Gone Tomorrow


Gone Tomorrow is the thirteenth book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. It was published on 23 April 2009 in the United Kingdom and 19 May 2009 in the USA. It is written in the first person.

Plot summary

It's 2am, and Jack Reacher is travelling on the New York City Subway. He notices a suspicious looking passenger who matches many of the specifications for a potential suicide bomber. When he approaches Susan Mark with an offer of assistance, she shoots herself.
NYPD is eager to close the file without investigating the tragedy, but Reacher has other ideas. He wants to know what happened that night, and, more importantly, why. Is everyone as honest as they claim to be? And if so, then why are there so many questions to be asked and avoided?
Reacher is repeatedly and emphatically warned off the case, but his guilt over possibly triggering the poor woman's suicide won't let him rest until he has pursued the mystery all the way to the very end. In a world gone grey with moral and ethical relativism only Jack Reacher stubbornly sticks to his high standards, no matter what the personal cost.
With the help of agent Theresa Lee and Susan Mark's brother, Reacher discovers a politician, John Sansom, is behind it all. Sansom was in Afghanistan with Osama Bin Laden when he ordered the FBI and Mark, who worked for them, to delete a compromising picture of him; but the picture falls into the hands of terrorists disguised as foreign Americans, Lila Hoth and her mother Svetlana. The pair had already murdered people, including Peter Molina, Susan's adopted son. Reacher discovers that they are Al Qaeda terrorists, not mother and daughter, and that Mark was sent the video of her son's slaying. Disgusted, she threw away the file and decided to kill herself. When Jack catches Lila Hoth and Svetlana in a hotel, he kills them both with a knife.

Critical reception

—John O'Connell, The Guardian
—Andy Martin, The Independent