This was the new Jack Reacher thriller for 2025 (the 30th book in the series, I think).
Reacher is having coffee and witnesses a con on an elderly couple. He sees through it and tackles the wrong-doers, but then finds himself untangled in another issue. Nathan Gilmour, a reformed gambler, has a problem and needs an exit strategy. He needs Reacher to protect him and investigate suspicious dealings at the local port.
If you were approaching a Reacher novel with a set of checkboxes, all of them would be ticked by this book. Reference to Reacher’s official size 250 pounds and 6’5″ tall? Check. References to the uncanny ability to always know the time – check (overdone if anything). Call out some unexpected maths knowledge – check, 10301 is indeed a palindromic prime. Reacher drinking copious amounts of black coffee – check and double check.
Not a great story, the usual boss-fight at the end was a bit anti-climatic, and Gilmour himself seemed to be a one-character-fits-all, hopeless and a nervous wreck when needed by the plot, yet later really great with computers and pretty good at investigating.
And Reacher walks away at the end, down a dusty road, doesn’t want to have a last drink and a hurrah after the battle is won (even though it’s a single track road and his accomplices are going to drive straight past him anyway) – check.
⭐⭐⭐
musingstudio 