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

The first 80 percent of this book is the slowest Jack Reacher ever. The plot is far fetched even for Reacher but it progresses so slowly that it is simply boring which is a shame because I have enjoyed the previous 22 books. If you want to read the Reacher novels please do not start with this one as you will be let down

54 people found this helpful

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