Elevation, a Novel, by Stephen King →

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Stephen King, when discussing this book, said it was “a riveting, extraordinarily eerie, and moving story about a man whose mysterious affliction brings a small town together—a timely, upbeat tale about finding common ground despite deep-rooted differences.” The book is only 146 pages long and has no blood or monsters.

Scott Carey, the main character, is a big guy who weighs 240 pounds, but when we meet him, he begins losing a few pounds every day. After 28 pounds, he tells his doctor friend about it. His body size and appearance don’t change, and no matter what clothes he puts on or what weight he is carrying in his hands or pockets, his weight doesn’t change.

His outlook doesn’t suffer, and he reaches out to help his neighbors, two lesbians whom he has been trying to make friends with. He also wants to help his town. He is just a nice guy. Oh, yes, and a couple of political sidebar comments are in the dialog for no real reason.

So, how do you write a review of this book without adding spoilers? The answer is you don’t. Interesting plot. You don’t want to put it down well written.

Killing Floor A Jack Reacher Novel, by Lee Child →

 

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The Killing Floor starts after Reacher has spent his entire life in the military, serving all over the world. He is thirty-six months into civilian life after being honorably discharged, with no ties to anyone or anywhere, traveling aimlessly around the country.

Reacher finds himself in Margrave, Georgia, where he gets off a bus, makes a last-minute decision about even going to this town, walks into town, goes into a diner to have breakfast, and is immediately arrested for murder.  Reacher finds himself in the town jail with a local banker, but they are both taken to the area prison to sit out the weekend. They are told they will be on the 6th floor, where weekenders from town are held, but they are taken to the 3rd floor and left for the night by mistake.  

The next morning, they are both approached by violent prisoners intent on killing them. This is only the first experience of Killing Floors in this story, but thanks to Reacher, they remain alive, and the apparent plot does not work. Both men are released a day early.

Finlay and Roscoe, an attractive lady officer from the police department, had worked hard to verify Reacher’s alibi and cleared him, but they also learned that one of the men he was accused of murdering was his own brother, who was working undercover for the Treasury Department in the area. Reacher can see that these two, along with a friend at the FBI, are the only ones he can trust.  He moves in with Roscoe and is determined to find out what happened to his brother.  

The town is the center of a huge Treasury Department investigation, and everything is secret. Margrave is a town on a payroll with manicured lawns, successful businesses with no customers, and everything polished and perfect: they all seem to be in on something.

They learn that counterfeiting is involved and that a deadline for something big is coming in a few days. Reacher and his new friends uncover a huge-scale criminal operation. The bad guys don’t tolerate mistakes, and they brutally kill those they can’t trust who cross them.

Reacher and Finlay eventually solve the mystery.

Lee Child’s Reacher character is presented as very strong, professional, and a good guy who is patient and cautious: he has no hesitation about killing the bad guys. Like the town of Margrave, the story is a little too neat. If this is the first book you read about Jack Reacher, it may be a while before you get hooked on this series, but it will happen.  

Quotes

“No, I'm a man with a rule. People leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they don't, I don't.” 

“A person less fortunate than yourself deserves the best you can give because of duty, honor, and service. Do you understand those words? You should do your job right, and you should do it well, simply because you can, without looking for notice or reward.” 

“I'm a rich man. To have everything you need is the definition of affluence.” 

“I'm not afraid of death. Death's afraid of me.” 

Toni Morrison Explained by Ron David →

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Toni Morrison was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was also an American novelist, essayist, editor, teacher, and professor emeritus at Princeton University. Ron David has presented his thoughts on Morrison in his book, “Toni Morrison Explained”.

The book is a good overview although not a literary critique, or in depth look into her life. David’s approach is chatty, with a lot of talking about what she accomplished or failed to. He offers thoughts on the meaning of some of her best-known books: Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eyes, Sula, Tar Baby, Beloved, and more.

Morrison’s writings reflect her own views of the bible and its doctrines, as well as her use of music and myth to make her thoughts clearer and resonate. David offers a range of interpretations to Morrisons work and is well worth reading even if you have already read her works.

