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Jack Noble #16

Never Look Back

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In the heart of Montana, secrets run as deep as the wellspring of truth. In the quiet town of Lewiston, Montana, Jack Noble arrives with a single to find Reese McSweeney. As he navigates the town’s tight-knit community, he finds himself drawn into a labyrinth of secrets and lies, all seemingly tied to a woman’s sudden disappearance. Never Look Back is a high-octane suspense thriller, where every inquiry is a potential danger and every stranger, a potential enemy. As Jack zeros in on Reese, he discovers that she is entwined in the town's enigma, her friend's disappearance leaving a chilling void in her life. With local law enforcement out of their depth, Jack and Reese take matters into their own hands. Their quest for the truth takes them on a treacherous journey, where every lead is a dead end and every clue only deepens the mystery. From confronting a vengeful ex-boyfriend to challenging a ruthless land developer, the duo is caught in a web of deception and fear. As they inch closer to the horrifying truth, they must ask How far are they willing to go for justice? Never Look Back will plunge you into a world of suspense and intrigue, where uncovering secrets comes with a deadly price. Feel the tension rise with each page, as Jack and Reese venture deeper into the shadows of Lewiston. Are you ready to unravel the truth hidden beneath the surface? Just remember, in Lewiston, trust is a luxury, deception is a game, and looking back might just cost you everything.

224 pages, Paperback

Published June 13, 2024

1635 people are currently reading
171 people want to read

About the author

L.T. Ryan

161 books1,436 followers
L.T. RYAN is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author. The new age of publishing offered L.T. the opportunity to blend his passions for creating, marketing, and technology to reach audiences with his popular Jack Noble series.

Living in central Virginia with his wife, the youngest of his three daughters, and their three dogs, L.T. enjoys staring out his window at the trees and mountains while he should be writing, as well as reading, hiking, running, and playing with gadgets. See what he's up to at ltryan.com.

BOOKS IN THE JACK NOBLE SERIES
The Recruit (prequel short story)
The First Deception (prequel)
Noble Beginnings
A Deadly Distance
Thin Line
Noble Intentions
When Dead in Greece
Noble Retribution
Noble Betrayal
Never Go Home
Noble Judgment
Never Cry Mercy
Deadline
End Game

BOOKS IN THE BEAR LOGAN SERIES
Ripple Effect
Blowback
Takedown
Deep State (coming January, 2020)

BOOKS IN THE CLARISSA ABBOT SERIES
Beyond Betrayal

BOOKS IN THE MITCH TANNER SERIES
The Depths of Darkness
Into the Darkness
Deliver Us From Darkness (coming soon)

Social Media Links

Facebook (L.T. Ryan): facebook.com/LTRyanAuthor
Facebook (Jack Noble Page): facebook.com/JackNobleBooks/
Twitter: twitter.com/LTRyanWrites
Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/6151659.L_T...

Contact L.T. Ryan at contact@ltryan.com
About the Author
L.T. RYAN is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author. The new age of publishing offered L.T. the opportunity to blend his passions for creating, marketing, and technology to reach audiences with his popular Jack Noble series.

Living in central Virginia with his wife, the youngest of his three daughters, and their three dogs, L.T. enjoys staring out his window at the trees and mountains while he should be writing, as well as reading, hiking, running, and playing with gadgets. See what he's up to at ltryan.com.

Social Media Links

Facebook (L.T. Ryan): facebook.com/LTRyanAuthor
Facebook (Jack Noble Page): facebook.com/JackNobleBooks/
Twitter: twitter.com/LTRyanWrites
Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/6151659.L_T...

Contact L.T. Ryan at contact@ltryan.com

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5 stars
1,741 (43%)
4 stars
991 (24%)
3 stars
734 (18%)
2 stars
313 (7%)
1 star
202 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
4 reviews
June 16, 2024
This was a terrible waste of time and money. I liked the earlier books (15 of them) but this feels like it was written in a hurray - probably by ChatGPT - and not edited after that by anyone. Every few pages there are the same words and phrases which makes it impossible to connect to the already thin characters and virtually non-existent plot. Examples: "weight" (16 times) - everything in sight weighs on poor hero Jack..."palpable" (6 times) - spine" (5 times) - "ice" (4 times) - poor Jack's spine drips with ice and tingles every other chapter...totally disappointed...

