Probably the best Reacher book out of the 8 so far - which is amusing because usually prequels are a lot worse. However, since the Reacher novels are episodic and very little in the previous novels matter in the each subsequent one, the fact that this is a prequel doesn't really matter. In this, Reacher returns to being in the army, with one hell of a mystery to solve that quickly spirals into something more than what he expects. Classic stuff with lots of twists and turns. It's in first-person and is pretty much peak Lee Child -- Reacher is his usual competent self, seeing everything yet in a flawed manner. This means that if (as the reader) have Sherlock Holmes level capabilities, you can probably see where Reacher goes wrong. Otherwise, the twists and turns come as surprises for all. I crushed this in two days and highly recommend.

I was always surprised at how easily Reacher gets into the high ranks (in this case the Naval Chief of Staff) but doesn't seem to have any friends to count on in the future. It's not entirely out of place, as he relies on his rank and reputation to score favors from fellow MP Majors in the army, but shows little skill at maintaining those relationships... so it's plausible the top brass won't reach out to help him at all. I prefer Reacher in the army. His superhero attitude is much more understandable as an MP surrounded by highly trained killers. The whole Delta subplot really underscored this... there was a credible threat to Reacher's life the entire time and I appreciate that. I'm not sure what will get a five star rating from me, and this one really close. I think the cringe relationship in Paris and Summer was really what ruined the perfect book. Seriously, keep it in your pants.