In a 1988 interview Morrison answered a question on feminism. She was asked why she didn’t identify her works as feminist in a 1998 interview. She replied: "In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can't take positions that are closed. Everything I've ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than to close it, to open doors, sometimes, not even closing the book – leaving the endings open for reinterpretation, re visitation, a little ambiguity." She went on to state that she thought it "off-putting to some readers, who may feel that I'm involved in writing some kind of feminist tract. I don't subscribe to patriarchy, and I don't think it should be substituted with matriarchy. I think it's a question of equitable access, and opening doors to all sorts of things."

The question on feminism is an example of the depth of thought Morrison brought to her writings and if all we had was the overview of David’s book on the subjects of her writings, we would have missed a lot.

Morrison is an intellectual force and Ron David’s book is very good in what it does, but alone it would be inadequate in understanding Toni Morrison.

See more about Toni Morrison in Literary Favorites Section click here

Quotes

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” 
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” 

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

 “At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.” 

“She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.” 

Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.” 

The Reckoning by John Grisham

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John Grisham’s story “The Reckoning” takes place in 1946 in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi. It is his sixth novel to take place in this town and like Stephen King’s Castle Rock Maine it may become a signature for him.

Pete Banning is the patriarch of the family that has been part of the town’s history for generations. He owns 640 acres debt free, is a successful cotton farmer, and faithful member of the local Methodist church.

Pete’s World War II service in the jungles of the Philippines distinguished him a decorated war hero, but his capture and time fighting after he escape leave him lucky to be alive. He longs for his family and for Liza his beautiful wife. After being missing and presumed dead he returns, and everyone is surprised, shocked and thrilled to have Pete, a genuine war hero, return.  

A few months after his return Pete gets up and goes about his normal activities before going into town, where he walks in on Dexter Bell, the pastor of the local Methodist church, and pulls out a gun and shoots three times, killing Bell.

Sheriff Nix Gridley arrests Pete and takes him to jail.  Pete will not answer the question as to why he did it only saying, "I have nothing to say."  It becomes clear that Pete was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive for the shooting to his grave.

The mystery in this plot is why would a respected war hero cold-bloodily gun down the local pastor and why does he refuse to allow his attorney to plead insanity?  Pete has no intention to let us know the answer to this.

Liza falls apart, even before the murder, and is committed to an insane asylum. We want to know if the shooting has something to do with Liza, but that is unclear until late in the book

This novel is unlike anything Grisham has written before, taking us from the Jim Crow south to the jungles of the Philippines and back to the Clanton courtroom.

The timeline of the novel doesn’t start at the beginning and we learn about the war experiences looking back from Pete’s return, leaving us with uncertainties as to why we need to learn about those experiences at first. The ending of the story pulls it together and it is a interesting story, but it takes a commitment to stay with it.

See Literary Favorites for more about John Grisham and links to the other Grisham books reviewed here.

The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis brings to us his book, The Great Divorce, and we learn of its message through a narrator who we meet standing waiting at a bus stop on the way to Grey Town.  The bus arrives, is then filled with passengers, and it leaves, flying over the very large city ahead.  On the bus everyone is visiting about how they had died, and some are upset finding themselves on the same bus as others they had known during their life.

At one point the narrator is surprised to find he has no body, only a spirit, and he starts to see the others as ghosts. When they arrive at the next bus stop Grey City is behind them and ahead are beautiful mountains and bright lights and colors. Spirits with bodies are there greeting the ghosts and asking them to come to the mountains with them. The tell the ghosts they can come but will have to give up hate and begin to love and they learn that hate is evil, and love is accepting God. Everything at this bus stop is motionless and the ground where they are is hard and it is difficult to walk, or even stand on, so they need to decide which way to go.

Most of the ghosts do not choose to go with the spirits with bodies and go back to the bus wanting to return to Grey Town.

A great quote from this book sums up the message and story, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." Lewis’s point is that: All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss having it.

Quotes

“You cannot love a fellow creature fully till you love God.” 

“There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.” 

“There is no other day. All days are present now. This moment contains all moments.” 

The Simple Truth, by David Baldacci

David Baldacci’s novel “The Simple Truth” will likely remind you of John Grisham’s novels. The plot is interesting, compelling and holds your interest. The lawyers, law clerks, and the conspiracy that involves the U.S. Supreme Court are very much Grisham-like.

