I swore I wouldn’t read another Jack Reacher novel, but here I am again.  It’s like candy or other sweets which I can’t resist.  A quick, two day whirl through violence, intrigue, and silliness with that all time tough guy, Reacher.

In this prequel, Reacher is still a U.S. Army MP though he’s been busted from Major to Captain for reasons that go unexplained.  While minding his own business, he’s assigned to a Washington, D.C. office building where he is part of an FBI, Treasury, CIA, and Army foursome who are tasked with finding the assassins who keep killing scientists who worked at a chemical plant in India 20 years earlier.  The Secretary of Defense, his wife, and two IDF-trained killers get into the mix as does Reacher’s obligatory one night stand.

The action scenes bear the Child trademark of tight writing and creative violence, and the story does wind up with an action-packed surprise ending.  Not quite a total waste of time, but after reading the dense, long, and complex ‘Mating’, it was a good break.  The brothers Child seem to be getting their mojo back.