Persuader by Lee Child

Jack Reacher.

The ultimate loner.

An elite ex-military cop who left the service years ago, he's moved from place to place...without family...without possessions...without commitments.

And without fear. Which is good, because trouble--big, violent, complicated trouble--finds Reacher wherever he goes. And when trouble finds him, Reacher does not quit, not once...not ever.

But some unfinished business has now found Reacher. And Reacher is a man who hates unfinished business.

Ten years ago, a key investigation went sour and someone got away with murder. Now a chance encounter brings it all back. Now Reacher sees his one last shot. Some would call it vengeance. Some would call it redemption. Reacher would call it...justice.

It's really hard to say something about a Jack Reacher book–in a very real sense, if you've read one, you've read ‘em all (maybe this changes after book 7, but I doubt it). But dang it all if you don't come back for more and more and more–like Pringles, or Fritos, etc. Great action; totally outlandish, but (in the moment definitely) believable plot; lots of testosterone-y fun.Two things I'd like to mention about this book. First, there's this fad in TV lately where you watch a scene or two at the top of the show, and then the chyron flashes “X days earlier” and you get to see how events led up to this, and even get a better picture of what happened. It's a tired and overused gimmick. But in ‘03 when this was published, it wasn't. And even if it was tired then, Child does it right, and I would've been totally on board with it then. Great hook to begin the book. Really great.Secondly, I couldn't help but be impressed with the way that Child laid out Reacher's motivation to hunt down this particular criminal in bits and pieces, scattered throughout the present day action. Sure, it was predictable after a certain point, but it was skillfully done. Giving Reacher the proper motivation each time to go after the baddie has to be a struggle, especially since it has to be sufficient motivation to get him to perform superhuman tasks. This was one of Child's best efforts in that regard.One more thing that I just thought of–since Parker's [b:God Save the Child 69652 God Save The Child (Spenser, #2) Robert B. Parker http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170710479s/69652.jpg 931380] and [b:The Judas Goat 69629 The Judas Goat Robert B. Parker http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170710447s/69629.jpg 288626] I've been a sucker for a fight between big, tough hero and impossibly huge, strong, psychotic villain, and the one here delivers the goods in spades. Loved it.

4 - 4.5 ⭐️

Another great entry in the series!

And this time, we had our guy play a rather interesting double game, which was so much fun to follow.
There were some masterfully done elements - like the setup, the action scenes, the little details about the location, the flashbacks, the pre-reveal of the twist... Many great things.
The thing I didn't like was the somewhat rushed ending. I wanted to know more about the villain and how he managed to survive these unsurvivable injuries and I wanted to see more of the fallout from the situation.

Nevertheless, reading this was a lovely experience - these books are long but quick to go through and I always feel like I want more after each one.

Can't wait to see what happens next!