It takes a good plot and characters to hold a reader interest and this book has both. Rufus Harms, a large slow-witted black man, is in a Virginia military prison convicted of killing a young girl on an army base twenty-five years ago. He finds a way to get a letter sent to Supreme Court that presents evidence that he was forced to commit the murder.

The letter is first seen by Mike Fiske a senior court clerk and he wants to learn more before processing it, but he is killed. John Fiske, Mike’s brother and a cop-turned-lawyer, is drawn to the case and finds help from Sara Evans, another Supreme Court clerk. Harms, helped by his Vietnam Vet brother, escapes from prison and John and Sara try to find him before those who plotted to keep him in prison and quite can find him.

The book has a believable romance as John and Sara get to know each other escaping to the spend a summer night on the Potomac.  We see the genuine goodness of Harms, even after spending much of his life in the cold reality of a prison cell.

The intricate workings of the Supreme Court when seen through the eyes of two of the rival justices and the clerks is intriguing. The book shows how important truth is and you will not want to put it down.

Quotes

“Small mistakes tend to lead to large ones. Ours is a lifetime appointment, and all you have is your reputation. Once it's gone, it doesn't comeback.” 

“Depending on the situation, sometimes you can know a person better in ten minutes than someone you have crossed paths with all your life.” 

“The real worth of a person came from how he acted during the bad times. (John Fiske)” 

“Confidence is one thing, disrespect is quite another. (Justice Elizabeth Knight)” 

Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s first book first essays, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, was published shortly after she recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (Click Link to Poem) at President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration.

The book presents several short essays, some autobiographical, along with two poems. The subjects vary in length and include fashion, entertainment, sensuality, pregnancy, racism, and death. The poems were about her mother Vivian Baxter and an untitled poem about the similarities between all people, despite their racial and cultural differences.

Angelou used the essays to tell her own story using the stories to bring out something that allowed her to just add in her own humor and moral advice in a light-handed way.

An example this is shown in the “Power of the Word,” which was about Angelou’s experience with her grandmother in Stamps Arkansas during the Great Depression. She wrote about the colorful clothing that she loved but also own troubles as a single mother.

In the essay n “Extending Boundaries,” Angelou’s wrote of her early days as a writer in New York City and some of the mistakes she made.

Her writing style was simple, direct and even her essays had a poetic tone to them. When you read her poetry or essays you wanted to spend some time pondering what she meant. Her advice holds true for proper living advice today.

The book may leave you looking back at your own life journey and see the value of the struggles.

Quotes

“What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.”

“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.” 

“Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.” 

See Literary Favorite Section for more about Maya Angelou and links to her other books reviewed on this site………..click here

See Poem………… “On the Pulse of The Morning by Maya Angelou” click here to link

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, A Novel, by Hank Green

Hank Green’s first novel, AN ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE THING, is itself remarkable. What seems at first to be a book pointed at a young internet obsessed generation turns out to be a close look at fame, where it leads and finding what is important.

Reading the Author’s Note section in the book, strategically placed as the last section of the book, will open your eyes to what the book is about. Is it better to read this last and find yourself saying “so that’s why he wrote it” or to read it first?  All I can say is I read it last.

In this section Hank Green starts out with his first sentence telling us: “Hi… I’m famous on the internet.” In the second paragraph he says: “But let’s go back to that first sentence again….Like, what does “famous” even mean, and how is “famous on the internet” any different.” This book story seems to answer these questions

April lives in Manhattan starting out just making podcasts on YouTube, just like Hank. She lives with her roommate, and perhaps girlfriend, Maya. Andy is another friend, Miranda is a scientist, and her assistant Robin are all under twenty-five and the core of April’s team.

On her way home from work late one night finds that a tall statue has appeared, hovering just over the ground, by the building where she lives. The figure looks like a person, but nothing will move it. She senses that it must be an alien from some other world and her first thought is to phone her friend Andy to come and film her introducing the alien that she has named Carl. See immediately sees herself as a first contact for this alien.

