Pun Salad

Number 5 in the testosterone-soaked series of Reacher novels. I'm really enjoying them.

This one finds Jack Reacher fully returned to his wandering ways, after a brief flirtation with domesticity. He's in the middle of West Texas during a brutal heat wave, and also (as usual, by sheerest coincidence) in a peck of trouble. Dodging a pack of lawmen determined to get him incarcerated, he gets picked up by a beautiful woman who has a lurid tale to tell. She's looking to him to get her out of an abusive marriage. (By any means necessary, if you catch my drift. And I think you do.)

But her car has a working air conditioner, so what are you gonna do?

In parallel, a trio of bad guys have a ranch house under surveillance, paying inordinate attention to a child on her way to school. And there's a team of very professional killers in the area as well, dispatching a BMW-driving lawyer, and ready to do more.

It's a very readable combination of mystery and action. Child sets up an intricate whodunit, but plays fair enough with his readers: if you pay attention, it's pretty easy to finger the villainous mastermind about the same time Reacher does.