Dubious solution to mystery cost writing a star. My criteria for popcorn books is less rigorous than for more ambitious novels. Child shows his talent for immediately engaging the reader and keeping up the pace. More a murder mystery this time than a thriller, the objection others have to the depiction of the FBI ignores the genre convention of lone righteous man books like this one, that all government officials are corrupt/power abusers. I did find Reacher's attitude somewhat skirting misogyny but the book was published in 2000, and so I won't judge Child by the sensitivity standards of 2017. I find myself interested in the question of whether Child gets better re: women as we get to more recent books.