these authors who brag on how many books and series they have and how quickly they turn this junk out should slow down and write something worth reading like they did once upon a time.
Profile Image for Ken Briggs.
8 reviews
June 18, 2024
Disappointing

I have read all the Jack Noble books. Most of them moved along briskly enabling me to complete them in a single sitting. This one, however had a tedious storyline with the same scenario played over and over in different locations. When the slow swelling story line moved into a sudden burst of superb slow was when Jack, Reese, and were looking for evidence that would shut down some type of illegal activity. Every time they found it in a cabin in the woods, it would be taken or destroyed by fire in the cabin. There were so many cabins being destroyed that they could have started several forest fires. The cabins burning were the only heat this story generated. There are several tedious scenarios and plot holes that are never resolved. Sorry L T, not even close to your earlier Noble stories. Maybe you should have ended the series with the previous book!
48 reviews
June 24, 2024
On How The Mighty Have Fallen!!

Having read every Jack Noble missive it can be clearly stated this one never should have made it into print! This is a cash grab, plain and simple. Is there a specific dollar amount in mind before walking away or is the obsession with printing money too powerful to give up? First off, this entire book reads like it was never proofread; it was almost laughable the number of gaffes and missfires that made it into print, starting with calling the tiny Montana town Lewistown and then referring to it as Lewiston. (Frankly Lewiston has enough problems without being vilified in this book.) The town is described as barely having a main street and suddenly grows a comprehensive warehouse district, a hotel and a manufacturing facility. Continuity? And the dialogue? I've seen better phrasing in 6th grade assignments. Gratuitous lines thrown into chase scenes, soap opera conversations in the middle of gun fights. If the task of the author is to create a believable scenario into which the reader is invited, this shambling mess should be pushed to the curb! At several points I had decided to just stop reading this pap; and after finishing it, I wish I had! In short the plotting is amateurish, the dialogue ham-handed and the proofreading non-existent! As James Patterson has taught us, there is a point at which only drivel oozes out. The point has been reached here.... in spades!!!
17 reviews
June 25, 2024
I have enjoyed the entire Jack Noble series, books 1-15. I was really looking forward to reading book 16, but I could not have been more disappointed. The writing was terrible, the events unbelievable and the repetition of the descriptions, dialog and action was almost unbearable. Usually I don't want to put down a Jack Noble book. This one I couldn't stand to read more than 30 minutes before becoming so disgusted I had to stop. I lost track of how many cabins in the woods there were, how many secure and well-guarded warehouses they managed to slip in and out of completely undetected and how many times they discovered the conspiracy ran so much deeper than they knew. Once I start a book, I have to finish it. This was just awful, and I am so glad I am done with it. L.T. please don't write anymore like this. Grammar school writing.
345 reviews44 followers
December 30, 2025
I read the previous Jack Noble books.
Jack Noble didn’t seem like his strong previous character. Also, the dialogue was terrible - repetitive and inconsistent.
Lots of talk, driving (in circles) and action.
I’m really disappointed.
I think this is my last “Jack Noble” book.
19 reviews
June 18, 2024
Formulaic

I’ve read the series and enjoyed most of them, but this one was annoyingly repetitive… so many cabins/warehouses, so little time… another weak spot in security, another unguarded entrance and if the door isn’t unlocked, another set of lock picks, another fire, another set of documents found just lying around that get burned up etc etc and then all the ‘evidence’ they collect still isn’t ‘proof’ of anything… Then, just to top it all off, there’s no resolution at the end, you’ll have to read the next book to MAYBE find the answer… Perhaps I will, but maybe by the time the next book comes out, I’ll have forgotten all about this narrative and it’ll be a case of an answer to “what?” exactly… but I don’t think I’ll have forgotten how annoying this book was to read, so perhaps I won’t…
8 reviews
June 18, 2024
I've read more than a dozen L.T. Ryan books. They were all well written, with well-developed characters and gripping plots.

This book, I'm sorry to say, was awful. Really poor character development and the story line was repetitive and not credible. If I hear "we have to take him down" or "money laundering" one more time I would have screamed. I kept waiting for it to get better...but it didn't.

