Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

New York City. Two in the morning. A subway car heading uptown. Jack Reacher, plus five other passengers. Four are okay. The fifth isn't. In the next few tense seconds Reacher will make a choice--and trigger an electrifying chain of events in this gritty, gripping masterwork of suspense by #1 New York Times bestseller Lee Child. Susan Mark was the fifth passenger. She had a lonely heart, an estranged son, and a big secret. Reacher, working with a woman cop and a host of shadowy feds, wants to know just how big a hole Susan Mark was in, how many lives had already been twisted before hers, and what danger is looming around him now. Because a race has begun through the streets of Manhattan in a maze crowded with violent, skilled soldiers on all sides of a shadow war. Susan Mark's plain little life was critical to dozens of others in Washington, California, Afghanistan . . . from a former Delta Force operator now running for the U.S. Senate, to a beautiful young woman with a fantastic story to tell--and to a host of others who have just one thing in common: They're all lying to Reacher. A little. A lot. Or maybe just enough to get him killed. In a novel that slams through one hairpin surprise after another, Lee Child unleashes a thriller that spans three decades and gnaws at the heart of America . . . and for Jack Reacher, a man who trusts no one and likes it that way, it's a mystery with only one answer--the kind that comes when you finally get face-to-face and look your worst enemy in the eye.From the Hardcover edition.

4.5 out of 5 really. Not sure why I'm holding that .5 out, but let's say it wasn't perfect – just so, so close.

On the one hand, this was a typical Jack Reacher novel* – Reacher sees a wrong that needs righting, a question that needs answered, someone who needs a little help, a little vengence that needs meting out, and he takes care of business, period. On the other hand – this was more intense, had more twists and turns, with higher (personal) stakes than your typical Reacher novel.

So, I guess it was a typical Reacher novel – just turned up to 11.

It's really hard to say much about this Gone Tomorrow without spoiling the whole thing. But I'm going to try a bit: From the outset, it's hard to tell who Reacher is working for until a little over halfway through the book (I think–didn't take notes); everyone (everyone) lies to him about all sorts of things – but there's enough truth mixed into the lies that I didn't just spoil anything there; the violence (at least on Reacher's part) is a bit more concentrated than usual, but once it starts...whoa, Nelly.

The biggest difference in this one is the looming specter of various counter-terrorism agencies and entities, functioning in the full protection and powers given by the Patriot Act and so on. Reacher and other characters in this book aren't reticent to voice their complaints with these powers and the curtailment on citizen rights, honestly, to an extent that surprised me. While Reacher's not directly in opposition to these agencies (he never would be that), his purposes and theirs do not directly align. Which gives an extra layer of danger for him – if Reacher's not careful, he can disappear like he's never existed before.

Basically the only other thing I can say without spoiling the crap out of this is simply: With Gone Tomorrow, Child, once again, shows that he and Reacher are the best around.

* And a typical Jack Reacher novel is a great read, so don't take this characterization as a complaint.