Arghhhhhh Lee Child - this is such a difficult book to review. The first third of the book is horrendous, poorly paced, and almost entirely an info dump. I absolutely detest the books where Reacher is just experiencing something going on, instead of actively investigating a crime, and this is just that, along with the author telling instead of showing. It's bad enough that I recommend you skip this book unless you are a big Lee Child fan.

If you're able to get past that, the book picks up pace and finally finds its stride once Reacher is trying to understand what kind of mystery he's dealing with. And there is reward on the other side! The primary antagonist is probably the best written one from Lee Child in all five books so far. Writing was primarily centered on Reacher, with a subplot that allowed you to follow the antagonists doing their thing. The mystery is great, and various threads all connect together in a very satisfying conclusion.

If you could start 33% of the way in, I think this would be a superb novel. It needed to start with Reacher in the middle, rather than letting the plot build up. Unfortunately, without that commitment, the mystery and revelations are significantly less surprising. So we're stuck with a book where Lee Child has really improved, but you suffer greatly to get to that point. I'm stuck giving this a 3-star rating and resolving to never read it again.