Once again Lee Child has another excellent Jack Reacher novel.I highly recommend this novel and all of the other novels in the Back Reacher series.

I'm afraid it was boring, and furthermore it makes an utter hash of Laconia, New Hampshire, which is not a small town but a small city, and it's not surrounded by dense forest. The worst thing I can say about this twenty-first Reacher story I've read is that I fell asleep so soundly that the book dropped on the floor with a bang that woke me up!I'd have given it one star except that it perked up a lot about page 300. But even the ending was a let-down. A fellow Reacher addict argued that if it had been set in North Dakota I wouldn't have minded about Laconia, and perhaps that's true. But I'm afraid that it would still have been boring, up to about page 300.

On page one of this newest Jack Reacher, Child does two things so subtly you don't even realize their implications both within and outside of the series: First, he tells us, in no uncertain terms, that Reacher is "...more than six feet five...heavily built... not particularly good looking." Thus reminding us that he is NOT a very pretty dwarf despite what you may have seen in the cinema.Second; he sets in motion what APPEARS will be the starting off point of the next several books by having Jack the lad start to hitchhike across America,starting from Maine and, eventually, ending in San Diego CaliforniaOne guesses the hitch-hike premise will be used for a while based on the fact that, in this "first" episode he gets not much further than Laconia, NEW HAMPSHIRE!But, since he also gets into one of the best Reachers EVER, one can forgive his lack of forward momentum.Some of Child's best characters and a real sense of emotional truth and some truly hilarious (albeit, possibly for specialized knowledge and tastes) fun, make this a book that has REACHES new heightsIndeed, if you can accept the premise that, in this day and age ANYONE would stop for ANY hitch hiker (let alone one who looks nothing like a certain former Jerry McGuire) this is a very promising opening to later adventuresGene Barry would be proud!

A great story, one of Lee Childs best Jack Reacher novels.

Others have recapped the plot so I will only do so briefly here: Jack Reacher, the main character in all Lee Child books who is a large rough and tough, intelligent nomad is hitchhiking and ends up in Laconia, NH where is father grew up. He decides to research his family history. Through this process some local feathers get ruffled in this town of 16,000ish and Reacher must smooth things over only the way he knows how.Simultaneously, a young couple has a Honda break down and make it to a motel, only to become trapped while mysterious visitors continue to descend upon this town. As another Vine reviewer mentioned, it is not until page 274 that this stories come together. Honestly, if you didn’t read those pages and started the book there-I don’t know how much you would have missed. The last 100 or so pages are more entertaining than the first 274, but ultimately the payoff leaves me wishing I had spent my time reading something else.I have read Lee Child before and do enjoy his work. If you have read all Reacher books and are a fan, this will build on his story for you but there is nothing particularly interesting or revolutionary here. When a great author has the same character for so many titles, they must be cautious not to write too much of the character for fear of forgetting the actual plot of the novel. This seemed like a vehicle to give us background on Reacher that fans may want, but passing readers do not.Bottom line: If you are a big fan of Reacher, go ahead and dive in. If you can take him or leave him...or are not familiar, I highly recommend you pass on this snore fest.