Delacorte Press, New York, 2012.
It has been quite a while since I posted my last book review, which is both a statement about how much traveling/driving I have been doing and how this particular book just didn’t demand that I finish it. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t one of the best in the Jack Reacher series.
This book begins with Jack hitchhiking in Nebraska, trying to get to Virginia to see a woman. The book ends with Jack hitchhiking in Kansas, trying to get to Virginia to see a woman. Obviously this book is not about his hitchhiking progress. Rather, it is about who gives him a ride and the adventure he has, first as a hitchhiker, and later as a suspect in the murder of a mysterious man who interests the local police, the state police, the FBI, the NSA and, apparently, the CIA.
The book is also about some long car trips. First eastward toward the Mississippi, then back to where Reacher was first picked up, then south, then north, then east to Kansas City. I got tired just reading about all the travel. Probably not a good book to read as I was driving my rig across the country.
Anyway, the plot eventually results in a big shootout involving Reacher and two FBI agents in a situation in which the odds were heavily against him. Just the way he likes it. The final body count approached 20. Not the bloodiest Reacher story ever, but up there.
The plot is pretty far-fetched but is well-constructed. I didn’t see a lot of flaws, just a lot of implausibility. But if implausible plots offend you, you probably won’t be reading the Reacher books anyway.
Not bad but not great. 6 out of 10.