Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Teaser chapter Praise for RUNNING BLIND "Truly surprising . a brain-teasing puzzle that gets put together piece by fascinating piece, and a central character with Robin Hood-like integrity and an engagingly eccentric approach to life." -- Publishers Weekly "Deeply satisfying . plan to stay up long past bedtime and do some serious hyperventilating toward the end." -- Kirkus Reviews "This fourth Reacher thriller is easily the best. The plot is a masterpiece. " -- Booklist "With numerous plot twists and turns, Child puts Reacher through his paces brilliantly, arriving at an unusual solution. Highly recommended.
" -- Library Journal " Running Blind is a great read." -- St. Petersburg Times "Reacher is one of the more interesting suspense heroes to come along in a while." -- San Antonio Express-News "Spectacular . muscular, energetic prose and pell-mell pacing." -- The Seattle Times "A superior series." -- The Washington Post Book World Praise for LEE CHILD "Reacher is a wonderfully epic hero: tough, taciturn, yet vulnerable." -- People "Great style and careful plotting.
The violence is brutal . depicted with the kind of detail that builds dread and suspense." -- The New York Times "The author pens nightmarish images as casually as an ordinary writer would dot an ''i'' or cross a ''t.'' " -- The Philadelphia Inquirer "[Child] must be channeling Dashiell Hammett . Reacher handles the maze of clues and the criminal unfortunates with a flair that would make Sam Spade proud." -- Playboy "Reacher is as tough as he is resourceful." -- The Denver Post "Child . gives us one of the truly memorable tough-guy heroes in recent fiction: Jack Reacher.
" --Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector "I love the larger-than-life hero Jack Reacher. I grew up a fan of John Wayne''s and Clint Eastwood''s movies, and it''s great to see a man of their stature back in business." --Nevada Barr "Jack Reacher has presence and dimension--a man you definitely want on your side. Child has a sure touch and a strong voice. Definitely a talent to watch." --Lynn Hightower Praise for Lee Child''s JACK REACHER NOVELS KILLING FLOOR A People Magazine "Page-Turner" An Anthony Award winner "It''ll blow you away." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer "From its jolting opening scene to its fiery final confrontation, Killing Floor is irresistible." -- People DIE TRYING "Tough, elegant, and thoughtful.
" --Robert B. Parker "A riveting thriller. It''s a winner." --Greg Iles TRIPWIRE "Grabs hold with the first page . This is pulse-pounding suspense." -- Arizona Daily Star "Gives new meaning to what a page-turner should be." --Michael Connelly WITHOUT FAIL "If Without Fail doesn''t hook you on Lee Child, I give up." -- The New York Times "Child''s plot is ingenious, his characters are first-rate, and his writing is fine indeed.
This is a superior series." -- The Washington Post Book World ECHO BURNING "Child is a vigorous storyteller, gradually building the suspense to almost unbearable levels." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch "As sweltering as the El Paso sun. Bottom line: jalapeño-hot suspense." -- People Titles by Lee Child WITHOUT FAIL ECHO BURNING RUNNING BLIND TRIPWIRE DIE TRYING KILLING FLOOR THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd.
, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen''s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi--110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.
) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author''s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. Previously published in the United Kingdom under the title The Visitor . RUNNING BLIND A Jove Book / published by arrangement with G. P.
Putnam''s Sons Copyright © 2000 by Lee Child. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author''s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. ISBN: 9781440634789 JOVE® Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. JOVE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. The "J" design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc. For Edith and Norman, after twenty-six years of good times 1 PEOPLE SAY THAT knowledge is power. The more knowledge, the more power. Suppose you knew the winning numbers for the lottery? All of them? Not guessed them, not dreamed them, but really knew them? What would you do? You would run to the store. You would mark those numbers on the play card. And you would win.
Same for the stock market. Suppose you really knew what was going to go way up? You''re not talking about a hunch or a gut feeling. You''re not talking about a trend or a percentage game or a whisper or a tip. You''re talking about knowledge. Real, hard knowledge. Suppose you had it? What would you do? You would call your broker. You would buy. Then later you''d sell, and you''d be rich.
Same for basketball, same for the horses, whatever. Football, hockey, next year''s World Series, any kind of sports at all, if you could predict the future, you''d be home free. No question. Same for the Oscars, same for the Nobel prize, same for the first snowfall of winter. Same for anything. Same for killing people. Suppose you wanted to kill people. You would need to know ahead of time how to do it.
That part is not too difficult. There are many ways. Some of them are better than others. Most of them have drawbacks. So you use what knowledge you''ve got, and you invent a new way. You think, and you think, and you think, and you come up with the perfect method. You pay a lot of attention to the setup. Because the perfect method is not an easy method, and careful preparation is very important.
But that stuff is meat and potatoes to you. You have no problem with careful preparation. No problem at all. How could you, with your intelligence? After all your training? You know the big problems will come afterward. How do you make sure you get away with it? You use your knowledge. You know more than most people about how the cops work. You''ve seen them on duty, many times, sometimes close-up. You know what they look for.
So you don''t leave anything for them to find. You go through it all in your head, very precisely and very exactly and very carefully. Just as carefully as you would mark the play card you knew for sure was going to win you a fortune. People say that knowledge is power. The more knowledge, the more power. Which makes you just about the most powerful person on earth. When it comes to killing people. And then getting away with it .
LIFE IS FULL of decisions and judgments and guesses, and it gets to the point where you''re so accustomed to making them you keep right on making them even when you don''t strictly need to. You get into a what if thing, and you start speculating about what you would do if some problem was yours instead of somebody else''s. It gets to be a habit. It was a habit Jack Reacher had in spades. Which was why.