Pun Salad

One more off the top of the Lee Child to-be-read subpile. By sheer coincidence, I read it near-simultaneously with the release of the new Tom Cruise movie based on the book. Given the reviews, I'll probably wait for the DVD.

About four books previous in the series, while dealing with nasty people in a South Dakota winter, Reacher needed some investigative assistance from his old MP unit, now based just outside Arlington Cemetery. This caused him to interact over the phone with Susan Turner, the new commander. She was helpful and funny; she also admired the dent in her desk Reacher had made years previous by slamming some jerk's head into it.

So, after the South Dakota events, Reacher decided to visit Susan; this wasn't easy, as his usual propensity for detecting and defusing massive criminal conspiracies kept delaying him. But in this book, he makes it! Only to find that Susan's been relieved of command due to accusations of bribery. Complicating things further, Reacher is accused of delivering an (eventually) fatal beating to an LA gang banger long ago.

And, oh yeah: also a paternity suit.

Needless to say, both Susan and Reacher are being framed by mysterious powerful forces that don't hesitate to ruin, or murder, people who might uncover their nefarious schemes. Name-clearing involves first breaking out of the Army's clutches, then a peril-filled road trip to find out the facts behind the paternity thing.

Unsurprisingly, a page-turner. Somewhat surprisingly (possible minor spoiler follows, mouse-select to reveal): I'm pretty sure Reacher doesn't actually kill any of his adversaries in this book. That might be a first in the series.