Mystery lovers might like this novel better than some others in the series. The scene is a small town in South Dakota and Reacher allies himself with the cops against a really bad guy. Author also introduces Susan Turner, the commander of his old unit. I never understood what or why "61 hours" other than as a thread to keep the reader wondering what happens at the end of the book...like we don't do that anyway! ( )

(2009) Reacher is stranded in a small South Dakota town during a snowstorm when the bus he is riding on is forced off the road into a ditch. This leads hem into a situation where a prisoner in a local prison is trying to escape which puts a witness in jeopardy. KIRKUS REVIEWWhen a bus full of seniors spins out of control, the obvious recourse is to reach out for Reacher (Gone Tomorrow, 2009, etc.).On its way to Mt. Rushmore, a bus carrying a load of elderly tourists, plus a ringer, loses to a patch of ice. Reacher's the ringer. Some 30 years younger than the average age of his fellow passengers, he's among them by happenstance, a kind of hitchhiker. ReacherĄthat inveterate nomad, indefatigable Rambo and Galahad for all seasonsĂ‚ÂĄfinds himself once more in the midst of an authentic mess. Banged up and inoperable, the bus has come to rest in Bolton, S.D., a town buried in snow and heaps of trouble. There's the biker gang living on its outskirts, making crystal meth. There's a repellent figure named Plato, a racketeering lowlife, whose philosophy is kill everything on the theory that if it lives, whatever it is, it might at some point have a negative Platonic effect. And then there's grandmotherly Janet Salter. Sweet, smart, elegant and pound for pound as brave as Reacher, she's a retired librarian, from Oxford's Bodleian, no less. She's also a witness to a grisly murder. Desperate to keep her alive, the Bolton PD has begun to think it might not be able to. Andrew Peterson, the department's deputy chief, wants to ask Reacher for help. And when his reluctant boss asks why, he says, ?I think he's the sort of guy who sees things five seconds before the rest of the world.? Well, he's right about that, of course, but even Reacher will be shaken by some of what he sees before exiting Bolton en route to Nowhere, his country of choice.In his 14th outing, implausible, irresistible Reacher remains just about the best butt-kicker in thriller-lit.Pub Date: May 1st, 2010ISBN: 978-0-385-34058-8Page count: 390ppPublisher: DelacorteReview Posted Online: Sept. 16th, 2010Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15th, 2010

I've read all of the Reacher books. I'm huge fan, but this one didn't do it for me. I especially didn't care for the ending. ( )

I have been reading some of the books in this series in backward order. I have already read the two books following this one in the series. It did not spoil my enjoyment, although it is a bit odd to come to the end of "61 Hours" and have questions that I know the next two novels will not answer.

Jack Reacher is a former military policeman who has become a modern knight errant who wanders all across America, trying to mind his own business but always getting drawn into battling crime.

Mystery lovers might like this novel better than some others in the series. There is not always a mystery, but there is one here. An assassin is stalking people in a small town in South Dakota, and Reacher must figure out who it is before he finds out the hard way whether or not he is on the hit list himself.

I also like Reacher's Holmesian ability to find criminals. At one point he is talking on the phone to an M.P. who has his old job and is looking for someone who is guilty both of murder and espionage. Reacher asks his successor--who happens to be a woman with an alluring telephone voice--to give him all the details of the case; Reacher thinks it over and tells her to look for the suspect in the second motel north of the bus station. He then explains his reasoning. The M.P.s find the suspect in the third motel north of the station. When told this, Reacher guesses correctly that the first two motels were right next to each other, so the suspect went on to the third.

The title provides a neat structure. The whole story takes place over 61 hours plus an epilogue. It gives the story a time constraint although nobody in the story really knows that they are constrained by 61 hours. Many of them know they don't have much time, but they don't know how much.

A curious thing about this whole series is that, along the way, Reacher acquires allies who are both federal and local law enforcement officials. He almost never reaches out to these people to help him on subsequent cases. In this novel, someone strongly urges him to reach out to his old M.P. unit for information. Reluctantly, Reacher does this and becomes smitten with and dependent on the woman M.P. he meets on the phone. It is a rare and satisfying relationship because Reacher opens up more to her than he has to anyone else; so we get a rare glimpse into Reacher's strong, silent character. ( )

Stretched out suspense, sloppy editing (Reacher's logic incudes something he couldn't have known), cliffhanger ending - This story seems to have been hastily put together but drags along, except at the very end, where we are left with a climax but no coda. Additionally, I figured out whodunnit before the halfway point of the book, so this story was a disappointment. ( )