I really like the Jack Reacher character that Lee Child has created but his plotlines are starting to become a bit inane and annoying.
In this novel Jack Reacher is once again in a small town, sticks his nose in other people’s business and finds himself neck deep in another battle against evil doers. As Reacher is ambling through an out of the way small Nebraska town he becomes involved in a dispute with the Duncan’s, a family that is involved in some kind of illegal trafficking that stems from them and on up to more organized and evil criminals.
The Duncan’s are an abusive group of men who not only dominate and run the town, but abuse its residents, holding them in subjugation with the threat of violence. As the novel progresses, Reacher starts to unravel the dastardly acts of these men when he seeks to find out what happened to a missing eight year old girl who disappeared decades ago.
After a great deal of violence and using tricks of the trade he used in the military, Reacher battles the Duncan’s to the bitter end.
While this novel is a rather fun read, as most Reacher novels are, it also stretches credulity and has as stale plotline. I mean really, how many small towns are there in American dominated by a corrupt and evil criminal oligarchy using extreme violence to suppress the town’s residents? This plot device is starting to get a little ridiculous.
And for the real kicker, the last Reacher novel, 61 Hours, seemed to have ended on a cliffhanger. Other than seeing that Reacher survived, we really never find out exactly how. That makes 61 Hours a rather tepid and unsatisfying work itself.
I hope Child comes up with a more clever storyline for Reacher in the future.
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