“The Affair” is the Reacher novel that explains why he left the army, and it is at its best as that missing chapter. Told in the first person and set half a year before the first book, it rewards long-time readers with quiet nods to what comes later. Some find the love story a misstep and regret the break from the two preceding novels; others see the usual formula, easy, addictive and soon forgotten.

The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.

About the book

The Affair is the sixteenth book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. It was published on 27 September 2011 in the USA and 29 September 2011 in the United Kingdom. The Affair is a prequel set six months before Child's first novel, Killing Floor and sets out the explosive circumstances under which Reacher's career in the United States Army was terminated. This book is written in the first person.

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Where the score comes from

The sources average 8.1 across 244 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 62% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Thriller average of 7.6. That is how 7.9 comes out.