Hank told us in the Author’s Note section about the first time a stranger approached him in a grocery store having recognized him from the internet and how that made him feel but also how it led eventually to writing this book. April will soon have the same experience when she has Andy post the interview of her talking about Carl. April becomes famous.

Other Carl’s appear in major cities all over the world, but April was the first contact and she becomes the advocate of the Carl’s being here for good reasons and she is number one on the internet. She offers ideas about unlocking the mystery and has the world helping her find the password to something in a dream.

A professional hater, Peter Petrawicki, sees April’s internet success and by becoming the Anti-April he gains many followers and they push that the Carl’s are a threat, rather than potential friends. Peter’s success is from taking the opposite point of view for all that April believes in.

Green is clearly interested in how social media moves the needle on our culture, and he uses April’s fame, choices, and moral quandaries to reflect on the social fabric. The book and April leave little doubt about a sequel

Quotes

“The power that each of us has over complete strangers to make them feel terrible and and frightened and weak is amazing.” 

“Even on this most terrible days, even when the worst of us are all we can think of, I am proud to be a human.” 

“Basically, do your best to mock and deride their connection to and appreciation of you because, deep down, you dislike yourself enough that you cannot imagine anyone worthwhile actually wanting to be with you. I mean, if they like you, there must be something wrong with them, right?” 

“Just because you can't imagine something doesn't mean you can't do it.” 

Read Hank Green’s 2nd Book

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

The Affair, a Jack Reacher novel, by Lee Child

See Literary Favorite Section for more on Lee Child and links to his other books reviewed here

The Affair is the sixteenth book in Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, a prequel set six months before his first novel in the series, the Killing Floor.

Maj. Jack Reacher is sent to the small town of Carter's Crossing, Mississippi where a woman has been found murdered, her throat slit, with signs of rape. Maj. Duncan Munro is sent to the nearby base, Fort Kelham, and both are told to investigate.  The base commander, Captain Reed Riley, is a powerful Senators son and has a reputation as a lady’s man.  It seems clear that the army wants the military and Riley cleared and someone in the town found guilty.

Reacher arrives posing as a drifter, checks into the local inn and meets the local sheriff and previous Marine, Elizabeth Deveraux. She figures out who Reacher is, they work together and have sex at the Inn.

It turns out that there are other dead women, the most recent one, Chapman, was a white woman, and two prior ones were from the poorer African American part of the small town.

When Reacher finds that Riley did in fact have something to do with Chapman's death and possibly the other two murders he is ordered to cover up the evidence he's found thus far, which he ignores the request.

Others are killed in the cover up and an independent militia from Tennessee is assigned by someone inside the chain of command to destroy evidence of the murders.

The senator and his son believe that the crimes have been pinned on Elizabeth Deveraux and meet on the base and then in town to celebrate.

Just getting to this part of the plot is complicated and like all of Lee Child’s stories the plot is compelling.  Reacher’s ability to see through to the truth is of course amazing.  Another Child book you won’t want to put down.

See Lee Child Literary Favorite Section for more on this author and links to his other books reviewed here.

Quotes

• “He had fallen out of the ugly tree, and hit every branch.” ...

• “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” ...

• “The third guy was different. ...

• “The first day of the rest of my life.” ...

• “No one expects a head butt. ...

• “The best fights are the ones you don't have,”

THE POWER OF SMALL by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval

The Power of Small, Why Little Things Make All the Difference, by Linda Kaplan Thaler, and Robin Koval

Our smallest actions and gestures often have the most impact on our biggest goals. Bigger isn’t always better and taking baby steps can be a competitive advantage. Steps like holding an elevator for a stranger make a difference in our lives and shape how we approach other things.  The book’s message is that if we can’t take care of the small details, how can we be counted on to deliver when it really matters?   

Bigger isn’t always better and the real secret to getting ahead is to refocus our attention on the small details. Thaler and Koval show how to get more of what you want with less.

Thaler says: “we often find our best clues to what a client may like or dislike during the small talk before we sit down to a formal meeting… Our point: Small talk is anything but idle chatter. In fact, it’s the glue that cements so many relationships. Yet when we make small talk, too many of us tend to turn the subject of the conversation quickly back to ourselves, a subject infinitely less interesting to the other person.”

