Not one of the best in the series, but still good. The first part of the book had me worried that the entire story was going to take place in the car he was hitching a ride in. but that finally ended and the story developed in more-or-less Reacher fashion. The premise for the tale we get in the end, and it is an interesting enough one even if it could have maybe involved some other element or elements.

Still, if you like these books then worth reading. And while looking back for this passage - classic Reacher below - I got to thinking that Lee Childs writes a bit like The West Wing TV show: fast paced, smart, snippets of dialog.

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[Sorenson] asked, "What's the fastest way of finding Alan King's brother from the army?"

"King claimed he was a red leg," Reacher said. "Probably just a dagby. The Gulf, the first time around. Mother Sill will know."

"I didn't understand a word of that."

"A red leg is an artilleryman. Because way back they had red stripes on their dress pants. And their branch colour is still red. A dagby is a 13B MOS. Which is a cannon crewmember's military occupational specialty. In other words, a dagby. A dumb-ass gun bunny. Mother Sill is Fort Sill, which is artillery HQ. Someone there will have a record. The Gulf the first time around was the thing with Saddam Hussein, back in 1991."

"I knew that part."

"Good."

"The brother's first name was Peter, right?"

"Correct."

"And you still think King was his real last name?"

"More likely than not. Worth a try, anyway."

"Dumb-ass gun bunny isn't very polite."

"But very necessary," Reacher said. "Unfortunately Frederick the Great once said that field artillery lends dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl. It went to their heads. They started calling themselves the kings of battle. They started to think they're the most important part of the army. Which obviously isn't true."

"Why not?"

"Because the military police is the most important part of the army."

"What did they call you?"

"Sir, usually."

"And?"

"Meatheads. Monkey patrol. And chimps, but that was an acronym."

"For what?"

"Completely hopeless in most policing situations."

"Where is Fort Sill?"

"Lawton, Oklahoma." ( )

6/10
A strong, intriguing start, but it didn’t quite live up to its promise. ( )

The setup makes very little sense. Half-assed conspiracies within half-assed conspiracies. About ⅔ of the way through (by the reckoning of my Kobo), the author stops trying to maintain the house of cards and just transitions into the end-game where it's mostly shooting.

The whole thing is very slapdash. ( )

As annoying as it was, I give the audio actor credit for portraying Reacher with a broken nose nasal sound the whole book. ( )

Good Read ( )