Saw something go wrong today

I just completed Die Trying by Lee Child, the second of his Jack Reacher novels. Let's get the bad news out of the way first. It's not as good as the Killing Floor. Ok, now the good news, it's better than nearly every other thriller you can find. This one reads like the first half of a season of 24. It has plenty of intense action, government intrigue, nasty (and I mean nasty) bad guys and a crazy hero with the name of Jack. As we all know (if you haven't watched 24, I IMPLORE you to rectify this error immediately) about halfway through each season in 24, we learn what we thought was going on was totally off and something else is happening. The same isn't true here, we get one story, but its a damn good one. Jack helps a woman out of a door and the two of them are kidnapped off the streets of Chicago. As the woman is FBI, the gov gets involved immediately. And things get crazy. It's awesome.

Child is excellent in the spareness of his prose. There are few if any wasted words. He is a bit like Conan Doyle in showing his main characters incredible observation skills, but this is forgiven as his thought processes on how he may or may not kick someone's ass are so interesting.