Book Review: “The Midnight Line” By Lee Child

I’m getting close. I’ve almost read every published work by Lee Child. 

“The Midnight Line” is the final novel in Child’s Jack Reacher series that I had yet to complete. It is also his newest (he's published 22 Reacher novels in total). 

The only work I have yet to read is “No Middle Name,” which is a short story collection by the author. I'll be checking it out shortly. 

I’ve been reading Lee Child's novels in an attempt to be ready for Lee Child’s appearance at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Baxter Arena on April 11. Child will be the author featured at this year’s Marion Marsh Brown Writers Lecture Series. 

Not that being all caught up is a requirement. I’ve attended a number of author events without being up-to-date on their entire catalog. But I always feel like I haven’t done my homework in those instances. 

This time, I decided things would be different. I figured the looming deadline of Lee Child’s appearance would be solid motivation to plow through the unread novels. More a personal goal than anything else. 

“The Midnight Line” finds Jack Reacher on a bus, headed out of Milwaukee. As is the case with Reacher, he is traveling to “destination unknown” — going wherever the spirit moves him. 

During a comfort stop in Wisconsin, Reacher happens upon a pawn shop. He sees a 2005 West Point class ring in the window — with a black stone... a small ring in diameter.

His curiosity is piqued. Reacher himself is a graduate of West Point, and his intuition tells him that the commitment and sacrifice that goes into attending a service academy isn’t something you take lightly. He can’t shed his former life as a military police officer, and wonders why the ring ended up in hock. 

Reacher questions the pawn shop owner, who directs him to a man at a biker bar named Jimmy Rat. Jimmy and his crew bring in items to sell from South Dakota (via Minnesota). They never move enough merchandise to draw the attention of the Feds. 

Reacher learns from Rat (through our protagonist’s trademark brand of fisticuff persuasion) that their supplier is a man named Arthur Scorpio. Scorpio is a small-time crook who works out of a laundromat in Rapid City, South Dakota. 

Our vigilant hero can’t let go of the burr in his brain. So he hitchhikes his way across the highways and byways to find Scorpio, and see if he can dig up more information on the ring’s original owner. 

In Rapid City, Reacher meets a police detective named Gloria Nakamura. She is surveilling and investigating Scorpio. He also stumbles upon an Illinois P.I. — who drives a black Toyota Land Cruiser — who is showing an interest in the shady laundromat owner.

Reacher eventually gets an audience with Arthur Scorpio, and information gleaned leads him to Mule Crossing, Wyoming. That is where Reacher starts peeling away layers in his investigation, and where the main narrative in “The Midnight Line” takes place...

(I visted Wyoming last summer, and this pic I took just feels like something from a Jack Reacher book...)

The novel itself has an interesting setup, and Child is at home writing about wide-open spaces in the American landscape. 

Child typically treats socio-political issues with kid gloves in his novels. That said, the author diverts from that a bit in “The Midnight Line,” and takes on a very topical crisis impacting the health of millions in the United States today. 

As is the case with any Reacher story, there are some good nuggets throughout. The character loves greasy spoons, and it is mentioned that Reacher’s go-to breakfast is “coffee plus a short stack of pancakes with eggs, bacon, and maple syrup.”

The novel itself works. Child has a knack for mixing things up from book to book. While “The Midnight Line” lacks some of the nail-biting scenes found in the author’s best work, it is an interesting tale. 

Reacher has never been a particularly introspective or wistful character, but his hunt for the owner of the abandoned class ring shows another dimension of the man. As Det. Nakamura says of Reacher, it is “a matter of military honor. Like a moral obligation. Verging on the sentimental...”

Reacher’s motivation in “The Midnight Line” is perfectly summed up by something a truck driver tells him on his journey across South Dakota:

“My wife would say you feel guilty about something. She reads books. She thinks about things.” 

If you’d like to see Lee Child at UNO on April 11th, you can visit this link to learn more details about the event, and find ticket information. The event is free. 

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