61 Hours by Lee Child

61 Hours by Lee Child
A Jack Reacher Novel

Jack Reacher, an ex-military policeman and ex-commander of the mysterious 110th (military intelligence), bums a ride on a tour bus which has an accident during a snow storm in little Bolton, South Dakota. This town has 2 distinguishing features: a brand new prison and an old military installation. The land is flat with a house shaped stone building which is an entrance to a mysterious underground tunnel system. No one in town knows what it really is and it was never used after being built. At the time of Jack Reacher's entrance to town, a motorcycle gang has taken over this military installation and planted a shed village around the building. The town's Sheriff and Chief Deputy welcome Jack's help with this problem. It seems that they know this biker group is into drugs and they think they may be using the tunnel system as a Meth Lab. They have a witness to a drug deal made on their streets and the witness is willing to testify in order for them to get a search warrant. Of course, that means this little old lady needs round the clock guards because her life is now in danger. But if the prison has a riot or escape, every policeman has to leave town and establish a protective perimeter around the prison. This was the deal for them to get the much needed money to keep the prison going and this means work and livelihoods to the town. They are worried that whoever is in charge of the drug situation will arrange something to happen at the prison which would leave the little old lady vulnerable to attack. The weakness in this story is that this little old lady didn't have to stay in town. She could have been smuggled somewhere else and kept guarded outside of town. Other than this weakness, the story was good and I enjoyed the read. I did have it figured out before I was 1/4 of the way through the book. But I still liked it and I look forward to reading more Jack Reacher novels.