I even wondered is someone other than Ryan wrote this. It certainly didn't seem to be the same author I've enjoyed in the past.
Profile Image for Mark Smith.
4 reviews
June 21, 2024
just awful

This has got to be an AI written book. Or they published it just to see if anyone would actually read a truly awful book. I am quite sure the first 15 books were nowhere near this bad. I tried but could only make it halfway through. It’s like a terrible A-Team episode except it would have been rejected by the producers of that show for being too stupid. Or it’s a horrible knock off of Roadhouse. It actually makes that remake of Roadhouse look good. Someone tell me what happens. I can’t keep reading it.
1 review
July 4, 2024
What happened??? Jack Noble is a tough, strategic, former military bad ass and this book reads like he's a first time investigator. There are passages that are reused three or four times, sentences missing words, and Jack is trusted by a town local who met him 15 seconds ago. Repeatedly in the book he calls Reese by her real name in front of the locals and no one asks why. I have always rated the Jack Noble books 5 stars but this one was a disappointment.
12 reviews
July 12, 2024
I have been an avid reader of the Jack Noble series. This latest edition however was very disappointing. The story was good but the writing was choppy and on a 'see Spot run' level with descriptive phrases often repeated in an annoying way. I agree with other reviewers that this book seemed to have been written by someone other than L.T. Ryan. I persevered and finished it but not with a can't wait for the next one.
54 reviews1 follower
June 24, 2024
It was a story

To be honest, it read like a very bad Mac Bolan book. The story was jumbled and felt very rushed. There were so many inconsistencies plus, if I read they were back in the jeep rushing... one more time, I will swear off reading! It was not one of LTs best offerings and kinda read like someone else penned it.
3 reviews
June 15, 2024
Poor

Lacked any real imagination with a superficial plot. Repetitive throughout with more emphasis on pointless flowery unfilled Bryan than true drama with the storyline just guzzling out
1 review1 follower
June 16, 2024
Absolute trash. NOT written by Ryan but instead seemed like it was written by an 8 year old. I Stopped reading it it was so bad. Who’s decision was it to publish this since they obviously never read it. Ryan may have lost me as a reader and fan with this one.
17 reviews1 follower
June 17, 2024
Not l t ryan

No idea whats happened here but its def not l t ryan 's writing or standard unless its a ghost writer..read all the previous Noble's but gave this up at 25% .... please bring back the real jack Noble!
3 reviews
June 26, 2024
I really loved all the previous books, this one very disappointing, the same phrases constantly repeated, not sure why I finished it.
1 review
June 22, 2024
I have enjoyed the entire Jack Noble series, books 1-15. I was really looking forward to reading book 16, but I could not have been more disappointed. The writing was terrible, the events unbelievable and the repetition of the descriptions, dialog and action was almost unbearable. Usually I don't want to put down a Jack Noble book. This one I couldn't stand to read more than 30 minutes before becoming so disgusted I had to stop. I lost track of how many cabins in the woods there were, how many secure and well-guarded warehouses they managed to slip in and out of completely undetected and how many times they discovered the conspiracy ran so much deeper than they knew. Once I start a book, I have to finish it. This was just awful, and I am so glad I am done with it.
Profile Image for Kathy Knopoff.
22 reviews
June 26, 2024
sadly disappointed

I have devoured all the Jack Noble books (and Rachel and Bear etc etc). This book felt like a completely different author.
The writing was not up to par; the whole thing felt rushed. Even though shorter, it took me longer to read - just not engaging.
I really hope this book is not indicative of things to come as i have preordered others of his.
L.T. If you see this, please fix whatever happened with this book.
8 reviews1 follower
June 23, 2024
Terrible writing ...

I've enjoyed all the Noble books before thus one. What the heck happened to this one? After part one, I couldn't continue reading the short sentences, and the ridiculous pace of story with each sentence, with no natural progression of facts or events. Very disappointed. Yuk.
43 reviews
June 17, 2024
what the heck!

I could not get past the first chapter. So I thought “I will read the second chapter” it was not Jack, not even close!!! LT where did you go? Why would you let someone else write Jack!
Profile Image for Donald R Coscia.
151 reviews
June 19, 2024
Bullshit

This is not the Jack Noble that I have been following. Sorry L.T. it seems to me that you are trying too hard to cram all your books down our throats. So much redundancy
Sigh
I KNOW YOUR BETTER THAN THIS.
I do enjoy your novels and the characters you've created.
1 review1 follower
June 21, 2024
I suspect that this book was generated by AI
The holes in the plot line defy logic.
I’ve enjoyed the previous books, but this one.. not so much😳
Profile Image for Karen Short.
1 review
June 21, 2024
Sadly this story was rubbish. Not sure what happened here, story line was terrible disjointed and unbelievable. Have enjoyed a few Jack Noble books but this I ended up skipping through.🥵
1 review
January 30, 2025
fantastic book

