Lee Child’s newest book is now available. Not Make Me, book #20 in the Jack Reacher thriller series, but a new digital short titled Small Wars. Exclusively in ebook format. #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child takes us back to 1989 for this one, which makes it a form of time travel, right?
In 1989 Jack Reacher was a Major in the U.S. Army. A military police officer assigned to solve the cold-blooded murder of a young officer—whose killer may be closer to Reacher than he suspects.
First, let’s do some time traveling ourselves. What was going on in 1989?
Interest rates in the U.S. were 10.5% and 14.88% in the U.K. A postage stamp cost 25 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was 97 cents and petrol was 1.68 pounds in the U.K. The Galileo spacecraft was launched by NASA on October 18 and the USSR pulled out of Afghanistan. Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?
One of the most relevant things that happened in 1989 for Jack Reacher was the fall of the Berlin Wall.
If you’ve read Lee Child’s The Enemy, you’ll remember that the fall of the Berlin wall has a prominent role in that story. I’ve spent a lot of time with The Enemy because it is the source book for my next Hunt for Jack Reacher thriller, Jack and Joe.
Reacher was born in on an army base in Berlin in 1960. In The Enemy, it’s 1990, and Reacher’s hot on a case as he travels back to Germany with Lieutenant Summer, where the Cold War is ending and segments of the Armored Division of the U.S. Army are worried.
1960 Berlin was a completely different place than it is now, of course. In 1960, it seemed impossible that in Reacher’s lifetime the Cold War would thaw and the wall would fall. But in late 1989 and early 1990, the wall came down. And the events surrounding the end of the Cold War and personal changes in Reacher’s life at that time knocked him back a bit, too.
Small Wars takes place a few months before The Enemy.
Events from 1989 and 1990 shaped Jack Reacher and Lieutenant Eunice Summer, too.
Small Wars. The Enemy. And then, the rest of the story in Jack and Joe.
My new Hunt for Jack Reacher thriller, Jack and Joe, releases on 8/25. Pre-Order available everywhere now. Find clickable links HERE.
And after that, Lee Child’s Make Me releases in the U.S. on September 8!
It’s a good month to be a Jack Reacher fan 🙂
I’m confused. Why are two different author’s writing about Jack reacher
Loved the new books, Jack and Joe, and I had preordered Small Wars, so received it yesterday. My favorite authors! Thanks