Finished Echo Burning by Lee Child. This is the fifth book in his Jack Reacher series, about an ex-military policeman who roams around the country.

In this one, Reacher is hitchhiking through Texas when he gets picked up by Carmen Greer. Carmen has a serious problem. Her abusive husband is going to be released from prison on Monday, and she has no money, no way of getting away from him, and a young daughter to protect. Reacher is intrigued enough to want to help and goes back with Carmen to her husband’s ranch. But soon, Carmen’s husband is dead, and it looks like she killed him. There are also three assassins in the mix who get some new orders — kill Reacher no matter what …

You know, the more of the Reacher series I read, the more the premise reminds me of The A-Team. Reacher goes somewhere, helps someone straighten out the trouble they’re in, and moves on. Just something I’ve noticed.

Generally, I enjoy the Reacher series, but this book was disappointing. Mainly because not much happens. Seriously, for the first 75 pages or so, Reacher and Carmen are in her Cadillac driving through the Texas countryside as Carmen tells Reacher about her abusive husband. Then, Reacher’s stuck at the ranch for another 50 pages or so. Then, it’s 50 more pages of trying to figure out if Carmen killed her husband or not. There’s not even a really good fight scene until the very end of the book.

But mainly, the book didn’t work for me because the plot hinged on one giant coincidence in the middle of the story. A lawyer casually mentions an incident about several Mexicans getting murdered/raped/tortured as they tried to cross over into Texas. Reacher takes this one sentence of information and uses it to figure out what’s really going on. I couldn’t help but wonder if the lawyer hadn’t mentioned the incident to Reacher, if he would have been able to figure out everything else. It really seemed like a stretch to me. I would have liked for Reacher to find the info out on his own somehow. That would have made the story work better for me.

Also, the speed with which Reacher puts everything together bordered on the superhuman and implausible once again.

I’ll keep reading the Reacher series, because overall, they are really solid thrillers. But this book isn’t one of Child’s best efforts. The coincidence just ruined it for me. I’ve got to give this one a thumbs down.

Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

Books in my TBR pile: About 13 or so.