The Hard Way, by Lee Child

Lee Child's Jack Reacher books are addicting.  My latest fix: The Hard Way.  If you've read any Reacher books, you know that sometimes he just ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Or the right place and time.  Somehow he manages to get hooked up with bad folks, but in the interest of doing the right thing.  In The Hard Way, he somewhat randomly comes to be employed by a wealthy military contractor in an effort to recover his wife and stepdaughter, who apparently have been kidnapped.

Of course, the contractor turns out to be a really bad dude.  Reacher is, of course, smarter and wilier than the bad dude and his henchmen.  He also meets up with the bad dude's sister-in-law from his first marriage, which ended with, of course, the mysterious disappearance of his wife.  This all turns out to be a bit convoluted, but Reacher, as always, has good luck and good timing on his side.  This is a rare Reacher book where I figured out what was going on, i.e. the true kidnapper, long before Jack did.  That's OK, it was still fun to wait on Jack to catch up to me.

Reacher has become a favorite character for me (and millions of others, of course!).  The Hard Way is a fun, violent read for Reacher fans.  The bad guys get their due, Reacher gets the girl, if only for a while.  As usual, he has no luggage or anything to tie him down, and disappears in the end.  I wouldn't want to be him, but I like him and his unconventional ethics.  Thumbs up for The Hard Way.