Running Blind (Lee Child novel)

The Visitor

First edition (UK)
Author	Lee Child
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Jack Reacher
Genre	Thriller novel
Publisher	Bantam (UK) Putnam (US)
Publication date	UK: 20 April 2000 US: 13 July 2000
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	512 pp
ISBN
OCLC	43050061
Preceded by	Tripwire
Followed by	Echo Burning

The Visitor is the fourth book in the Jack Reacher series written by Lee Child. It was published in 2000 by Bantam in the United Kingdom. In the United States; the book was released under the title Running Blind. It is written in the third person.

The prologue opens with a mystery person's point of view on knowledge, power and killing, "People say that knowledge is power. The more knowledge, the more power. Suppose you knew the winning numbers for the lottery? You would run to the store. And you would win. Same for the stock market. 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. You would buy. Then later you'd sell, and you'd be rich. Any kind of sports at all, if you could predict the future, you'd be home and dry. Same for anything. Same for killing people."

The story begins in New York City, with Reacher confronting and beating up two thugs sent to collect protection racket money from the new restaurant he was eating in, during which he deliberately implies that he is a member of a rival crime organisation. Reacher is picked up by the FBI and questioned but explains he's been a loner since he mustered out of the army. He is then questioned about two women whose cases of sexual harassment he dealt with when he was an MP. It is revealed they have both been killed in the last few months and a criminal profiling team has come to the conclusion that the person responsible was someone exactly like Reacher. Reacher realizes that he has no alibi for the places and times that the women were killed, and he requests a lawyer.

Reacher's lawyer girlfriend Jodie arrives, and he is released after further questioning. Jodie returns to work, and Reacher drives to his house in upstate New York that he inherited from Leon Garber. He is soon called upon by two members of the FBI team that previously questioned him. A third woman has been killed, also an ex-soldier who filed for sexual harassment – albeit in a different timeframe from the first two. The FBI compels him to assist with the investigation by threatening to hurt him and, possibly, Jodie too.

Reacher and Special Agent Lamarr, the lead profiler on the team, drive from New York to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, whilst discussing information on the case. Lamarr's stepsister, it so happens, is a woman with the same particulars as the three already killed. Lamarr also reveals the killer's M.O., which is killing the victims in an unknown way, with no bruises or injuries, leaving them naked in their bathtub, filled with army-issue camouflage paint.