Echo Burning by Lee Child

Echo Burning is number five in Lee Child’s popular Jack Reacher series.  In this book, Echo, Texas is a sparely populated town and county south of Pecos.  Pecos serves as the governmental administrative center for several counties in West Texas including Echo.

Reacher is hitchhiking in the smothering hot sun in West Texas when a young Hispanic woman in a Cadillac picks him up.  Carmen Greer tells Reacher she is a victim of spousal abuse and is looking for someone to protect her… even if it means killing her husband.  Sloop Greer, Carmen’s husband owns a ranch in Echo, Texas along with his very white mother and brother.  Sloop was convicted of income tax fraud two years earlier and is about to be released from prison.  Carmen is terrified for herself and for her six year old daughter, Ellie. Reacher listens to her story through his MP detective filters and though he questions some of her story, it is 110 degrees outside and the Caddy is air conditioned.  He accompanies Carmen to the Greer ranch and hires on as a wrangler without committing anything to Carmen.  Meanwhile, Sloop’s lawyer and childhood pal is murdered by professional killers.  The first day at the ranch, Reacher teaches Carmen to shoot a pistol, discovers the ranch is under surveillance, and runs off the other two hired hands.

The following day, Sloop is brought home from prison by his other childhood pal and now DA, Hack Walker.  Sloop calls the state police and tells them Reacher is trespassing.  Two Texas Rangers arrive and as they are transporting Reacher to Pecos are called back to the Greer Ranch.  Sloop has been shot in the head… twice… execution style and Carmen is arrested and taken to the Pecos jail.  Carmen has no money of her own so Reacher arranges for a pro bono lawyer named Alice Aaron to represent Carmen.  Ellie is supposedly picked up by Social Services except upon double checking, the agency has no record of Ellie Greer.  Carmen then refuses legal representation and agrees to life in prison.  Reacher smells a rat and decides he must hunt down the professional kill team, the kidnappers and whoever hired them… after all, this is what he knows.

I discovered Lee Child only about five years ago and have read mostly his recent Jack Reacher books.  He quickly established himself into my power rotation.  In many ways, the books in this series are much the same… invincible, righteous hero saves the damsel in distress.  But I never tire of this magnanimous persona that is Jack Reacher… simplistic in creature comforts, physically massive and well trained in hand to hand combat, empathetic to and protective of the defenseless, and fearless and tenacious against any foe.  He is the epitome of the genre we love at MRB.

And ok, the elephant in the room, Tom Cruise just doesn’t fulfill the Jack Reacher aura… it’s like he’s wearing a suit three sizes too big complete with clown shoes.