Slaughter and Child team up on 'explosive' Jack Reacher short story

Karin Slaughter and Lee Child have collaborated to write an “explosive” short story bringing their characters together.

“Cleaning the Gold” is “guaranteed to thrill”, the publisher said, as it unites Jack Reacher and Will Trent in a plot “that promises to be twice the action, twice the drama and double the trouble”.

It follows Trent who is undercover at Fort Knox. The synopsis reads: “His assignment: to investigate a 22-year-old murder. His suspect's name: Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is in Fort Knox on his own mission: to bring down a dangerous criminal ring operating at the heart of America’s military.  Except now Will Trent is on the scene. But there’s a bigger conspiracy at play – one that neither the special agent nor the ex-military cop could have anticipated. And the only option is for Jack Reacher and Will Trent to team up and play nicely. If they can…”

“Cleaning the Gold” will be published in e-book and audio by William Morrow in the US and HarperFiction in the UK on 9th May, 2019 and in paperback soon afterwards (though no date has been specified).

It will also be published in multiple territories around the world through the HarperCollins global publishing programme.

Slaughter said: “Lee is not just one of my favourite people on the planet, but also one of my favourite writers.  It was a complete pleasure working with him on this story. I hope that fans of Jack Reacher and Will Trent are as excited about the collaboration as we are.”

Child said: "Sometimes I think Karin might be my long-lost sister, separated at birth. Working with her is a blast - I'm nastier, she's more twisted.  Maybe together we make the perfect thriller writer."

Slaughter is published in 120 countries and has written 19 novels. The Last Widow (HarperCollins), her new Will Trent novel, will be published in June. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Child was born in Coventry and now lives in New York. According to HarperCollins, one of his Jack Reacher novels is sold every nine seconds. His most recent novel Past Tense (Bantam) is out now in paperback.