This is the fourteenth novel in the Jack Reacher series by author Lee Child in what has turned out to be one of the finest continuing series of private eye-cop novels in the genre. In this outing the author cleverly tweaks the title, "61 Hours," into the actual theme of a story where there really is a 61 hour countdown. 61 hours?... To what? We don't know, and we won't find out until well into the story. In the meantime, the clock is ticking. 59 hours... 57 hours... 54 hours, and so on. Needless to say, the tension is ratcheting up because we don't have a clue as to why the countdown is in place or what will happen when the countdown is over. More troubling still is the fact that Reacher isn't even aware of a countdown.

All of the familiar Jack Reacher themes and plot points are in place. He is always hitchhiking from someplace to somewhere else when something comes up to interrupt the trip. Here a bus on which he has hitched a ride ends up in a ditch because the driver was trying to avoid hitting a car that was skidding on an icy highway in a desolate area of South Dakota. Reacher takes command of the situation after the crash, which stands him in better stead when the police arrive. The rest of the passengers are elderly and belong to a church group traveling to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore on the cheap in winter. What Reacher can't figure out is why all of the cops are looking at him like he is about to commit a crime...

Jack Reacher, the literary creation of author Lee Child, is neither a cop nor a detective, but rather a retired Army major who was a MP and also a member of the Army special forces. As such he is well versed in hand to hand combat along with all sorts or weaponry and how to use them. His imposing physique at six foot five inches in height and a weight of more than 250 pounds allows him implement his plans with near impunity, especially since he is far more quick on his feet than his size would suggest.

He is further advantaged by possessing a razor sharp mind which seems to operate on a different plane than normal. As Bolton Police Officer Peterson remarks in this story, "I think he's the sort of guy who sees things five seconds before the rest of the world." Reacher's intellectual style allows him to approach each hurdle as a challenge which will be thoroughly analyzed with the possible solutions, outcomes, and chances for success quickly calculated before being implemented.

These stories are wonderfully entertaining with plots that are well researched and thoughtfully devised. Lee Child is a fine writer with his short powerful sentences and clipped phrases much like the way some us, especially men, think with a rat-a-tat-tat rapid fire mental process running through each contingency or dealing with each emergency.

Reacher has been out of the Army for 13 years, which doesn't count for much to those who consider him to be something of a vagrant given his rootlessness and lack of possessions. This confuses people, especially the police when they find out that he doesn't even have a home address. Reacher owns little more than the clothes on his back and the few items in his pocket. Few can understand this because we are all supposed to own "stuff" and have relationships that tie us down. Reacher challenges that notion with his unusual lifestyle, and this makes many people uncomfortable, for it suggests that he is running away from something when in fact he has no near relations, no real home, and nothing to run to.     

The story opens with an unknown lawyer visiting a prison in an unknown location to receive a list of 14 coded instructions which he knows will lead to the commission of illegal acts which could get him disbarred, or worse. He leaves the prison and then calls a secret number on a unnamed telephone to pass along the instructions. He does not know who he is calling, but he knows that the person is dangerous. While placing the call, he skids on a patch of ice before a bridge and almost goes off the road. His is the car that causes the bus coming from the opposite direction with Reacher on it to crash into the ditch...

After the crash the bus heater runs fitfully and then stops. It is dark at night and about ten degrees in temperature. No one is dressed for the cold weather, and Reacher wonders why it is taking so long for help to arrive. When help does arrive, it is in the form of a school bus that has been rebuilt to transfer prisoners. It turns out that a major federal prison is in the area and tomorrow is one of the visiting days. As a result, all of the area motels are full, so the elderly passengers on the bus stay in area homes until they can be bussed back to Seattle. 

Since Reacher is viewed with suspicion, he is brought to the Bolton Police station. It is obvious to Reacher that they are on the lookout for a stranger to the area. Eventually Officer Andrew Peterson, the second in command at the Bolton Police Department, makes a gutsy decision to trust Reacher in spite of his formidable presence. It will be the best decision that he has ever made. Rioting prisoners will mix with drug deals, biker thugs, an abandoned secret Cold War Army base, a librarian in the witness protection program, and a corrupt  insider on the take. 2010, Delacorte Press, 400 pages.