Review by John

Living the life of a nomad suits Jack Reacher just fine.  No bags, no baggage and with just the clothes on his back, he boards a bus loaded with elderly travelers heading south through the Dakota Territory when a near collision with a car sends the bus sliding on ice and snow into a ditch.

With the weather  growing more intense, Reacher, in a borrowed coat, gets drawn into the drama of another small town.   Once again the locals need his special insight, logic, and sharply honed skills to face a situation growing more severe than the storm.

As Reacher watches his ride pull away it becomes clear to him that “South Dakota is the place you go when you run out of alternatives.”   He stays to “serve and protect,” working with… the local police to find a killer, protect a witness, and solve the mystery of a drug facility sitting in an abandoned military site.

61 Hours is both the title and the time that elapses in the pages of this breakneck thriller. 

Lee Child expertly uses the Dakota winter weather to create a stark and dangerous environment to frame this story.   Its frigid impact rises from the page like some threatening character testing Reacher’s usually sharp ability to “figure things out.”  You can almost feel him shiver.

I have had an unusually good run lately, reading some superb books.  Starting with Savages by Don Winslow, I moved to Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke, then to Live To Tell by Lisa Gardner, finishing with Lee Child’s 61 Hours.   Each book different in so many ways, but sharing the author’s artful skill in laying a story line that takes you for a ride you won’t soon forget.  I recommend them all!  My problem is ‘what now?”