The plot is tight, the pacing is merciless.
Reacher gets off a bus in a town he's never been to, for no particular reason, and is immediately arrested for murder. He didn't do it. What follows is forty-eight hours of controlled mayhem. Child writes action the way good code runs — no wasted steps, everything resolves. Reacher is the most satisfying protagonist in the genre. Read it in one sitting. Arrived an hour late to work. Zero regrets.