BLUE MOON

3 stars out of 5

With the possible exception of a book detailing the battles of World War II, I think it would be hard to find one with a body count as high as this one. If blood and guts in just about every chapter is your thing, you'll love everything about it. Honestly, multiple murders, no matter how gruesome, usually don't bother me, but too many happen here that just don't seem to be justified even if the victims are really, really bad guys.

In this case, they're members of rival Albanian and Ukrainian gangs who have made an uneasy peace running their loan shark and "protection" rackets in the smallish town where the bus carrying Jack Reacher to just about anywhere makes a pitstop. As he's about to step off, Reacher sees an about-to-happen robbery of an elderly man and steps in to thwart it. He then learns the man and his wife have borrowed money from the wrong people, resulting in dire consequences if it's not repaid pronto. Taking pity on the couple - who were victims of circumstances with which most readers would sympathize - Reacher decides to do what he can to take care of the problem. Temporarily, at least, his idea works - but it doesn't take Reacher long to realize he's put himself smack dab in the middle of a turf war with the take-no-prisoners gangs. If he's going to make things all better  - even with a little help from a couple of brawny friends and one tiny but tough waitress - Reacher himself must adopt a take-no-prisoners approach.

In addition to the murders are numerous car chases, narrow escapes and, of course the wry humor for which Reacher (via the author) is known. One in particular tickled me, as he and the waitress drive the mob getaway car they've stolen (but not before loading three newly deceased mobsters in the trunk. As the back end of the car bounces into the road multiple times during their getaway, those extra 600 pounds, Reacher muses, were "Maybe never taken into account during the Lincoln's design process."

 All told, the book is easy to read and entertaining, if perhaps a bit implausible (the extensive deductive reasoning of Reacher and his cronies alone is daunting, to say the least). If you like your heroes strong in mind and body and love constant knock-'em-down, shoot-'em-up action, this one's for you. For me, it was just a little too far over the top.

Blue Moon by Lee Child (Dell, October 2019); 359 pp.