Jack Reacher, the recurring protagonist in the thrillers by Lee Child, is back with a dark mission in book 12 of the series.
Reacher is an ex-military policeman. He's big, strong, attractive to and successful with women. He observes the tiniest details about people and places, has an unerring internal clock and distance calculator, and a near photographic memory, which makes him a deadly adversary.
Reacher has not worked since his military days, and decides to cross the country diagonally from Calais, Maine, to San Diego, California.
Reacher often finds himself between a rock and a hard place. This time he finds himself between Hope and Despair, literally. He arrives at a town called Hope which is a nice small town, with a nice motel and great restaurant. He then decides to cross over to the next one called Despair.
Unfortunately, the Despair town folks aren't so welcoming. He is picked up by the police for “vagrancy” and driven back to the line marking Hope Township. There, he is met by a Hope policewoman, Vaughan, who drives him back into town.
Reacher makes several trips back and forth between the towns of Hope and Despair Colorado.
Basically, Reacher doesn’t like to be told what to do, and is determined to find out why they’re running visitors out of the town of Despair.
Despair is, however, trapped back in time, and the whole town is owned by one man. He owns the company, he owns the town, and he is an associate pastor at the only church in town. Being run out of town for vagrancy does not sit well with Reacher. And the more he pushes, the stranger things seem. Everyone in the town seems to have a role, and they are keeping to their parts. And soon Reacher realises there is a lot more going on in Despair than appears on the surface.
He keeps trying, and keeps getting attacked. But nothing stops Reacher though. In a bar where it is six big guys against just him, he easily repels all six, then finishes his beer.
Repeated incursions into the town with the help of Vaughan, who can’t resist him, reveal a religious cult, a military conspiracy, and an environmental disaster. All routine diversions for Reacher, who takes care of all of it, including the lonely Vaughan, before leaving town once again.
The author injects poignant observations about casualties in Iraq, and some perceptive comments about foreign policy, and about crowd psychology. Still, another great read in the Reacher series.