Jack Reacher is picked up by a woman who's driving around hoping to find a man who she can persuade will kill her husband, who's about to be released from prison for tax-evasion.

This is one of a series - I don't think it can matter much whether you read them in order - and I think they all are likely to follow pretty much the same structure, i.e. Jack Reacher, who's an ex-military guy who now drifts around from town to town, and in each book finds himself caught up in some Bruce-Willis-Die-Hard situation which his moral scruples demand that he sort out.

There are some twists and turns in the plot, so it's not altogether clear which side Jack should be on. I suspect this is common to the rest of the books too.

It reminded me a bit of the Travis McGee novels although where McGee might have sometimes looked like he was in serious trouble, nothing ever seems to threaten Reacher in quite the same way. And while I thought this might be a bad thing in that it removes some of the suspense, in fact it's quite satisfying to know that Reacher's just going to kick ass whenever he comes across trouble.

It was a pretty enjoyable, undemanding read, and it's tempting to read more. I was going to say I was a bit surprised they're so successful, but I suppose my own desire to read another one is proof of their attraction.

Completed : 22-Nov-2014