Though this latest Jack Reacher novel is leaps and bounds beyond the decidedly underwhelming Bad Luck and Trouble—it was, typically of Child, engaging and well-written, and thankfully suffered from none of its predecessor’s plot discrepancies—I just couldn’t get into it. I think my problem is that I am starting to feel a real lack of credible motivation from Reacher himself. I’m tired of reading Reacher books where he involves himself in something because they messed with the wrong guy, or that the organizing principle of his life is relentless forward motion. When does it become personal? When does it become difficult for him? Where’s the challenge?

The last few books have followed the same formula: someone pisses him off and he goes in and cleans the floor with the villain(s). Not since One Shot, in fact, and probably actually not since The Enemy, has Reacher seemed fully, emotionally engaged in the book’s conflict. Really, he’s lost his humanity, or is near it, and I’m near to never picking up another Reacher book.

The beginning of a new series set in the same world as Briggs’ Mercy Thompson books, Cry Wolf is another strong offering from a very talented author. It was very good, but not quite as good as the Mercy books, and I think it’s because of the character development. Each of the two main characters is still a bit of a cipher, though I hope and expect that will change as the series progresses—it is admittedly a bit unfair of me to compare this single novel to a series that has 3 whole books out, and which is therefore guaranteed to have better fleshed-out characters.

Again, I have to say that Briggs is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors, and Cry Wolf is only strengthening her position. If you haven’t read her excellent, excellent urban fantasy books, I don’t know what you’re waiting for.