The authors comment on what others have written about the delusion of multitasking saying:  “We may be the first generation to find that more information is actually making us dumber, and less productive.” The increased use of digital devices “thwarts our best intentions to focus on and complete the job at hand—much less overdeliver… By not fully paying attention to the other person and his or her needs, we deny ourselves the opportunity to create empathy and an emotional attachment with the other person.”

The book sums up the thoughts presented saying, “that little thing you do that is special and shows what makes you different, what sets you apart from somebody else. It is often the small act that shows you care, that proves the project or other person matters to you. It affords you a chance to show off your initiative. This can be especially important when you’re meeting someone for the first time.”

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck is a sequel to Cannery Row and set in the years after the end of World War II. Steinbeck said that, "Sweet Thursday" is the day between Lousy Wednesday and Waiting Friday.

Cannery Row changes during the war. Doc is a key character based on a friend of Steinbeck and he returns to a failed Western Biological Laboratories after serving in the army during World War II to a changed Cannery Row.

The Palace Flophouse is still there as is the general store, but it has been sold. The local brothel, the Bear Flag, is still there but with a new owner, Fauna.  

Suzy works for Fauna but is not cut out for the work, so she plots to push her into the unsuspecting arms of Doc. The plan fails, and Suzy just moves out and takes a job at the local diner.

Hazel is living in the Palace Flophouse and has been told by Fauna that because of a astrological reading he is going to become President of the United States.  Hazel is concerned about his destiny but plots to help get Doc and Suzy together.  The plan eventually works.

See Literary Favorite Section for more on John Steinbeck and links to books of his reviewed on this site

Quotes

“You've seen the sun flatten and take strange shapes just before it sinks in the ocean. Do you have to tell yourself every time that it's an illusion caused by atmospheric dust and light distorted by the sea, or do you simply enjoy the beauty of it?” 

“Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.”

The Forbidden Door, A Jane Hawk Novel, by Dean Koontz

Dean Ray Koontz writes suspense thrillers where he uses the genre of horror, fantasy, science fiction, and satire.

His new book, The Forbidden Door, is another Jane Hawk novel, telling of her one-woman fight against a full-blown government mind-control conspiracy that lead to the death of her husband turning her into the #1 fugitive in the country.  

She was framed and disgraced by the FBI where she had been an agent and they are closing in on her young son, Travis, who has been hidden with friends. Jane has been untouchable by the collection of agencies that are conspiring to find her and they think finding her son will force her into the open Jane will do whatever it takes to save him.

The government forces chasing her are called Techno Arcadians and they plan to remake and control the world by injecting their enemies and with nanoconstructs, turning them into mindless robots.  Egon Gottfrey leads the group chasing her. He thinks that their group is being directed by an out of this world Unknown Playwright.  

Some exciting scenes come from some of some of Jane’s support groups also targeted by the Arcadians. In one group twelve-year-old Laurie survives the pursuit of a sadistic, brain-altered female FBI agent and the plan fails.

In the end some of the bad guys are killed and Jane moves on.

Click here to see review of “The Crooked Staircase” The prior novel in the series and the one that takes you to where this one starts.

Hondo by Louis L'Amour

Louis L'Amour said; "I think of myself in the oral tradition-as a troubadour, a village tale-teller, the man in the shadows of the campfire. That's the way I'd like to be remembered- as a storyteller. A good storyteller."

Some critical of L’Amour say they find the stories unrealistic, but those that like this author it is the very deep understanding of the land and the way of life that make his stories resonate. L’Amour is not a contemporary author bringing interest to his plot with fictional villains and methods, instead his plots are true to life for the time they take place.

Hondo Lane, on behalf of the government, is scouting the Arizona dessert looking for Apache braves. He winds up at a small ranch in the heart of the Indian territory and meets Angie and her young son Johnny. She has been abandoned by her husband, is alone, and in a very dangerous place.

​Hondo does some work helping at the ranch, buys a horse from her and then leaves to go to the fort in the area. Along the way he finds the remains of a viscous Apache on a small group of solders. He decides to go back to help Angie and the boy as soon as he gets to the fort to let them know what happened.

