Never Go Back

This novel in the "Jack Reacher" series by Lee Child is predictable, but also predictably satisfying as are the other Reacher books I have read. Reacher has been carrying on lengthy phone conversations with the current commander of the 110th MP, the unit he used to command. Her name is Susan Turner and, for no other reason than because he likes her voice, he has traveled back to DC to ask her to dinner. And because Reacher lives his life the way he does, with no more baggage than a folding toothbrush, he can do just that. But someone is expecting Reacher and has some surprises in store for him, including a paternity suit from a woman he claims not to know, and a wrongful death suit--validated only by affadavit--regarding a man Reacher says he never laid a hand on. To top it off, Major Turner has been incarcerated on bribery charges that very day. Reacher gets "called up" by the acting commander, essentially re-enlisted, and then arrested and imprisoned. Even before that, however, tough guys were sent to Reacher's motel room to try and scare him into leaving town. And we all know Reacher never walks away from a fight. And now he figures that all these trumped up charges have something to do with him coming back to see Turner. So he finds a way to break them both out of prison so they can figure out what the hell is going on that is so important, and who is pulling the strings at such a high level. For the pursuers seem to know their every move mere minutes after they make them in spite of their best efforts to cover their tracks. They head to California to find out if Reacher really has a daughter he didn't know about, with the DC metro police, the FBI and the secret enemies all in pursuit. Of course he will best the bad buys, solve the mystery, and walk away without the girl. That's what Reacher does, and you'll be rooting for him all the way.