This book was full of suspense couldn’t put down. The characters were great kept you guessing through out the book.
10 reviews1 follower
June 22, 2024
I've read all the Jack Noble books and enjoyed them, but Never Look Back was very disappointing to me. It was not written well, and I became so dissatisfied with it that I quit reading the book about half way through.
9 reviews
September 4, 2024
you don’t know Jack anymore

Lee,

Don’t get me wrong, I love what you write and I wait for each new book for each series to be released and devour it within a day. But this book was full of trite dialogue and a plot that just stumbled from one place to the next with no more logic than a ”we need the to go after him or got to that next watehouse because it’s crucial”. One more “the atmosphere was tense and his nerves were on edge” and I think I would have “had to move. Now.” And then I would need to regroup.

If Jack had bumbled his way like this in any other book, he wouldn’t have survived until chapter 5. Plus, there was no logic to the plot, I don’t want to give anything away, but Jack had no horse in this race after a certain point. Why continue to risk Reese’s life and his own? Why not turn things over to the FBI and get out of Dodge?

There needed to be some better tie in to the past than one more Frank Skinner surrogate and a threat to family. There needed to be a tightly woven plot that brought back Bear or weaved everything together to make sense of this dull plot line. And it needed a real refresh to some very well worn dialogue. Not your best effort.
Profile Image for Lowell Davis.
17 reviews20 followers
June 25, 2024
That was terrible. I’m hesitant to give my true thoughts because I can’t completely discount the possibility that a mentally disabled kid contacted Make A Wish and asked to have his shitty attempt at writing a Scooby Doo episode published before he kicks off. I’d feel bad at saying how much this sucks if that was the case.
If it *wasn’t* the aforementioned Make A Wish kid, then this was awful. So incredibly far from the standard set by the previous Jack Noble books, and literally every other book Ryan has written, that I’m having a hard time believing it was from the same author.
I’ve loved the Noble series but it feels like someone just laid a Cleveland Steamer right on the chest of a beloved character.
Profile Image for Phoebe Rees.
1 review
November 30, 2024
Never Look Back should have done just that - looked back at previous Jack Noble books. This publication is so subpar to L.T Ryan's previous Jack Noble books, I'd say don't bother reading it. The writing is trite and sophomoric, along the lines of a late, late night 1950s B western (sorry to the writers of that era who actually created entertaining B westerns). I don't know whether the book's deadline snuck up too quickly on Mr. Ryan or whether he overestimated how many quality sequels he could crank out in a given timeline, but Never Look Back reads like it was farmed out to a junior writer to flesh out an outline sketched by Ryan. An endless series of anticipated scenarios, plus countless trite cliches, all leading to an abrupt ending... I sincerely hope the subsequent Jack Noble adventure is back on track in terms of writing quality. I, for one, would be willing to wait.
Profile Image for Gena Webb.
Author 9 books56 followers
July 15, 2025
Who wrote this?

Sure didn’t seem like Ryan did. I figured it was gonna be a problem when the list of Noble books has Never Look Back listed as “coming soon”. Really? And Lewiston or Lewistown? The author seemed to finally settle on Lewiston after several chapters of using both names. Even character names changed. No continuity and lots of typos. LOTS of them! And don’t get me started on the clunky dialogue or “palpable” atmosphere which was used regularly. Jack seemed particularly stupid in this one, especially for someone who’s normally uber aware. Plus, no one seemed to question why Tanya was now called Reese. Bottom line, easily the worst book in the series and I’ve read them all.
1 review
July 2, 2024
Wow, who wrote this? This is not equivalent to other Jack Noble books in series. It is superficial, poorly developed scenes, as if the author is tired of this series. I read halfway and just had to quit. The author doesn’t care enough to set the stage and give reason to follow this thin story line. I was actually confused in several spots. Jack gets out of bed, enjoys the B&Bs breakfast, talks with one gal, and bam….we are eating another buffalo burger. WTH? We missed an entire day without explanation. This is not my idea for a relaxing, joyful time with a good read. I think an imposter wrote this or Ryan has run out of interesting ideas.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews

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