While Hondo is away Angie and Johnny are attacked by by Apaches and when one of the braves gets close the boy takes a gun and stands up for his mother stopping the brave.  Chief Vittoro is impressed and touched by the young boy. He makes him a blood brother and the relationship leads to some safety for Johnny and Angie for a short time.

Hondo returns to the ranch. Angie’s husband follows him. The relationship with the Apaches changes. The plot has mystery, romance and as John Wayne was quoted as saying, it was the “finest western” he had ever read.

See other Books by L’Amour Reviews and see more on this Author in Literary Favorites Section Click here

Quotes

“There was a curious affinity between man and dog. Both were untamed, both were creatures born and bred to fight, honed and tempered fine by hot winds and long desert stretches, untrusting, dangerous, yet good companions in a hard land.”

 “But a long time ago I made me a rule: I let people do what they want to do.”

“The Apache don't have a word for love," he said. 
"Know what they both say at the marriage? The squaw-taking ceremony?"
"Tell me."
"Varlebena. It means forever. That's all they say.”

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Earnest Hemmingway often was critical of his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald for wasting his talent and for pompous musing.  The Roaring Twenties presented in The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of America that seems overly grand and self-important. The story takes place in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on Long Island in the summer of 1922.

Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate and veteran, narrates the story and lives in West Egg on Long Island next door to Jay Gatsby’ mansion. He is aware of the lavish parties next door but doesn’t attend.  He often eats dinner at his cousin, Daisy Fay Buchanan and her husband Tom, who lives in East Egg.  Tom has a mistress, Myrtle, and even keeps a special apartment in New York to meet her and others and have wild parties.

Nick eventually receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's parties and attends learning that they both had been in the war together. He also learns that Gatsby had by chance meet Daisy Buchanan a few years back, is in love her, and has been hoping she would show up at his lavish parties, so she could see him in his wealth and grandeur.

Gatsby uses Nick to meet again with Daisy. Gatsby and that leads to an affair over the summer.  When her adulterer husband Tom learns of her interest and involvement with Gatsby he is upset. He confronts Gatsby and tells his wife that Gatsby is a criminal having made his money bootlegging.

The story has more surprising twists and turns and whether it is an important social history story or just drama you will have to decide.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” 

“Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.” 

“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.” “Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” 

“You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.” 

Echo Burning, A Jack Reacher Thriller, by Lee Child

Echo Burning is the fifth novel in the Jack Reacher series and begins in a Lubbock Texas saloon where Jack pushes back against a drunk bully. He breaks his nose and finger and then leaves, but the next morning he sees the bully, a local policeman, with three others, coming his way obviously planning to arrest him.

He avoids capture and escapes, walking out of town hitchhiking. Carmen Greer, a good looking Mexican lady in a fancy car, stops to give him a ride.

Carmen has her reasons for stopping: she wants Jack to kill her abusive husband, Sloop, who is going to be released from jail in a few days. Jack Reacher is a character who never hesitates to get involved in the troubles of those he meets.  He refuses to help her kill Sloop but agrees to help protect her and goes with her to their ranch in Echo County, Texas just outside of Pecos.  

Soon after Sloop is released he is found dead and Carmen is arrested. The facts make it look like she did it and she even confesses.  Jack doesn’t believe the assumed facts or that she is guilty and starts looking into both Carmen and Sloop’s past.  Carmen’s daughter Ellie is taken away for adoption, but it turns out that she was really kidnapped.  

Jack involves Alice Amanda Aaron, the pro bono attorney, in the case and they meet with Hack Walker, the Pecos County district attorney and an old friend of Sloop's who seems to want to help them.

What starts out as a what seems to be a silly old-fashioned plot takes some very surprising twists and turns and by the time Jack Reacher has saved the day and moved on you will wind up realizing you have read a very well thought out story.

Quotes

“I know I'm smarter than an armadillo” 

“Short of a shotgun, a pool cue is the best barroom weapon ever invented. Short enough to be handy, long enough to be useful, made out of fine hardwood and nicely weighted with lead.” 

“Reacher smiled. Bad luck and trouble, been my only friends.” 

What starts out as a what seems to be a silly old-fashioned plot takes some very surprising twists and turns and by the time Jack Reacher has saved the day and moved on you will wind up realizing you have read a very well thought out story.