Jack Reacher, Lee Child’s nomadic, taciturn action man, has recently been compared to Philip Marlowe. Marlowe he isn’t, but amongst the panoply of male antiheroes so treasured by us mystery/thriller readers, Reacher definitely stands out. The ultimate baggage-free male (literally and emotional), he’s unnoticeable until the world needs him, then becomes brutal, rational, efficient . . . the traditional superhero. I know, I know, that description slights Reacher, but the truth is, the real hero of the Reacher books is Lee Child himself. Unusually for this genre, Child is not only stylish (that’s a given for successful thrillers), he is also acutely intelligent, melding superior plots, wonderful scene pacing and even humour.
61 Hours finds Lee Child at his most playful. He wields the countdown device from the first page to the last, in a Reacher episode in which the reluctant star finds himself trapped in a snowbound town assailed by bikie gangs, an assassin and out-of-town gangsters. I found the cocktail of seamless action, tension and plot puzzlers a wonderful single-sitting read.
61 Hours is Lee Child and Jack Reacher at their peak. 3 stars.