My deepest apologies to anyone who, having seen this book on my monthly update, goes out and buys it without reading this review.  The book is terrible, and I’m being kind in saying that.

Lee Child, the older brother in this brother/brother writing team, has been turning out Jack Reacher novels at the rate of one per year since 1997, and sadly, the addition of his brother to the writing team has not rescued our poor Reacher from being a participant in some of the silliest, most violent, ridiculous plots ever seen between two book covers.

I truly like Reacher, a 6’5″ former Marine MP who travels around the US with no luggage, no possessions, no car, no ID other than an expired passport, and no connections to anyone or anything.  He’s polite and has a deeply felt sense of justice and fair play. When faced with bad guys who are not playing by those rules, he intervenes and manages to outwit, outfight, and outkill all of his opponents though usually terribly outnumbered. He happens upon this situations annually, a frequency of events that boggles the imagination.

This story doesn’t even warrant a summary.  It’s beyond belief and isn’t even very well done.  I hope I have the will power to skip the next Reacher though I’ve vowed that in the past and failed to show strength when faced with the possible illicit joy of reading one that shows at least flashes of Child’s early skills.